Attended a mixed gathering of private business, education or workforce professionals and you will likely noticed each constituency has its own language. The proprietary language of each stakeholder group works well for that constituency, but the ability to seamlessly communicate among constituencies is seriously hampered by the lack of a common language.

Nowhere is this language barrier more pronounced than in the discussion of “skills” – a term ubiquitous for all groups but without uniform definition. To solve this highly pervasive problem, the Center for Employability Outcomes developed the Common Skills Language Platform in an effort to normalize the discussion of skills and eliminate confusion.

The Common Skills Language Platform is based upon a skills library, curated by C4EO and its partners, providing institutions and industry with the foundation to gain a deeper understanding of competencies.