Podcast: The Fort | Wyatt Smith – Found of UpSmith – Combatting America’s Growing Skilled Worker Crisis

Wyatt is the founder and CEO of UpSmith, a technology company on a mission to combat America’s skilled worker crisis.  UpSmith partners with employers to identify high-demand gaps in their labor force, then sources and screens candidates to fill them. Where necessary, UpSmith connects candidates with affordable, fast, high-quality training to qualify them for placement. Prior to UpSmith, Wyatt led business development for Elevate, Uber’s aerial ride-sharing business unit. He served as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and as a corps member with Teach for America, receiving the 2013 Sue Lehmann Award as a national teacher of the year. Wyatt holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a BS in Human & Organizational Development and Political Science from Vanderbilt University, where he served as student body president and as a young alumni trustee on the Board of Trust.

On this episode, Chris and Wyatt discuss:

• An in-depth view of the emerging blue-collar labor crisis in America and how we got here.
• The benefits of blue-collar work and why it is worthwhile work.
• Upsmith’s plan to employ more blue-collar workers.
• Why college isn’t for everyone.