The National Education Foundation (NEF) and Open4 Learning Launch JobReady to Reach One Million Job Seekers with High-Quality, Affordable Career Pathways

USA - English

• USA - English

SAN DIEGO, April 8, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The National Education Foundation (NEF), the national non-profit leader in STEM+ job skills training and Open4 Learning today announced the launch of JobReady (http://www.jobready.me), a program that delivers high-quality, affordable and relevant career pathways and university-backed credentials to job seekers ranging from mid-career shifters to high schoolers seeking their first jobs. The organizations have come together to address a long-standing workforce challenge: training up and creating job-ready candidates from the large population of individuals who may lack access to pathways to skilled positions in high-demand fields. With JobReady, NEF and Open4 Learning have brought together a massive collection of top-rated corporate learning courses – available via the web and mobile apps – with university credentials issued by SUNY Potsdam (http://www.potsdam.edu). Digital credentials will be issued through Credly's enterprise-grade Acclaim platform (http://www.youracclaim.com).

As the result of grants and scholarships made available by NEF, JobReady is affordable for every job seeker. "I believe strongly that quality education is a basic human right," says Dr. Appu Kuttan, founder and Chairman of NEF. "My interests have always been centered around motivating people to advance in their work through quality education, skills training, certification, workforce development and assistance in job placement."

Making career pathways affordable

JobReady curates, delivers and credentials career-aligned courses, allowing job seekers to follow pathways that lead to jobs and promotions. JobReady subscriptions provide users with access to hundreds of courses and learning resources, enabling them not only to take specific courses, like they would with a MOOC, but also to simultaneously investigate other career or learning interests. For example, someone seeking certification in project management may also want to brush up on leadership and communication skills without having to take a second course. Users can also prepare for certification exams and take practice tests. JobReady lets users tailor their learning to their goals and to freely discover skill areas that are important to them.

By working with employers, certification providers and job discovery services, JobReady aims to connect the dots between learning and work. Initial pathways will include: cybersecurity, data science, project management, leadership, IT skills, business skills and certification prep. Individuals can purchase subscriptions through http://www.jobready.me. As a result of NEF scholarships, most JobReady subscriptions start at under $100.

The goal: one million job-ready candidates

Open4 Learning President Bill Hughes describes JobReady as follows: "The goal is to help a million people become job-ready through affordable access to high-quality online courses and credentials. The JobReady content is the most widely used by the world's leading organizations to train their employees. We use that same content to create new job-ready candidates." Hughes adds: "What I love about the program is that learners are limited only by their imagination. Someone who wants to demonstrate their grit and passion can take the time they need to earn as many badges and certificates as they want, which provides employers evidence of both their skills and their work ethic."

Building a network of partners

JobReady's primary path connecting it to job seekers is its partner programs. Organizations that want to be JobReady partners have three primary options:

Outreach Partners define course collections relevant to their communities and promote them through their outreach channels, such as social media and mailings, in exchange for a percentage of revenues generated by their outreach;

Site Partners define course collections relevant to their communities, receive discounts for prepaid access and bundle JobReady within their own branded offerings;

Employability Partners define and sponsor course collections aligned with their hiring needs, in exchange for access to a pipeline of vetted and trained candidates.

Each partner has the option of issuing digital course completion certificates themselves, through their own education partner or through JobReady and SUNY Potsdam. The JobReady partner program has already garnered interest from colleges and universities, career centers, alumni organizations, school districts, industry associations, workforce development initiatives and unions in the US and abroad.

A mission close to his heart

JobReady is the beneficiary of the philanthropy of NEF and Dr. Kuttan, whose vision to improve the lives of the underserved through education is matched only by his impressive body of work in realizing that vision in K12 education. He now seeks to extend NEF's impact in the workforce through this collaboration with Open4 Learning, a leading ed tech innovation and venture development company. Together, the organizations are joining forces to advance the shared goal of job readiness for all.

Kuttan hopes that "in launching JobReady, we will provide these crucial services, at scale, to the great many who deserve a better path to career success but can't afford to pay the high fees. Knowing what can be gained through education and skills training, it is my hope that JobReady will be the conduit to positive outcomes for many. Through this program, we can help to prepare a million students and adult career shifters for 21st century jobs."

About The National Education Foundation (NEF)

The National Education Foundation (NEF) is a national nonprofit leader in bridging the employment, digital and academic divides by providing world-class, affordable, online and blended learning to students and job-seekers. NEF offers adult online learning opportunities providing you with job-ready skills for your success. In addition, NEF offers the K-12 market a Total STEM System Solution (TSSS) for students in both public and private schools across the nation with a mission of training millions of students for careers in STEM. NEF was founded by philanthropist and global STEM expert Dr. Appu Kuttan in 1989. For more information, visit http://nefuniversity.org/ and http://stemgrant.org.

About Open4 Learning

Open4 Learning develops innovative ventures that use learning to transform lives and markets.
Grounded in decades of experience in the fast-changing software, IT and venture sectors, and with deep experience in the education and publishing sectors leading digital transformations, Open4 Learning drives innovation in EdTech, often by connecting the dots across the industry in the areas of strategy, product, partnerships, business development, operations and fundraising. JobReady operates as a business of Open4 Learning. For more information on JobReady, visit https://www.jobready.me. For more information on Open4 Learning, visit https://www.open4learning.com/.

SOURCE JobReady