Bring us the work.
See talent in action.
Vanguard Rising gives employers a smarter way to get meaningful work moved forward while observing veterans, military spouses, and other skilled talent performing in a real team environment.
Real work. Six weeks. Demonstrated capability. Better hiring evidence.
What if you could see someone work before making the hiring decision?
Traditional hiring asks employers to predict performance from a resumé, application, and interview.
Vanguard Rising creates another source of evidence: the work itself. Participants contribute to real employer projects, produce deliverables, receive feedback, and operate in an environment that reflects actual workplace expectations.
Instead of asking only, “Did they interview well?”, employers can ask, “What did they actually demonstrate?”
You have work that needs to move forward.
You also need stronger evidence before making your next hire.
Vanguard Rising brings those two needs together in one six-week experiential learning lab.
Bring the business challenge into the lab.
We work with you to identify useful, appropriately scoped work that can be completed by a cross-functional Vanguard Rising team.
Define the Work
Your organization identifies a business challenge, project, workflow, operational need, or talent priority.
Build the Team
We align participants whose translated skills and career goals fit the work and the roles you want to evaluate.
Work for Six Weeks
Participants work in a structured team, manage tasks through workflow, create deliverables, and respond to feedback.
See the Evidence
Review the work, observe participant behaviors, identify high-potential talent, and make better-informed hiring decisions.
See the skills a resumé cannot show you.
Six weeks of collaboration creates opportunities to observe behaviors that are difficult to evaluate through traditional hiring.
- Problem-solving and critical thinking
- Communication and collaboration
- Reliability and follow-through
- Response to feedback
- Learning agility and curiosity
- Ability to navigate ambiguity
- Documentation and work quality
- Ownership and accountability
- Team contribution
- Role-specific technical or functional skills
The lab should create value even if you hire no one.
Every lab is built around work your organization wants moved forward. Deliverables depend on the project, but examples may include:
- Workflow and process maps
- Standard operating procedures
- Research and analysis
- Operational dashboards and trackers
- Onboarding and training tools
- Marketing and communications assets
- Data collection and reporting support
- Grant and fundraising research
- Logistics and resource planning
- Process improvement recommendations
What kind of work could you bring into Vanguard Rising?
Labs can be aligned to the functions, occupations, and business challenges that matter to your organization.
Multiple touchpoints. Visible progress. Real deliverables.
The exact cadence is customized to the project, but a typical lab moves from discovery to useful work products, feedback, iteration, and final employer review.
Scope & Discover
Understand the challenge, stakeholders, workflow, expectations, success criteria, and team roles.
Map & Research
Examine the current state, gather information, identify constraints, and begin developing solutions.
Build
Develop early deliverables, document findings, test assumptions, and communicate progress.
Improve
Refine workflows, solutions, documentation, and artifacts based on project learning.
Demo & Iterate
Present work, receive stakeholder feedback, demonstrate responsiveness, and improve the solution.
Deliver & Evaluate
Present final deliverables, recommendations, portfolio evidence, and talent observations.
“Bring the work into the lab. See talent in action. Build confidence before hire.”
A workforce partnership designed to create value on both sides.
Real Problems Solved
Teams work on actual business challenges, producing useful, reviewable work instead of completing generic training exercises.
Reduced Hiring Risk
Evaluate talent through demonstrated performance, team interaction, feedback, and project artifacts rather than relying on traditional hiring signals alone.
Workforce-Ready Talent
Meet veterans and military spouses whose experience has been translated into civilian-aligned skills and strengthened through applied work.
Skills Visibility
See capabilities emerge through actual contribution, including durable skills that can be difficult to assess in an interview.
Talent Development
Use the model for external candidates, internal talent development, career mobility, or exploration of emerging skill needs.
Start Small. Scale What Works.
Begin with one team and one defined challenge. Validate the value, identify high-potential talent, and expand based on results.
A strong employer partner has work worth doing.
- You have projects or business challenges that need momentum.
- You are open to skills-first talent practices.
- You want to support veterans and military spouses through meaningful experience.
- You are willing to interact with the team and provide feedback.
- You want better visibility into candidate capability.
- You are exploring new ways to build or develop your talent pipeline.
Not sure what project to bring us?
That is exactly what the workforce consultation is for.
Tell us where work is getting stuck, what keeps falling to the bottom of the priority list, where you need more capacity, or what talent you need to identify.
We will explore whether the challenge can become a useful Vanguard Rising lab.
Bring Us the BottleneckWhat work does your organization need moved forward?
Tell us about your organization, the work, and the talent challenge. We will explore what a Vanguard Rising employer partnership could look like.
Email: talentsuccess@theascendcollective.org
Learn more: theascendcollective.org/vanguard-rising
Stop guessing what talent can do.
Bring us a real business challenge. Let a Vanguard Rising team work on it. See capability develop in front of you.