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In order to stay globally competitive, Houston’s industries needed to attract, train, and hire workers into technical careers that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree. To address the skills gap, Greater Houston Partnership— a group of 1,200 companies in the 11 county Houston region—took on the responsibility of retraining workers and strengthening the talent pipeline.

The need for quality talent is so great that those who excel at unlearning, learning, and reinventing themselves have a higher probability of success for overcoming common biases including race, gender, age, and academic background. Finding employees and candidates who have the ability and initiative to constantly reinvent themselves is the goal of every company today, though it isn’t easy.

Congress last week passed and the president today signed legislation reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which provides important funding for programs focused on the academic, career, and technical skills development for high school and higher education students. Highlights of the reauthorization include new opportunities for partnerships between employers and educators to improve student preparation for in-demand jobs, measures that improve alignment with other workforce development programs, and increased program accountability.

For hiring managers to attract top talent, they must view the aging workforce through a new lens. Today, we consider those 65+ to be “older” and less skilled or capable. But we must shift our perspective on age. The average life expectancy for a man is 80 years old, and for a woman the average is 85 years. A 50-year-old is no longer a “senior.”