Resources · Glossary
Workforce, skills, WIOA, and ETPL definitions
Clear definitions for job seekers and institutional partners. Start with the term, then follow links into training, funding, careers, and related resources.
Who this glossary helps
Shared vocabulary for seekers, education partners, and workforce institutions.
Job seekers & career switchers
Understand funding, training, and skills terms before you explore programs or apply.
Students, counselors & CTE staff
Use shared definitions when comparing pathways, credentials, and readiness tools.
Boards, agencies & providers
Align on WIOA, ETPL, and modernization language for planning conversations.
Core definitions
Priority terms for manufacturing/trades pathways, public workforce systems, and Hidden Talent experiences.
- WIOA
- The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act — the primary U.S. federal framework for public workforce programs. Pages may describe possible funding pathways; eligibility and funding decisions are made by the applicable workforce agency.
- ETPL
- Eligible Training Provider List — the approved list of training providers and programs a state or workforce board uses for WIOA-funded training discovery. Hidden Talent supports ETPL discovery and provider partnership; it does not decide eligibility.
- Skills Wallet
- A free profile where job seekers can save skills, assessment insights, credentials progress, and career blueprint information across tools and applications.
- Skills gap
- The difference between skills you have today and skills typically required for a target role — used to guide learning paths, credentials, and readiness planning.
- One Stop / AJC
- American Job Centers (One Stops) deliver local workforce services such as career counseling, job search help, and training referrals in partnership with workforce boards.
- Workforce board
- A local or regional public workforce organization that plans and oversees workforce programs, partner services, and often ETPL-related training navigation for its area.
- Skills-based hiring
- Hiring that emphasizes demonstrated skills and role requirements over keyword-only résumé matching — supported for employers through JobReadyIQ experiences.
- Personalized learning path
- A sequenced training and skills plan tailored to a person’s goals and gaps — a key step after assessment, skills-gap analysis, or career profile building.
- Monster Works
- Hidden Talent’s public workforce platform family for case management and labor-exchange modernization for boards, One Stops, and state partners.
- AdaptIQ
- Hidden Talent’s intelligence and personalization capabilities — including workforce intelligence for institutions and personalized coaching/path experiences for seekers (context depends on the page).
- JobReadyIQ
- Skills-based assessment and hiring intelligence for organizations, schools, and workforce partners — not the lead brand on B2C job-seeker free-tool pages.
- Career Blueprint
- A structured view of career direction, skills, and next steps that can be saved with Skills Wallet progress after free assessment or profile building.
Funding may be available to eligible individuals. Eligibility and funding decisions are made by the applicable workforce agency.
How to use the glossary
Look up → link out → act. Definitions support clarity; they are not funding determinations or outcome guarantees.
Look up the term
Start with workforce, skills, WIOA, and ETPL definitions written for search and AI answer clarity.
Follow the related page
Each term links into a guide, funding page, training hub, or product explanation when relevant.
Take a next step
Explore training options, check possible funding guidance, or continue into careers and Skills Wallet.
Continue from definitions
Funding, ETPL, guides, research, board resources, Job Seekers, and Resources.
- Fund
WIOA funding guidance
Possible funding pathways — agency decides eligibility.
Open - Train
ETPL training providers
Provider partnership and ETPL discovery context.
Open - Explore
Career guides
Pathway comparison guides for seekers and students.
Open - Modernize
Workforce guides
Hiring, operations, and modernization guides for institutions.
Open - Research
Research center
Methodology and workforce research assets.
Open - Boards
Board resources
State & local workforce board resource family.
Open - Seekers
Job Seekers hub
Careers, wallet, jobs, training, and funding entry points.
Open - Hub
Resources hub
Parent hub for guides, research, glossary, and WI.
Open
Related resources
Security, blog, community, and training providers.
