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.