Podcast Summary: The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast
Episode: How Small Businesses Can Grow Their Own Talent
Host: John Jantsch
Guest: Alexandra Levitt, workplace futurist and author
Date: February 18, 2026
Episode Overview
This episode explores how small businesses can address the growing talent gap by developing their own workforce through work-based learning (WBL) initiatives. John Jantsch is joined by Alexandra Levitt, an expert in workplace trends and author of Make Schoolwork: Solving the American Youth Employment Crisis Through Work Based Learning. Together, they discuss practical strategies for business owners to create talent pipelines, the value of hands-on learning experiences, and actionable steps for getting started, with real insights from Levitt’s collaboration with GPS Education Partners.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. What is Work-Based Learning? (WBL)
- Definition: WBL is experiential learning that takes place in real-world work environments, such as apprenticeships, internships, and mentoring.
- Levitt: “High quality work based learning is a fully immersive experience that's authentic to the individual... providing a tangible opportunity to spend a good degree of time learning skills that will make you career ready.” (01:02)
- Valuable Outcomes: Skills acquired go beyond technical — judgment, interpersonal relations, and problem-solving.
- Example: Students in manufacturing might integrate AI with robotics, a highly sought-after skill today.
2. The Youth Employment Crisis & Skills Mismatch
- Description of the Crisis: There’s a disconnect between available jobs (especially in skilled trades) and the career paths most young people pursue, driven largely by the one-size-fits-all push towards 4-year college.
- Levitt: "We have so many college students graduating... but the jobs that are available on the knowledge worker front are not as prolific... entry level hiring has taken a massive dip due to AI-driven automation." (02:31)
- Result: Oversupply of college graduates; undersupply of skilled trade workers, with those jobs paying very well but often stigmatized.
3. The Value of Skilled Trades in an AI Era
- Changing Perceptions: Trades like plumbing and carpentry are in high demand and offer lucrative, fulfilling careers — and are less susceptible to AI disruption.
- Levitt: "There is this strange stigma... oh, you want a four year college degree, you don't want to go into manufacturing or plumbing or carpentry because that's not a desirable career path... But these jobs pay astronomically well, way better out of the gate than a lot of knowledge worker jobs." (05:11)
- Human Element: Many skilled trades involve complex, interpersonal, or physical tasks that AI or robotics can’t easily replace.
4. Real-World Solution: Partnership Model
- GPS Education Partners: Levitt’s co-authoring experience highlighted collaborative WBL—a model convening schools, employers, policymakers, and nonprofits to match local students with job opportunities.
- Levitt: “They have successfully done this over 25 years... a kid would go into an employer at 16, start working, and ten years later be a master welder. He built an entire career off one work based learning experience.” (07:21)
5. Designing Effective Work-Based Learning Programs
- Curriculum & Structure: Schools and employers co-create curricula; intermediary groups like GPS help align school credits and workplace needs.
- Levitt: “Ideally, there would be a really concrete plan about what that student is going to learn, what they're going to do and how the different parties are going to benefit.” (13:41)
- Not “Random Acts of Work”: Intentional, outcomes-based programs are critical.
- Benefits for Employers: Direct access to trained and motivated talent, improved retention, deeper community ties, and enhanced employee engagement via mentorship roles.
- Levitt: “Employees love to be in the mentorship position... it’s really rewarding and allows them growth opportunities as well.” (14:59)
6. How Small Businesses Can Get Started
- Start Small, Start Local: Reach out to nearby schools; design clearly defined, outcome-specific internships or micro-apprenticeships.
- Jantsch: "Start with what's the outcome you want? Then back it into...a 10-week paid micro internship or something... even have like down to the level of having checklist of what we want that person to accomplish." (15:44)
- Leverage Existing Help: Use intermediaries with experience in WBL for legal compliance, program design, and logistics to avoid reinventing the wheel.
- Levitt: “If I was doing it myself, I would definitely be consulting with a group that's done this before... those labor laws differ by state.” (17:47)
7. Measuring Success
- Key Metrics:
- Skill acquisition via certifications or assessments.
- Number of interns/conversions to full-time employees.
- Social and community impact (harder to quantify but valuable).
- Upskilling in Emerging Fields: Use WBL to introduce students (and staff) to in-demand competencies, particularly AI.
- Levitt: "If you have a 16, 17-year-old student on the front lines of learning these technologies, they can grow up with the technology... That’s something that we, those of us who've been in workforce a while, we're just trying to play catch up here." (20:29)
8. Real-World Application: Learning to Contextualize
- Beyond Tool Use: Young people may know tech/social media, but need workplace context—another benefit of tailored, mentorship-driven WBL.
- Jantsch: “They understand all these and have no fear...[but] how they actually put them in context of...a business situation, I think is... an invaluable skill they're never going to learn in school.” (21:21)
- AI Integration as Ongoing Process: Teaching adaptability to new technology is essential for long-term career readiness.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- Levitt (on work-based learning):
“It's education for a purpose. It's not just, well, we're going to do this four-year degree, we don't know if we're actually going to use it for anything." (10:26) - Levitt (on stigmas and trade careers):
“If you look at what is a desirable career path, it's something that allows you to earn a family sustaining wage and something that you enjoy doing." (05:34) - Jantsch (practical advice):
"Start with what's the outcome you want? Then back it into like, okay, we're going to make this a 10-week paid micro internship or something... really define it." (15:44) - Levitt (on leveraging intermediaries):
“Why try to reinvent the wheel? Why not work with someone who's already done it a bunch?” (18:55)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- 01:02 – Definition and benefits of work-based learning
- 02:31 – Understanding the youth employment crisis and skills gap
- 05:11 – Why skilled trades matter and their resilience against AI
- 07:21 – Successful WBL program partnerships and outcomes
- 09:48 – Curriculum design and school-employer collaboration
- 13:41 – How small businesses can start and the importance of intentionality
- 15:44 – Defining specific outcomes and structuring internships
- 17:47 – Addressing compliance, supervision, and logistics
- 19:38 – Measuring success: skill acquisition and other metrics
- 21:21 – The need for contextual learning and adapting to tech in business
Resources Mentioned
- Book: Make Schoolwork by Alexandra Levitt
- Website: makeschoolwork.org – resources and readiness assessments for WBL initiatives
- Organization: GPS Education Partners — intermediary for school-employer WBL programs
Closing Thoughts
This episode makes a compelling case for work-based learning as a strategic solution for small businesses facing talent shortages. By developing tailored, purpose-driven programs in partnership with educational institutions and leveraging expert intermediaries, even small teams can cultivate a sustainable talent pipeline, strengthen their brand, and invest meaningfully in their communities.
