SkillUp helps job seekers find free and low-cost training programs that match quality, in-demand careers

The SkillUp Coalition, a national collaboration of nonprofits, training providers and employers, announced the launch of a newly re-designed platform to better support America’s workers on their upskilling journeys. This includes a fully updated training program catalog, local and national employer connections to jobs offering on-the-job training, and free weekly career coaching.

With over 850,000 users supported since launching in July 2020, SkillUp dedicated time in early 2022 to reflect and evaluate user experience based on worker feedback, market research, and the evolving workforce ecosystem. By leveraging job seekers’ voices to drive impactful change, SkillUp has prioritized improving, simplifying, and personalizing its platform to better connect workers to comprehensive and quality services.

“SkillUp is working to support the greater good at scale by being both data-driven and heart-led,” says Executive Director, Steven Lee. “We have vetted feedback from thousands of SkillUp users, as well as leveraged behavioral metrics from tens of thousands of Skillup.org visitors to develop our new experience. By putting information into the hands of workers, we promote a sense of agency, respect and ownership, which drives both career and personal fulfillment.”

SkillUp’s new user experience includes:

  • A focus on in-demand, gateway jobs, i.e. jobs that are attainable without a 4-year degree, pay a good wage, and unlock paths to high growth careers.
  • A fully re-designed training program catalog, connecting workers to career pathways in five industries (business, medical, information technology, skilled trades and supply chain & logistics) with over 400 vetted programs. Training program partners undergo a rigorous program analysis considering their wraparound services, completion rates, length of programs, and post-program placement rates.
  • A fresh, highly visual user interface as well as new functionality including sorting and filtering by cost, program duration, format (online, hybrid, local), highest graduation rates, location, industry and more.
  • Quick links to “Earn & Learn” jobs, providing workers with opportunities to connect to employers who offer jobs with training opportunities, offer full-time benefits, and have committed to helping employees grow professionally.
  • Easy access to free weekly group coaching hosted in partnership with InsideTrack, as well as financial & life resources.

To date, SkillUp has helped hundreds of thousands of workers, including Brooklyn-based Samia, who was able to find training programs in the IT industry. “I knew what I needed to do was tap into my passion which is technology, but I didn’t know what kind of technical careers were available to me,” says Samia when talking about her upskilling journey. “SkillUp has shown me how to leverage the skills I already had so that I can find the right IT career for me.”

Worker and participant voice is central to every decision SkillUp makes, including product and design, resource selection and partner alignment. SkillUp has assembled a worker advisory board that consists of workers at various stages of their career, education, and development journeys. This body helps inform, guide, and influence all SkillUp services and outreach.

To learn more about the SkillUp Coalition and to see the new platform, please visit www.skillup.org. If you’re a training provider, employer, technology & service provider, or non-profit interested in joining the Coalition, please visit www.skillup.org/partners.

-PR Newswire