Reimagining South Carolina’s Workforce Pipeline
Workforce needs have been at a crisis point for years, but traditional efforts for career awareness and access weren’t reaching the next generation in time. That gap in matching talent with in-demand jobs sparked South Carolina-based skillsgapp,a first-of-its kind workforce engagement platform. Its flagship products, Skillionaire Games, turn career exploration into interactive gameplay that puts teens inside high-demand fields like cybersecurity, healthcare, life science and advanced manufacturing. Coining a new genre, these ‘career video games’ encourage curiosity, build skills, and connect players to real-world, local pathways.
“I had been integrally involved in workforce development and youth marketing for over 20 years, both at the state level and globally,” skillsgapp CEO and Co-Founder, Tina Zwolionski, reflects. “And the conversation around the need to fill skilled talent pipelines to support our most in-demand fields persisted. Closing the skills gap called for significant innovation, quickly, for two reasons: To remain globally competitive in the industries our state has become known for; and to break systemic cycles of poverty in our most vulnerable regions.”
Workforce innovation, built for the next generation
Merging gaming – our next workforce generation’s most preferred medium for entertainment – with career awareness was the first ‘aha’ moment. Perhaps the most crucial, however, was harnessing geolocation technology to connect players to the jobs, pathways and employers that interested them, locally. This is key in keeping talent in the state, and regions and families thriving.
Skillionaire Games: Career Games for the Workforce Win
Half of high school graduates will end up in low-wage jobs, unaware of the meaningful careers right around them. But with over 50,000 South Carolina students graduating from high school each year, and just as many jobs with lucrative trajectories – with or without a four-year-degree requirement – this wasn’t a people problem, but an awareness one. Skillsgapp worked directly with the state’s industry leaders to identify – and gamify – their most needed skills and on-the-job requirements that aren’t always taught in school. “This grows a more vetted pipeline” says skillsgapp CMO and Co-Founder, Cynthia Jenkins, “mitigating churn and the costs and pains of attrition that go along with it.”
Play with a hire purpose™
Skillionaire Games allow South Carolina youth to:
- Try on the state’s most needed jobs, salaries and job requirements, regionally
- Engage with local companies and colleges
- Receive geo-specific pathways and content based on their location, including in rural areas
- Earn industry-relevant badges and skilled-based proficiencies
- Participate in contests and earn scholarships
A Track Record of Game-Changing Moves
- Skillsgapp has developed and deployed award-winning Skillionaire Games to support building talent pipelines in the following in-demand industries:
1. Advanced Manufacturing
2. Healthcare
3. Life Sciences
4. Cybersecurity/IT
5. Durable/Employable skills - Skillsgapp was a recipient of an NSF award to research the use of AI in South Carolina target regions for in-game career mentoring.
- Each Skillionaire Game includes attitudinal and awareness assessments, reporting marked shifts in both industry perception and intent to pursue as high as 80%.
- Skillsgapp’s workforce innovation has been recognized with national awards including:
– EdTech Digest Top 100 for Workforce +Education
– Facebook Gaming People’s Choice Award
– Next Gen Ten Most Exciting Startups, Greenville - 2025 marked South Carolina’s inaugural Crown Your Calling career game challenge, hosted by SCETV.
- All games are COPPA-compliant and available in mobile and WebGL formats.
“From day one, our mission at skillsgapp has been to connect youth to life-changing careers through game-changing play,” shares Tina Zwolinski, skillsgapp’s CEO and Co-founder. With the funding support of state, education, industry and public partnerships, Skillionaire Games are free-to-play for everyone, removing all socioeconomic barriers.
Skillionaire Games are now being played in 50 states.
“Career gaming is a fish-where-the-fish are strategy,” says Erin Ford, EVP/COO of SC bio. “By engaging our next workforce on a platform they love, we suddenly had the ability to scale awareness of our state’s life sciences industry needs in or out of schools, by letting youth ‘try on jobs’ and pursue the ones they love.”
