NEW research by Qualt, the first company to offer free professional skills courses on mobile devices, reveals that despite the economy's promising signs of recovery and employment levels reaching the highest level since 1971 (30.43 million), eight million UK employees are not happy in their chosen career. A figure which increases to almost one in three (32%) under 25's who have careers of at least forty years ahead of them.
Unfortunately, this high volume of job dissatisfaction doesn't result in positive action. Just 16% of adults are planning to invest in education or training in the next 12 months to improve their current situation. Overall, 58% of UK adults admit they have never invested any money in education or training. Of those that have, 42% did so more than five years ago.
When asked what their focus for self improvement would be over the next 12 months, almost one in four (23%) UK adults cited 'a new wardrobe' as their top priority, followed by fitness (19%) and cosmetic treatments (11%). The research also explored planned levels of spend on self improvement and found that amongst those planning to spend money on education and training, a third (32%) expect to spend £250 or less in the next year. This is around 30% lower than the average £325 planned expenditure on a new wardrobe.
Unsurprisingly, one of the key barriers to entry is money with 44% claiming they simply cannot afford to pay for education and training courses, a finding that is somewhat contradicted by planned spend on fashion and fitness. More than one in four (26%) don't have time, 24% do not want to study anymore and 17% have too many other things to do when they are at home.
The prospect of retraining for a new career presents a whole host of additional fears for consumers. Almost one in four (23%) feel they cannot sustain a potential salary decrease if they move to another profession, 18% feel they're too old to retrain and 11% don't think they will get a job in their chosen career. However, the research suggests that these consumers should think again with almost half (45%) of those that have completed education and training courses in the past five years claiming it improved their confidence and 26% got promoted at work. More than one in five (22%) managed to successfully change careers and nearly one-fifth (17%) found a better job.
A lack of 'free samples' creates yet another barrier to entry as 9% of people claim they are worried about investing in a course they won't finish, yet more than half (51%) say they would sign up to education or training courses if they could try them for free and 9% would do so if they could do them on their mobile.
Michael Curry, co-founder of Floream, the group behind Qualt comments: "We cannot ignore the fact that the recent economic turmoil has left UK workers fearful of unemployment. A stagnant job market with high levels of redundancies often leads to dissatisfaction in the workplace. We believe this is the major reason why eight million people are opting to stagnate in their chosen career, rather than take action.
"We know consumers feel they can't afford more training or that they don't have time for learning. That is why we developed Qualt. It provides free, easy to use professional courses that can be done on the go, on your mobile. This allows consumers to take the first steps in improving their career prospects, in a low risk way. Qualt is truly innovative. It offers people something they are calling out for, in an easy and affordable way, helping kick-start their careers. Employers will love it too and should encourage their workforce to download the Apps that work for them."
The Qualt approach offers 'leader boards' that allow users to track their performance and skills against their peers, the chance to work with the course community, share experiences and motivate each other. These courses allow consumers to sample their chosen area of study completely free of charge through their mobile phone so we feel this eliminates several barriers to entry.
Mobile courses from Qualt are based on courses developed by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), Google, the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM) and other professional bodies. The new platform aims to open up access to professional skills for school-leavers, university graduates, young professionals, career changers or anyone who wants to learn. Uniquely, each course is fully contained within a free downloadable app allowing users to learn anywhere on their Android or iOS phone.
A series of courses are lined up, covering the core business disciplines of accounting, digital marketing and human resources with more to follow. The first, 'Intro to Accounting', provides a grounding in business and finance and is based on the same syllabus as the AAT Access course, the first level of study for Accounting Technicians. The apps use 'm-learning' modules to deliver teaching, alongside practical tests that measure the user's understanding and ability to undertake actual day-to-day professional tasks.
The app will be launched simultaneously on both Android and iOS and is available to download now at www.qualt.com.
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