What Hiring Managers on the Hill Are Looking For: Watch the Career Accelerator
On October 15, the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) hosted the Career Accelerator on Capitol Hill, a bipartisan lunch program with generous support from Google. Katch Skills was proud to join as a partner, and the room on Capitol Hill was full of emerging and established leaders from government, business, nonprofits, policy, education, and technology.
The full recording from the Hill event is now available.
What the day covered
Difficult Conversations: The Skill That Gets You Promoted on the Hill.
Kelli Herrick (Future Caucus), Larissa Martinez (Women's Public Leadership Network), Joshua Bandoch (FREOPP), and Alice Lugo (Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck), joined moderator Mary Ann Gomez Orta, President and CEO of CHLI, to share practical frameworks for managing up, receiving tough feedback, and building the trust that earns greater responsibility.
Lunch and Networking: Resources, Skills and Job Opportunities on the Hill.
Jeyben Castro of the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer highlighted professional development resources many staff never hear about, and the room put them to use on the spot.
The AI Toolkit for Getting Noticed on the Hill.
Katch Skills Founder and CEO Laura Maristany moderated a candid conversation with Sam Aleman (Civics Outreach Manager, Google), Alyssa Franco (Director of Operations, Office of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart), and John Salamone (Chief Human Capital Officer, House Human Capital Office). Their starting point: AI has made it easier than ever to produce a polished resume, which means a polished resume no longer sets anyone apart.
Congressional Hiring Manager Perspectives.
Andrew Renteria (Office of Rep. David Valadao), Josh Yearsley (Office of Sen. Cortez Masto), Emily Benavides (UnitedHealth Group), and Martin Medrano (Office of Rep. Gil Cisneros) joined moderator Jeyben Castro for a candid look at what gets a candidate hired and what quietly gets them passed over.
The message that ran through every session
Hiring managers are looking past the page. When every resume reads the same, what stands out is evidence: what you have actually done, what you have learned, and the proof behind the skills you claim.
That is exactly what Katch Skills was built for. For the employers and universities we serve, Katch Skills turns everyday learning into skills intelligence. Team members and students capture skills as they build them, from trainings and mentoring sessions to the projects that never show up on a transcript or a job description. Your organization gains a live picture of the talent you already have: the skills in your community, where the gaps are, and how people are growing while they are with you and after they move on.
That visibility changes how organizations support their teams. Universities use it to follow outcomes and meet reporting requirements with real data instead of surveys. Employers use it to develop and retain people whose capabilities would otherwise stay invisible. When every resume reads the same, the organizations that can see and show the evidence behind their talent are the ones that win.
Watch the full recording and start your skills story at katchskills.ai.
Thank you to CHLI for creating this space and to Google for supporting a meaningful conversation on the future of work and hiring.
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