Career certificates and more ways we're helping job seekers

At Google, our mission has always been to make sure that information serves everyone in important moments, whether it’s helping you find a COVID vaccine near you or get a new job that creates a better life for you and your family.

For Rey Justo, the last year has been full of important moments. When the pandemic hit, he lost his job installing fireplaces in Sacramento, Calif., and he and his family had to move in with his grandparents. He had always been interested in technology, so he enrolled in the Google IT Support Certificate through Merit America. After completing the program in three months, he was hired as an apprentice at Zennify, a computer software company.

With more businesses embracing digital ways of working, it’s estimated that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025. As U.S. job growth returns with more people getting vaccinated, we are committed to ensuring that all Americans have the skills they need to benefit from greater economic opportunity. To help, today we’re announcing new efforts, including opening up enrollment for our latest career certificates, expanding our employer consortium, and introducing new tools to improve the job search.

Enroll now: More Google Career Certificates

Starting today, enrollment is open for our latest Google Career Certificates, in the fields of Data Analytics, Project Management, and User Experience (UX) Design. We’re also announcing a new Associate Android Developer Certification, which prepares learners for entry level jobs in Android development. With 1.3 million jobs open in these fields right now in the U.S., the opportunity is significant.

We’re also providing 100,000 scholarships to be distributed through nonprofits, workforce development boards, and other community organizations such as Per Scholas, NPower and Goodwill. And we’re working closely with the National Association of Workforce Boards to make sure that local workforce programs, one-stop centers, and community employers know how to refer local job seekers to these certificate programs, as well as connect graduates to local jobs. 

These certificates have already been successful in bringing in more talent from groups traditionally underrepresented in tech: 53% of graduates of the IT Support Certificate in the U.S. have been female, Black, Latino or veterans. And 82% of graduates overall say the program helped them advance their career within six months, including getting a raise, finding a new job, or starting a new business. 

Get hired: Expanding our consortium to 130+ employers

More than 130 employers have joined our employer consortium, eager to hire people who have earned these certificates. Graduates can share their resumes directly with employers like Anthem, Verizon, Bayer, Deloitte, SAP, and Better.com, who are joining Accenture, Walmart, Infosys and, of course, Google. We’re also partnering with Guild Education, which works with Fortune 100 companies, to bring Google Career Certificates to help some of the country’s largest employers upskill their workforce.

Not only is Google hiring these certificate graduates, we’re using the certificates themselves to upskill and reskill Google teams, from IT support techs to data analysts. We’re also opening applications for Google's apprenticeship program in our Career Certificate fields in addition to a few other professional tracks. We will hire hundreds of apprentices over the coming years to participate in on-the-job training and applied learning.

Globally, we’re sponsoring 100,000 scholarships for our Career Certificates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In India, we’re working to make certificates more accessible and launch an employer consortium. And in addition to our Career Certificates, today we’re also making our cloud computing, big data and machine learning trainings free for U.S. job seekers to help prepare for jobs in these high-growth fields.

Improving the Job Search experience

For many job seekers, it can be difficult to find open roles that match their experience and education. Over the past year, Google Search queries like “great jobs without a degree” spiked 850% in the U.S. Now when you search for “no degree jobs” in the U.S., you’ll see a new job carousel highlighting relevant opportunities near you. You can also filter by education and experience requirements, and there will be new labels on positions that do not mention degrees in their requirements. We’re also working with job sites — including Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Snagajob, and Careerbuilder — and U.S. employers to make education and experience requirements clearer on job postings.

View of the new job search experience when searching for jobs with “no degree”

A more inclusive economic recovery

Since launching Grow with Google in 2017, we’ve helped 6 million Americans get training in digital skills and nearly 170,000 Americans get a new job and increase their income. Now, as economic recovery accelerates in communities around the U.S. and across the globe, we have an opportunity to help build an economy that is more inclusive and equitable. That’s what today’s announcements are designed to do, and we’re excited to partner with employers, community colleges, nonprofits and job seekers to make it happen.

by Sundar Pichai via The Keyword