Why “Workforce” Is the Wrong Word for Prospective Students

I have a proposal for higher education marketers. Let's retire the word workforce from prospective student marketing.

Before you object, let me be clear: I don't think workforce is a bad word.

It's an important word for policymakers. For business leaders. For economic developers. For donors. Those audiences care about workforce development because they're thinking about talent pipelines, regional economies and labor shortages.

But prospective students? I don't know a single high school student who lies awake at night thinking, I can't wait to enter the workforce.

Students don't dream about becoming part of a labor pool. They dream about becoming someone.

A future nurse imagines caring for patients. A future welder imagines building things that last. A future elementary school teacher imagines her own classroom. A future software developer imagines creating the next great app. A future chef imagines opening a restaurant. A future radiologic technologist imagines helping save lives.

When we tell prospective students that we're "preparing them for the workforce," we're speaking from the institution's perspective. We're talking about outputs. Students are thinking about outcomes.

To them, college isn't a workforce development initiative. It's a pathway to a future they can imagine for themselves.

One of the easiest traps in higher education marketing is forgetting who we're talking to. We write copy that would make a legislator happy and then wonder why it doesn't resonate with a 17-year-old.

Consider the audiences: A governor wants workforce development. A CEO wants a talent pipeline. A donor wants economic impact. A parent wants career readiness and financial security. A prospective student wants to know: Who will I become? That's a fundamentally different question.

The irony is that higher education has incredible stories to tell. Don't tell me you'll prepare students for the workforce. Show me the nursing student in a clinical rotation. Show me the culinary student serving her first customers. Show me the cybersecurity student defending a network attack. Show me the future entrepreneur launching a business before graduation. Show me the student teacher leading a classroom.

Those stories describe more than employment. They describe identity. And identity is what prospective students buy.

The point isn't that we should ban the word workforce in every context. It has its place. Annual reports. Legislative testimony. Economic development partnerships. Board presentations.

But when we're talking to prospective students, we should remember that they don't see themselves as future units of labor. They see themselves as future versions of themselves.