University of Phoenix’s parent company agreed to buy Fuel50 earlier this month, and my first reaction was surprise.
Universities don’t usually buy HR tech. You probably knew that.
Then I thought about it some more and got a lot less shocked. Now I’m surprised that more colleges (and the companies that work alongside them) aren’t doing something similar.
I know Jo Mills and Anne Fulton, Fuel50’s co-founders, and I’ve worked with them on multiple initiatives. I admire both of them a lot, so factor that in.
Both employers and colleges are struggling to connect. Pearson and AWS heard from more than 2,700 people in six countries this spring. Only 28% of employers said universities are keeping pace with AI-driven change. And 78% of higher ed leaders said they were confident employer expectations were being met.
Different questions, so I won’t push it too far, but you’d also think those two numbers would be a lot closer together.
Adult learners aren’t exactly cheering either. The number of first-time students over 25 fell 15.5% from fall 2024 to fall 2025, according to National Student Clearinghouse data. Phoenix is built for working adults, and its third-quarter revenue was $271.8 million. That’s basically flat, which isn’t a decrease but it isn’t an increase.
I’m a big believer in higher ed. I’m just as big a believer in adults building their skills at any point in their careers (including going back to school), so those numbers bug me.
Employees are feeling the squeeze. AI is changing what their jobs ask for, and the ways to reskill, from degrees to bootcamps to whatever the employer offers, add up to a long list that’s tough to sort. Employers are trying to help. Strategic Education (the parent company of Strayer and Capella) said 34.7% of its U.S. higher education enrollment came through employer affiliations in the second quarter, up from 31.8% a year earlier.
A better connection between what employers need and all those options is a good thing. I’d like to see more of it.
So I get why Phoenix wants in.
My worry is the obvious one. Phoenix sells degrees, and every skills gap Fuel50 finds is a possible enrollment. If Fuel50 keeps doing what it was built for, helping employers see the skills they already have and move people into new roles, employees come out ahead. If it turns into a marketing channel for future Phoenix students, they don’t.
Mills wrote in her LinkedIn post about the deal that Fuel50 continuing under its own brand “was important to us.” I’m taking her at her word, though the real proof will take time.
The rest of my thinking, including what education companies have tried with workforce data before, is in my Reworked column. Give it a read and tell me if you get it or not.
What else is going on? A little change
I am experimenting with a new format. I’ll share some of my favorite pieces from voices I like as well as a more straightforward news round up. Let me know if you like it (or not).
Industry Voices
The Best HR & People Analytics Articles of September 2026. David Green‘s monthly list is always a must read, but fill your coffee first.
The Chatbot Talked Your Buyer Out of It. Rob Catalano is on fire, and this week’s pearl is a question to ask before your next AI contract: does the vendor make more money when your agents are inefficient?
On AI, Maths, Proofs, Theory and Work. Thomas Otter admits he’s prone to long, convoluted Substack posts, then quotes several leading mathematicians on OpenAI and the Navier-Stokes proof. We love those posts too.
The Future of Work Has a First-Day Problem. Jason Averbook asks CEOs whether they’d want their own child in the entry-level job AI has changed. Good questions, especially if you’re a parent.
Notes from the Blank Page: What AI-Native Really Looks Like. Love the transparency in Jess Von Bank‘s note on where Now to Next is still stubbornly pre-AI and where the tools disappoint.
Your “Best Practice,” According to Whom?. Robin Schooling compares “best practice” to the mattress tag you’re told not to remove: it sounds official, discourages questions, and few people can say who decided it. Always my big question here.
Candidate Fraud Has Arrived. Here Is How HR Leaders Can Build a Defense.. Dan Schawbel says candidate verification takes buy-in from HR, IT, security, and legal well before any vendor demo, and this is going to come up more and more.
Find the Person in Your Organisation Who’s Already Building the Culture You Want. I love this idea from Mervyn Dinnen, which starts with handwritten letters from a senior VP that an employee still keeps in a safe decades later.
The Trust Layer: Why the Point Vendor Era Is Closing. Charles Bedard found identity and data assets in workforce compliance deals sold for 3.7x to 12.2x revenue, against 1.0x to 2.8x for per-check screening. It might seem counterintuitive, but there’s some there there.
Road Report: RecFest USA, Nashville. Mike Wood gives people a taste of Nashville, from Juicebox’s capybaras and mechanical bull to the room applauding loudest for keeping interviews human.
LinkedIn Is Great at Reaching a Network. It Was Never Built to Serve an Audience.. After about 80 editions, Paul Slater is moving his newsletter to Substack. His newsletter is a must read.
AIQ x2: Pacing the Frontier, and Who’s Actually Auditing TA. Chris Havrilla and Bob Pulver made this biweekly live conversation official this week, taking on an ATS you can’t explain and what “human in the loop” needs to mean. This series is so good.
7 Rules for Talent Leadership in the Age of AI. Great rules from Kevin Wheeler, starting with “You Are Not a Recruiter Anymore”: the job is building the best talent system, not being the best recruiter.
Seat Change: SaaS Isn’t Dead. But Everyone’s Trying to Figure Out the Next Pricing Model.. Give me the dad joke in the headline every day. Steve Smith says incumbents are giving AI away while startups like Ema bill for completed work instead of seats.
Investors Are Cold on Talent Acquisition Right Now. BoomerangHR Just Raised $12.7M Anyway. Good info from George LaRocque, who sat down with the CEO to ask why a bet that your best next hire already worked for you is landing when most TA startups can’t get a meeting.
Self-Leadership Is the Most-Requested Speaking Topic of 2026. Laurie Ruettimann defines it as the art and science of individual accountability and points to her LinkedIn Learning course. This is the only way to survive corporate.
UNBOUND Recap: HubSpot’s Next Act Looks a Lot Like Work Tech. Alec Cherrin came back from HubSpot UNBOUND convinced some of it is worth turning on tomorrow, and less sure about the rest. Check the replay with Steve Smith and ask Alec your questions if you still have them.
I’m Back! Let’s Talk About HR Tech and Measuring What Matters. It’s great to see Meghan M. Biro publishing again, with The Work Tech Pulse relaunched as a monthly LinkedIn newsletter.
Blizzard Entertainment Workers Ratify Historic Video Game Contracts with CWA. Steve Hunt reads Blizzard’s AI bargaining language as a sign AI will likely drive more unionization in historically non-union jobs. I’m seeing many of the unions covering creative arts already trying to put AI restrictions in place.
What Phenom’s Voice Screening Agent Looks Like in Production. Nicole Roberts talked to talent leaders at U.S. Venture and SASR Workforce Solutions, and the takeaway is that every applicant gets a real conversation right away while the hiring decision stays with a human. This technology should be good.
Findem Studio Is Open to Everyone. Love this from Bennett Sung, who says finished talent acquisition work doesn’t mean the decision is made, just that you have something real to work with sooner.
The Rep Is the Point. Brian Fink makes the case for writing: the blank page won’t let you fake understanding. Brian gets it.
The WNBA Has It All. Leela Srinivasan backs it up with elite play, stars fans care about, and finally being able to watch it. A little off topic, but the WNBA has been great, and turns out you just need to pay your stars and get good basketball stories covered.
In The News
Meta’s New Enterprise Push Starts With an Old Question: Will It Last? via Reworked
Trump Administration Settles With Unions Over Shutdown RIF Challenge via Federal News Network
Blizzard’s First Union Contract Sets Layoff Terms and AI Rules via HR Executive
US Job Openings Fall to Fewest Since March, Layoffs Subdued via Staffing Industry Analysts
California Expands Harassment Prevention Training to Address Hate Speech via National Law Review
OSHA Urges Employers to Prepare for Opioid Overdoses at Work via SHRM
Insurers Say AI Could Add Billions in Health Costs. Billing Companies Disagree. via HR Dive
Anthropic’s AI Scenarios Put the Early-Career Talent Pipeline in Focus via HR Executive
Fraud Hits Employer-Jobseeker Trust in Hiring, Report Finds via Human Resources Director
Job Seekers Willing to Take Lower Pay to Get AI Training via ERE
The AI Utilisation Gap: Why Employees Use AI More Deeply at Home Than at Work via Workplace Insight
Agentic AI Early Adopters Have Failed, Pivoted, and Learned These 3 Lessons via Fortune
Nearly Half of Workers Say They’re Exaggerating Their AI Use at Work via HR Brew
More Independent Workers Go Full Time, Plan to Continue via Staffing Industry Analysts
The Operational Fix That Could Jump-Start Innovation? A Week With No Meetings. via HR Dive
Major HR System Hacked Again as Criminals Slip Past Summer Fixes via Human Resources Director
This Is What Your Highest Performers Really Want via Fast Company
Have a great rest of your week!