Employer input for your CLNA
Perkins V requires a comprehensive local needs assessment every 2 years, with business and industry at the table.
Future1 gathers employer input all year, so it is ready when you are.
For CTE and work-based learning leaders
Employers say yes to work-based learningMost people don't know how to ask them
After 10+ years of conversations with employers, I found the order that turns a stranger into a partner. Most programs skip step 1, then forget the 1 thing that brings employers back. Both fixes are smaller than you think.
First partner in 30 days. 5 in 90. If you do not have 5, we keep working at no cost.
Start here
I need more employers.
Your partnerships live in 1 inbox. Here is how to get them out.
I need my career fair to lead somewhere.
300 handshakes. 0 hires. Turn the next one into 30 days of next steps.
I need Perkins V evidence for June.
Your career fair already counts under a heading most directors never use.
I am a parent.
They applied everywhere. Nobody called back. Here is what changes in 30 days.
What happens after the yes
The employers I lost never said no. They just never heard from us again.
1 person carries every employer relationship. When that person gets busy, calls go unanswered, partners go quiet, and students miss opportunities that were already on the table.
Then June comes, documentation of outcomes is due, and every record lives in 1 inbox.
1 overloaded column
- Employer outreach.
- Relationship development.
- Opportunity coordination.
- Student coordination.
- Communication.
- Follow-up.
- Tracking.
- Reporting.
- Partnership growth.
The same work, distributed
Your team.
Pathways, students, instruction, and local relationships.
Future1.
Outreach, coordination, follow-up, tracking, and reporting.
Employers.
1 clear ask that fits the time they actually have.
We do not replace your team. We expand its capacity.
The 5 Asks
The ask that gets a yes is smaller than you think.
Each ask is small enough to say yes to. Each yes earns the next one. Skip an ask, or skip the 1 thing most programs forget after every yes, and employers go quiet.
Ask 1
The First Ask
20 minutes
Career Awareness
Ask 2
Career Awareness
Ask 3
Career Exploration
Ask 4
Career Preparation
Ask 5
Placement
Internship, apprenticeship, work experience, or a job
Career Training and Placement
Asks 2 to 5 are where most programs lose employers. Ask me about the gap in a 20 minute call.
Book a 20 minute callEvery ask counts toward your first partner in 30 days and 5 in 90.
Free for CTE leaders
We found the Perkins V heading your career fair already counts under. Most directors have never used it.
It still counts, just under a different heading. The 5 Asks Starter Kit puts every employer and every activity in the right place on its own.
- 1
The First Ask 1-pager
- 2
A simple spreadsheet. Your data never leaves your file.
- 3
14 thank-you cards, 1 for every career cluster
What Perkins V, WIOA, and your state now ask of you
The requirements are already here. The staff time is not.
Work-based learning that counts
Perkins V lets states measure CTE program quality by how many students take part in work-based learning.
Future1 moves employers up to placements and logs every hour.
Advisory committees employers attend
State CTE approval often requires advisory committees with real business members who meet at least 2 times a year.
Future1 recruits the members, runs the meetings, and keeps the minutes.
Work experience for youth
WIOA requires at least 20% of local youth funds to go to paid and unpaid work experience.
Future1 brings the employers who host it.
AI literacy for every learner
Federal guidance now encourages AI literacy inside CTE programs of study and youth workforce programs.
Build with AI teaches it on the federal framework.
Run it yourself, or have us run it for you.
Employer Partnership Management
First partner in 30 days. 5 in 90, from a class visit to a hired student.
We map the in-demand jobs in your area and connect you with employers who hire for them. We make the calls, send the emails, and handle the follow up. We run your advisory committee and log every employer, step, and hour for your reports. The relationships stay with your district.
See how it worksCoaching
Students ages 16 to 24 land a first career opportunity in 30 days.
Career Ready
A first interview, job shadow, site visit, internship, or job offer. Built on the 7 habits the U.S. Department of Labor says employers hire for
Build with AI
Learn AI the way employers want it used. Built on the U.S. Department of Labor AI Literacy Framework
Runs in your study hall, in your program, or online for families.
See the coachingWant your team to run it themselves? Every team starts with The First Ask Training.
Day 30, your first partner. Day 90, your fifth.
- 1
Days 1 to 30
The First Ask
We match your pathways to local employers, send the first asks, and book your first partner.
- 2
Days 31 to 60
The next ask
Every partner who said yes moves up a step, on a date, so nobody goes quiet.
- 3
Days 61 to 90
5 partners
5 partners booked on dates, every step logged for Perkins V, and a report your board can read.
I have sat in your chair.
10+ years in schools and workforce centers as a dean of students, work-based learning specialist, and workforce coordinator. I know what it takes to get an employer to say yes, and what it takes to keep them.
I used The 5 Asks for years in schools and workforce centers before I named it.
Global Career Development Facilitator and AI Readiness Specialist, working with districts, programs, and families online anywhere.
Gospel Kordah, Founder.
Read my storyQuestions