The Paper Ceiling: (n) the invisible barrier that comes at every turn for workers without a bachelor’s degree.
This weekend I saw a television advertisement from a group that calls for action to Tear the Paper Ceiling. This is a website and advertising campaign developed in partnership with the Ad Council by a coalition of nonprofits, Opportunity @ Work and nearly 50 national organizations and companies. The national public service advertising campaign calls on businesses and decision makers to remove the barriers blocking half of the workers in the United States from upper mobility and recognition. The public service announcements encourage employers and workers alike to join the movement to tear the “paper ceiling”.
What took me on this investigative route was the showing of a radiologic technologist sitting in front of a bank of view boxes with displayed images. The clip also showed this same rad tech model walking down a hallway inside a department. I also wondered what organization had the resources and funds to air an ad campaign in prime-time television.
This campaign kicked off in an event co-hosted by LinkedIn. I was surprised at the inclusion of radiology in the listing. This is a multiyear campaign to change the narrative around the value and the potential of workers who have skills that are obtained through alternative routes other than a bachelor’s degree. They define this as Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARS). The estimate is that there are more than 70 million workers in this category.
The paper ceiling represents the degree screens, biased algorithms, stereotypes, and exclusive professional networking that block career opportunities. When the paper ceiling is torn, employers would gain access to a massive and diverse pool of candidates for hard-to-fill jobs, while the STARS have the opportunity to gain economic mobility and higher wages.
The list of 50 supporting companies and organizations did not include a healthcare company or facility. Ad Council President and CEO Lisa Sherman was quoted saying, “Across America today, millions of workers are unfairly shut out from job opportunities because of misperceptions about their skills and preparedness”. Aneesh Ramon, VP at LinkedIn was quoted stating “For far too long, the way people got hired was based solely on the job they had, the degree they earned, or the people they knew. That’s starting to change.”
I wonder if the federal decision workers at the National Labor Relations Board responsible for classifying workers as professional or technical are paying attention? This has been our industry premise for a long time. The educational component for radiologic technology is skills based. Basic entry level radiologic technology skills are a launch pad for the far more important skills coming from work experience unmatched in the healthcare industry. The addition of skills after the entry level radiologic technology program is massive. There are many, many multi-modality radiologic technologists performing radiology, CT, MRI, Mammo, Bone Density, Interventional, Special Procedures, Ultrasound and Operating Room Fluoroscopy. All these additional skills have been reached through an alternative route of education. We can include our professional group in the STARS category.
Our professional organizations and educational sponsors should align with this campaign. If it is successful, it could mean a change of direction in the definition of our industry.
