Arnold Worldwide and the Ad Council teamed up with Year Up, the Employment Pathways Project, ConPRmetidos, MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, New Options Project, and Opportunity Nation for a PSA campaign entitled “Grads of Life.”
The campaign promotes alternative hiring processes and attempts to “raise awareness and change employer’s perceptions of opportunity youth” to fill the 4 million vacant positions companies in the U.S. are trying to fill. In a spot called “Pathways to Employment,” running in both 30 and 60-second versions, an employer sits down with a candidate for an interview. She touts her problem solving skills and strong work ethic, and, while he mentions her lack of a college degree, he ultimately decides she’s exactly what he’s looking for. Then, she disappears into thin air, symbolizing that because of the way in which they look for candidates, most employers never meet these type of prospective employees.
The campaign launch was backed by Hilary Clinton at the tenth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, where she said, “The Grads of Life PSA campaign is the first effort to drive employer demand for the millions of low-income young adults that are a huge source of untapped talent in our country and through GradsofLife.org employers can now access the first-ever online platform for the information, tools, and resources they need to take action today.”