A guide for states and systems deciding which organization to recognize as a sector's voice — including sample selection criteria, and what to do in the two hardest scenarios: a sector crowded with competing intermediaries, and a sector with none at all.
The foundational recommendation of this body of work is that states recognize and fund employer-led sector intermediaries as core workforce infrastructure. That makes selection the consequential decision: which organization gets formal standing to speak for a sector shapes everything that follows.
Selection is really two decisions in sequence. First, which sectors warrant this investment — a call that deserves clear, objective criteria rather than defaulting to legacy programs or politically connected stakeholders. Then, which organization should hold the role in each priority sector — the question this guide addresses.
How to use this guide: vet candidate organizations against the eight criteria below, then turn to the scenario that matches your situation — a crowded field (Scenario 01) or an empty one (Scenario 02).
The stakes of getting it wrong: appointing an organization just to fill the role — without the necessary credibility or capacity — leads to poor outcomes and erodes the very employer trust the model depends on. Funding should not go to a sector intermediary unless it is truly well-positioned to lead. It is better to build toward a strong designation than to rush a weak one.
There is more than one way to put an intermediary in the role, and each carries a different trade-off between speed, defensibility, and legitimacy. Employer-driven selection produces the strongest legitimacy — representation is earned rather than assigned — but it is also the messiest, and it asks the state to tolerate ambiguity while the sector organizes.
Eight criteria for evaluating whether an organization is positioned to hold a sector's voice — whether the state runs a competitive process, a transparent assessment, or a phased designation.
Direct relationships with a defined set of employers — often through an existing membership base — with employers willing to publicly affirm that trust. Credibility requires a critical mass of the sector, not a small or selective subset.
Look for: membership rosters, named employer champions, and endorsement letters from employers across sizes and sub-sectors.
Governance, membership, or revenue tied to employer satisfaction — employers can hold the organization accountable for results. This is why industry associations often make strong intermediaries: their legitimacy and revenue depend on serving employers well.
Look for: employer-majority governance, dues- or member-driven revenue, and board seats held by operating executives.
Talent development is central to the organization's mission — reflected in its strategic plan, its leadership attention, and dedicated staff capacity — not an add-on adopted to chase funding.
Look for: workforce named in the strategic plan, an executive who owns it, and dedicated staff — not a fractional add-on.
The organization has brought its employers together before to establish shared priorities — evidence it can aggregate a sector voice rather than assemble one for the first time under a state contract.
Look for: past convenings with real outputs — shared priorities, joint statements, coordinated asks the sector signed onto.
Measurable results from past initiatives — programs launched, partnerships built, employer commitments delivered — even if outside workforce development proper.
Look for: initiatives with measurable results, and references from employers and public partners who saw them delivered.
Fluency in turning employer pain points into guidance that training partners can act on — which roles are hardest to fill, which skills matter most, and what that means for curriculum and program design.
Look for: artifacts — competency frameworks, priority-occupation lists, program guidance produced for education partners.
Comfort working with labor market information and employer demand signals — paired with real investment in relationships. Strong intermediaries get outside the office: data informs the work, it doesn't become the work.
Look for: staff who are fluent with labor market data and spend their time with employers — analysis that drives action, not report generation.
If the organization runs its own training programs, clear policies ensure it supports the strongest solutions across the full ecosystem — not just its own offerings. Unmanaged conflicts are one of the fastest ways designations lose employer trust.
Look for: a written conflict-of-interest policy, and examples of the organization advancing programs it does not run.
Criteria adapted from Scaling What Works and the Cross-State Collaborative's work on how systems should determine which intermediary to formally listen to.
Some sectors are crowded — multiple associations, coalitions, and nonprofits competing for employer attention, with no one clearly able to speak for the industry. This crowding is usually created by funding, not by the sector itself. When several organizations are each funded to engage the same employers, competition multiplies. The good news: the same funding and policy choices that created the crowding can be used to consolidate it.
Much of the apparent crowding dissolves when the role is defined precisely. One state shifted expectations away from program management — running apprenticeships, developing standards — toward representing employer voice and priorities. The narrower the ask, the more obvious the right intermediary becomes.
Employers organize when something meaningful is at stake. In Switzerland's system, the state granted real decision-making authority and let employers determine who would represent them — messy at first, but the stakes forced sectors to coordinate and select credible representatives. Authority creates the demand for a unified voice; without it, fragmented tables persist because nothing rides on consolidating them.
Legitimacy comes from employer backing, not state designation. Rather than the state picking among rivals, structure the process so employers signal who actually speaks for them — through endorsements, participation, and willingness to work through the designated channel.
Initial selections won't always be right. States that succeed create space to test, learn, and adjust — and act quickly when a designation isn't working. One state replaced a designated intermediary soon after it became clear the fit was wrong, signaling that designation is conditional on effectiveness. Contractual tools should allow for course correction, including replacement. The cost of inaction is high.
Audit where public and philanthropic dollars are flowing. If several organizations in one sector are separately funded to engage employers, the funding design is producing the fragmentation — align it behind the designated role instead.
Other sectors have almost no infrastructure at all — no association with real convening power, no organization that obviously holds the sector's voice. But intermediaries can be built, not just found. With the right incentives, support, and authority, new or unlikely organizations can grow into credible sector leaders.
The right organization may not look like a sector intermediary. In one state, a regional chamber stepped into the intermediary role for a sector with no association of its own — it already held the employer relationships that mattered. Chambers with deep interest in a particular industry, employer coalitions formed around a shared problem, and organizations adjacent to the sector can all hold the role credibly.
By establishing a meaningful role in system decision-making before an intermediary exists, the state creates a reason for organizations to step forward — and for employers to organize behind one. The role generates the candidates.
Washington's Sector Leaders model invested in organizations with strong employer membership even where they lacked workforce experience — and paired the funding with technical assistance in data, facilitation, and strategy. Intermediaries aren't born ready; they grow into the role — multi-year funding, technical assistance, and peer learning are the on-ramp.
Pilot in a small number of sectors first and expand as the infrastructure matures. A targeted initial scope — a specific decision area, a demonstration region, a bounded charge — lets a new intermediary earn credibility before taking on the full role.
Where no strong candidate exists yet, don't force a designation. Timing matters: an empty seat held open is recoverable; a weak designation that burns employer trust is much harder to undo.
Selection doesn't rest with state government alone. Each of the actors below shapes whether credible intermediaries emerge.