Millions of workers with in-demand skills and experience, overlooked for higher-wage jobs because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. Companies stuck on a talent treadmill, desperate to build a reliable pipeline of skilled workers. Two allies separated by an insidious and invisible barrier. Now the enemy has a name. The paper ceiling. This multiyear national public service advertising campaign, developed in partnership with the Ad Council, aims to expand upward mobility for the more than 70 million STARs workers in the U.S.

The film highlights the issue of individuals seeking employment whose real-world experience is often screened out by algorithms or overlooked by HR departments. People without bachelor degrees often hit a “paper ceiling” - and this film shows the importance of seeing the STARS in our midst.

This multiyear national public service campaign paired Opportunity@Work’s labor market insights with creative, developed by an award-winning creative agency. Like the AdCouncil’s many iconic national public awareness campaigns, the Paper Ceiling campaign was supported with a fully integrated communications plan and donated media from partners that spans mass media nationwide including this film.

"Tear the Paper Ceiling" is supported by nearly 50 partners and leading companies, who have already joined the coalition, to create a new and more equitable future of work in which skills matter more than what’s on paper.