By USABR
Nearly half of today’s workforce (48 percent) have been unable to progress in their careers due to a lack of skills training or certifications, according to a national survey of 900 men and women who are currently employed in the U.S. The survey was commissioned by Wyzant, the nation’s largest online marketplace for 1-to-1 instruction, and Recruiter.com, an online global recruiting career service, and was conducted by Toluna Quicksurveys.
The study also examined the consequences around not seeking additional career training: 67 percent of those polled feel that opportunities for advancement in their industry are simply passing them by. And 61 percent say that if access to professional training and education were not an issue, they would prefer to work in another industry. More than a quarter (26 percent) hope that by seeking additional training, they will be able to earn more than $15,000 per year above their current salaries.
“We’ve seen the the pool of adult learners seeking help from Wyzant’s community of experts multiply in recent years, and these findings help explain why. Many of those who are currently employed have and will inevitably need more training to grow in their current fields – and in some cases – to remain employed at all,” explains Drew Geant, Wyzant CEO and co-founder. “The need for access to education and job training that is both cost effective and flexible enough for today’s working adults is becoming more important to their professional growth and livelihood. These are the key reasons why we’ve invested so much in refining a [one to one learning tool that makes it easy for adults to pursue…].”
“What I take from our study is the need to never be complacent,” said Miles Jennings, CEO of Recruiter.com. “No matter your type of career or stage of life, it’s never too late to make your next move. It’s easy to be upset by a perceived lack of stability in our careers due to constant changes in technology or the economy. But the lesson we all must all learn is to embrace change and continually push forward without regrets. We must expect the future to change even more rapidly than now, and to succeed we must do everything we can to continue to improve our skills and ourselves. It is good to see that most people recognize this need and are willing and able to do what it takes to succeed.”
Survey highlights include:
Education and Job Advancement in Today’s Workforce: The Landscape
To-date, 71 percent of working people have had to undergo training to keep or move forward in a position. Of those people:
79 percent of men vs 59 percent of women
Nearly a third (32 percent) were aged 18-34
Another 73 percent of working people will need to seek additional certifications, skills’ training or degrees to advance their careers at some point in the future
70 percent hope to advance in their career at some point
However, 48 percent have not been able to progress in their career due to a lack of skills training or certifications. Of these people:
58 percent were male and 42 percent were female
60 percent were aged 18-34, 46 percent are aged 35-54 and 12 percent are 55+
Top five reasons working people today would seek additional job training or certifications to move their career forward
For the money: 53 percent say to make more money
For themselves: 40 percent are eager to learn or are a seeking self satisfaction
For family: 38 percent say to create a better life for my family
Resume revival: 35 percent say to improve my resume
Better benefits: 32 percent say to get better work benefits
Top five reasons working people are deterred from seeking additional job training or certifications to move their career forward
The cost: 45 percent
Family obligations take priority: 39 percent
The time required to study and complete the training/certification: 38 percent
They are nervous about going back to school: 22 percent
They have tried, but are really struggling with the subject matter: 18 percent
The Bottom Line
How much of an income increase could you expect if you were to pursue additional degrees, certifications or skills training?
25 percent say up to $5,000 per year
29 percent say up to $10,000 per year
21 percent say up to $15,000 per year
26 percent say more than $15,000 per year
The full survey report is available upon request.
About Wyzant:
Wyzant is the nation’s largest online marketplace for 1-to-1 instruction, connecting more than 1 million students seeking personalized learning experiences with more than 80,000 independent instructors. Wyzant’s community of tutors offer both in-person and online lessons in more than 300 subjects, catering to learners of all ages — from elementary school students to professionals looking to further their careers. Wyzant was founded in 2005 and is backed by Accel Partners. To learn more about Wyzant, visit <ahref=”http: wyzant.com=”” about”=””>wyzant.com/about.
About Recruiter.com:
Recruiter.com, Inc., is an online global recruiting service that offers an industry-leading job market technology platform. With a highly engaged membership base, Recruiter.com works with hundreds of clients and employers and manages a social media following of more than 4.4 million people. Recruiter.com was voted Top Tech Company to Watch in 2014 by the Connecticut Technology Council, cited as one of the Top 35 Most Influential Career Sites in 2014 by Forbes and listed by Inc. as one of the 9 Best Websites for Finding Top Talent. The career, HR, and recruiting experts of Recruiter.com have been cited and featured in hundreds of sites and publications, including: Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Mashable, Business Insider, Inc., Fox Small Business, Time, The Next Web, Yahoo Small Business, US News, Business2Community, Bloomberg and SmartBrief. Visit https://www.recruiter.com or follow Recruiter on Twitter @RecruiterDotCom.
About Toluna Quicksurveys:
This survey was run with SmartSelect™, a respondent selection methodology used to promote sample representativeness. SmartSelect relies on statistical matching rather than probability sampling and selects respondents based on demographic, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics that match those of the target population. SmartSelect weights on age, gender, region, ethnicity, race and education. To learn more, please visit: <ahref=”https: www.quicksurveys.com=”” “=””>https://www.quicksurveys.com/.
