Nissan partners with YouScience to build a stronger workforce pipeline

Organizations at a glance

Key partners

High schools
Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT)

Rethinking the workforce pipeline

Challenge

When Joy Rich began reimagining Nissan North America’s workforce development strategy, she focused on a structural issue many employers overlook. Companies invest heavily in recruiting talent, yet few invest early enough in helping students understand their own strengths.

Across her experience in K–12 education, postsecondary systems, and workforce development, Rich saw students expected to make career decisions without the exposure or language needed to guide those choices. Employers simultaneously struggled to build pipelines because many students never discovered industries that might fit them.

For advanced manufacturing, the stakes are significant. As experienced workers retire and technologies evolve, companies must build awareness and readiness much earlier.

Rich believed workforce development should begin with identity.

“If we can instill confidence through identity, competence follows.”

Helping students understand how they are wired allows them to explore careers with direction while giving employers a clearer path to developing future talent.

Designing a new workforce development model

The solution

Rich built Nissan’s strategy on a foundational principle: start with the whole human.

To operationalize this idea, Nissan integrated YouScience® Aptitude & Career Discovery into its workforce ecosystem. Unlike traditional interest surveys, the assessment measures aptitudes such as spatial reasoning and problem solving, then connects insights to career pathways.

“Students come alive when they realize there are careers that fit how they are wired.”

These insights shifted the conversation from pushing students toward predetermined roles to helping them explore industries through their natural strengths.

Work-based learning built on fit

At Nissan’s manufacturing plants in Decherd and Smyrna, Tennessee, students participate in structured work-based learning placements. Aptitude insights help match students with departments where they are most likely to thrive.

Some excel in production environments. Others discover strengths in maintenance, operations support, marketing, or human resources. Aligning placements with natural abilities makes the experience more meaningful for students and more productive for the organization.

Building bridges between schools and industry

Exposure alone was not enough. Students also needed structured learning environments connected to real industry practices.

To address this, Nissan launched Centers of Excellence, an initiative bringing together high schools, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology, and Nissan manufacturing experts to deliver hands-on advanced manufacturing programs.

Nissan initially opened four Centers of Excellence in Tennessee and later expanded the model into Mississippi. Before launching the initiative, Rich and her colleagues conducted a listening tour with education and workforce leaders.

Schools consistently identified the same barrier: difficulty recruiting qualified advanced manufacturing instructors due to salary gaps between education and industry.

Nissan responded by placing experienced manufacturing professionals directly into high school classrooms and covering their salaries, while schools provided space and students. This model allows students to learn directly from practitioners while helping companies shape future talent.

Workforce readiness starts with identity

Within the Centers of Excellence programs, students complete Aptitude & Career Discovery early in their experience. Results help them connect strengths to pathways and guide decisions about coursework, internships, and career exploration.

Students also translate insights into professional resumes, often their first opportunity to frame their abilities in ways employers recognize. For many, this becomes the turning point where self-understanding evolves into career direction.

Applying the same philosophy to educators

As Nissan expanded into Mississippi, Rich began using aptitude insights to build stronger instructional teams. Understanding how instructors are wired enabled complementary staffing decisions and clearer role alignment.

Programs launched faster. Collaboration improved. Initiatives moved quickly from good to exceptional.

A stronger pipeline and stronger student confidence

The impact

Nissan’s workforce model is already delivering measurable outcomes.

At the Decherd plant, work-based learning students placed using aptitude insights achieved a 100% completion rate. Students remained in departments aligned to their strengths and reported high satisfaction. Many returned to work with Nissan after graduation.

“When we place students into departments that fit them, they stay. They thrive. And many come back after graduation.”

Demand for advanced manufacturing pathways is also increasing. In one district, enrollment grew 256% as students shared their experiences with peers.

Rich also highlights the long-term ripple effects. Years after guiding a middle school student through aptitude results, she saw him return as a college intern supporting education and workforce connections. Today, he has graduated and accepted a teaching role.

For Rich, these outcomes reflect the real purpose of workforce development. When students gain clarity early, confidence grows. When confidence grows, opportunity expands. And when opportunity expands, students often return to strengthen the systems that helped them succeed.

Advice for leaders

Start at the top and create real next steps

Rich’s guidance is clear. Aptitude discovery should not be treated as a one-time assessment. Leaders and educators should experience it first, build shared understanding through professional development, and then guide students through meaningful next steps such as resume building, career exploration events, and employer connections.

When aptitude insights are paired with action, students gain confidence. That confidence becomes the foundation for readiness.

Reimagine your workforce development