I grew up in Woodbine, New Jersey. The town and the area epitomize a lot of our country — a place with very few options for meaningful career growth. The area has what I would call a tourist economy, and is too far away from the bustling city of Philadelphia. Atlantic City and the area were the closest to a secure economy, but that was based on a casino industry that has lost its regional dominance.
Even if you could get a job nearby, transportation options were few, and if you don't have a job, you likely can't get a car, nor the insurance to be able to drive it. If you have kids, to boot, it's even more of a challenge. This is a place where poverty begets poverty.
If you do get a job, it's likely low wage. You may have to get the skills on the job, which hurts a lot of the entrepreneurs who try to start their own trade businesses. As has been said, "you just can't hire good help these days."
There's a bleakness to it even if you are ambitious. I know because when I wanted to start working at 15, I couldn't find a job nearby. Once I did find a job, I got a ride with my mom at 5:30 AM and she dropped me off at my grandma's house who happened to live next to the place where I worked (this was intentional). I was lucky in that regard. All the good paying jobs were on the coastal islands, but I had no way of getting there. I started riding my bike 15 miles to work and back on dangerous roads.
When you consider what it takes to get started, people have to really want to work — many of us are so ambitious that we will find a way no matter what. However, not all of us can afford to take such chances and have a lot of dependencies to success.
This is why I created Talent Match.
Because I believe there are a lot of people sidelined because they couldn't get past the start. If I can help them as I had a few sparks of help and good luck, then perhaps I can help drive a transformation so much needed in the areas of the United States where people are being left behind, who need the skills to get a chance, and are ready to take a chance on themselves.