Virginia Career Works Northern leads an industry by helping job seekers into the workforce.
SUCCESS STORY
The governor of Virginia issued the Northern Virginia LinkedIn Learning initiative to help as many people as possible find jobs during the pandemic. Virginia Career Works Northern soon became one of the first organizations in the state to adopt LinkedIn Learning as part of this initiative and raise awareness of its benefits — and the only group to continue at their scale. They’ve given thousands of local job seekers access to LinkedIn Learning licenses, leading to workers’ success in earning credentials, microcredentials, and employment placement. This allowed Virginia Career Works Northern to expand their reach and exposure, and continue growing.
THE CHALLENGE
Limited training options and a high demand for skilled workers
The pandemic caused Virginia Career Works Northern to change how they help job seekers and find an innovative way to increase opportunities for skills training. “A state workforce shortage meant employers had more open job roles than available skilled workers,” said Deputy Executive Director Seema Jain. The organization needed to focus its efforts on empowering job seekers with access to free, short-term skills training. Since most of Virginia Career Works Northern’s training was done in person, they also needed to give individuals the flexibility to take training courses from anywhere.
THE SOLUTION
Accessible training courses for all job seekers
LinkedIn Learning gave Virginia Career Works Northern a comprehensive solution to help job seekers of all ages access free online skills training. They sent flyers, webinars, and a monthly raffle for those who had activated their licenses. Individuals were able to take unlimited courses online for hard and soft skills and add achievements to their LinkedIn profile. The platform helped Virginia Career Works Northern build programs for job seekers at different career stages — like “How to Rock an Interview” for younger adults and refresher courses for people ages 55 and older. Workers also gained microcredentials and necessary job skills without going through a certification program, and credentials through learning paths. And with reporting features, Virginia Career Works Northern tracked and met their goal of helping thousands of job seekers while growing awareness of their organization.
Main products used:
THE RESULTS
Mass outreach
Out of the 1,500 LinkedIn Learning licenses issued by Virginia Career Works Northern, 940 have been activated.
Breadth of skills training
Popular courses among job seekers have been a broad mix of hard, technical skills and soft, interpersonal skills.
Employment placement
Virginia Career Works Northern had a high success rate in employment placement since offering access to LinkedIn Learning.
We knew we wanted to be innovative and that LinkedIn Learning was a way to help us move in that direction. Our employers are sophisticated in this region and they expect sophisticated solutions.
About Virginia Career Works Northern
Virginia Career Works Northern connects job seekers to employers through education, training, and partnerships, providing job seekers opportunities to career pathways and employers access to a skilled workforce.
INDUSTRY:
Nonprofit
No. OF EMPLOYEES:
700+
HEADQUARTERS:
Richmond, VA
Interested in a LinkedIn Talent Solutions product?