| By Gale Staff |
As today’s employment landscape becomes more difficult to traverse, many job seekers and workers are feeling discouraged about the future. People are looking for new ways to become more employable, advance in their jobs, and transition into new fields.
According to the recent COVID-19 Work and Education Survey by Strada Education Network, 44% of Americans feel they lack the right skills to land a new job or advance at their current workplace, while seven in ten Americans believe their employment opportunities are limited in some fashion.1
During times like these, communities need a safe and accessible environment (even if it’s virtual) where they can acquire and enrich their skills to prepare for jobs and open new doors. Libraries are vital for providing patrons—particularly the underserved—with free, inclusive, and trustworthy skills training and career programs and services. 2
Establish your library as your community’s career development anchor with the help of two valuable online resources from Gale:
Gale Presents: Udemy provides patrons with unlimited access to more than 7,000 continuously updated, on-demand video courses across 75 categories in business, technology, and personal development. World-class instructors teach courses—and nearly 2,000 of these courses are led by native speakers in French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Gale Presents: Peterson’s Career Prep offers help with job searching, creating résumés and cover letters, interviewing, and networking. Personalized career assessments focus on a user’s interests, values, personality, and workplace preferences. This comprehensive resource for career information includes videos, articles, best practices, and downloadable worksheets.
To learn more about these resources or request access for a free trial, visit gale.com/workforce.
1. “Public Viewpoint: COVID-19 Work and Education Survey,” Strada Education Network, Updated November 12, 2020.
2. Stephanie Holcomb, Amy Dunford, and Fopefoluwa Idowu, “Public Libraries: A Community’s Connection for Career Services,” John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, September 2019.