Amazon Partners With Beyond 12 and Kaplan To Expand Career Choice Offerings
Amazon’s Career Choice program has been offering several courses to employees who want to pursue a career in the company or elsewhere. The company has now partnered with Beyond 12 and Kaplan to expand its offerings. Read more about the partnerships and the new offerings here.
According to its recent announcement, Amazon is adding more features and services to its Career Choice program by partnering with education organizations Kaplan and Beyond 12. With these partnerships, the program’s participants will have free access to college advising, career coaching, and specialized career services. The expanded benefits program offers employees virtual one-on-one coaching to help them determine the right career programs for their skills and goals. Employees will also receive continuous support during their higher education experience.
Amazon’s Career Choice Program is one of the nine skills training programs offered by the company to employees and currently has more than 80,000 participants. Beyond 12 is a nonprofit organization that provides a mobile app and live virtual coaching that guides students through deadlines, activities, and behaviors to succeed in their education. Kaplan offers students test preparation, degree programs, pathway programs, and English learning. Amazon’s partnership with Kaplan will connect the program participants to career services, including resume development, networking, job interview prep, and online brand building.
The Primary Reason for the Move
According to statistics, people with some level of college education but no degree earn 18% more than those with only a high school diploma. Similarly, people with a bachelor’s degree earn 62% more. Access to higher education can create social and economic mobility for the youth. But accessibility is only the beginning. While some students cannot access higher education, others cannot complete their programs for many reasons. According to Harvard University studies, less than 40% of community college students get a degree or certificate within six years of enrolling in a course. It is even lower for older students, part-time students, and minorities.
This is the primary reason Amazon is investing in programs to help employees get the coaching and guidance they need to be successful students. These programs can improve academic outcomes, especially for low-income and first-generation post-secondary students.
According to Tammy Thieman, global director for Career Choice, Amazon, “While Career Choice has always been complemented by advisement services, feedback from participants has shown that more comprehensive and ongoing coaching would help employees choose programs better aligned to their career goals. We want Amazon team members to successfully navigate the challenges of going to school while working and ultimately use their new skills to find incredible opportunities.”
With the new partnerships, Amazon plans to expand the Career Choice program to encourage other employees to take the next steps in skills training.
Alexandra Bernadotte, founder and CEO, Beyond 12, said, “Eliminating the barrier of tuition is a tremendous benefit for Amazon employees, but post-secondary education completion gaps can’t be ignored. Our coaching program helps identify and address the systemic and structural barriers students face before those challenges lead them to drop out. We’re pleased to partner with Amazon to go beyond getting students ‘into’ college and focus on getting students ‘through’ college.”
“Kaplan is committed to helping people succeed, and this exciting new partnership with Amazon builds on our proud legacy of changing lives and building stronger futures,“ said Greg Marino, CEO, Kaplan’s North America division. “We’re thrilled to be empowering so many thousands of hardworking employees at Amazon and look forward to being at their side until they’ve reached their educational and professional objectives.”
See more: Focus On Existing Employees’ Skills to Fight Talent Shortage
Why It Matters
Businesses are currently in a challenging job market. For starters, people continue to quit in large numbers in search of greener pastures. Besides this, companies are also finding it difficult to hire the right people. According to a recent Russell Reynolds study, 72% of businesses ranked lack of skilled talent availability as a top challenge. All these have led to companies using tactics to retain and attract talent.
One of the best ways to retain talent is to upskill and reskill existing employees. According to several studies, a lack of access to learning and development opportunities is one of the top reasons employees quit a company. Further, offering skill development programs to employees and aspiring candidates help companies to attract the right talent and reduce the skill gap in the organization.
Amazon’s Career Choice program seems to be heading in the right direction. The new partnerships allow the company to go a step further and help program participants identify the right programs for them.
What do you think about Amazon’s Career Choice program and its new partnerships? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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