Matching + support. During Powderkeg Unvalley, we had a great conversation with Ruben Harris, CEO of Career Karma, a bootcamp matching company that helps people find the right job training programs. 

Ruben stressed that building community is a critical part of motivating people to take action, like signing on to reskill or upskill so they can seek out a different job.

“Right now, there are huge dollars going into building effective training programs. But what we really need to figure out is how to give people psychological support to make a decision and move forward.”

The heart/brain connection. One of Career Karma’s lead investors recently tweeted, ”Stories move the heart. Data moves the brain. You need both to move a human.”

Community as fuel. Once Career Karma recommends a training program, each person is assigned a coach who provides support and gets the job seeker hooked into a larger community of people who have similar interests and motivations. Membership in those communities kick-starts the retraining process and keeps people motivated if they face roadblocks.

Want to watch the full interview with Career Karma’s Ruben Harris? Click here to access it in the Powderkeg Unvalley archive.