I do not expect a flood of interest, but it has always seemed to me that we need ultra-transparency and simplicity when it comes to matching people to opportunities. There are two factors involved: 1) the person who needs the chance to work, and 2) the needs of those who will pay out a reward for this work.
Here are some ideas.
Open standards
There should be entirely open standards for qualification. The opportunity should not specify a college degree for example. Or an age. Or a gender. Or a race. Qualification is for a particular function.
Those with opportunities who want to play it this way need to say what they want to be done and select those who show they can do it.
I am 81, and there are tons of jobs I could do if I needed or wanted work. There are lots of folks of all ages who could say the same. Open Standards would help.
Demonstrated competence
Work should be available to those who can do the work. Period. Competence should be the standard whether one is young or old, or has a degree or not. All opportunities should have a trial so both parties can achieve a level of comfort and satisfaction.
How to rise
With more and more specialization needed, we must have universal standards reachable by anyone with a computer.
An opportunity should be able to say that a person should master this or that ability. But this mastery should be free and transparent and doable in one's own way and one's own time.
For example, to be a lawyer in a certain field, employers should specify what the applicant needs to know.
All knowledge open and accessible
Ultimately, there should be a global education bank in which all knowledge is accessible and through which competence can be established just as Kahn Institute does as you progress in one subject or another.
Ultimately, education should be a free curatorial service that is public and available to persons according to their curiosity and interest. I see these as nodes or kiosks within what I call cybercommunities. All manner of people could go to the legal kiosk and a curator would access whatever resource might meet a seeker's need.
Loosen up
I see all sorts of nonsense predicated on the continuation of what is established and seemingly fixed. The whole structure of higher education seems to me much more precarious than that. Its costs are prohibitive.
If one wants to work in a given area, there should be the opportunity to approach the potential employer and apprentice oneself immediately.
The only way the sky can be the limit is to create a chance to see the sky.
