The GATE Program: Expanding The Highly Qualified Talent Pool Crystal Bessette-Castro, Director of Industrial Staffing at Eastridge, discusses Eastridge’s GATE Program, a voluntary assessment designed to evaluate candidates' potential in industrial settings, focusing on transferable skills over resumes. The Gateway to Attaining Technical Experience (GATE) program significantly expands the candidate pool by identifying transferable skills, improving retention rates, reducing training time, and boosting productivity. This offers a valuable solution for bridging experience gaps and enhancing workforce quality. 2