An acronym for Massively Open Online Course, MOOCs today include no less than 4 million records located in over 200 countries.
These platforms don’t only make resources available to web surfers but let them access online training with active educational content, in the form of videos, discussions, exercises and tests, all for free!
With this meteoric success, MOOCs have been industrialized (Coursera, Udx and Udacity are currently the main players) and could well become essential partners for recruiters and employers!
Will MOOCs become a tool for finding candidates?
Aside from the course content, which lets candidates be identified based on their skills, what do you think is the profile of web surfers who have abandoned from traditional training and classical e-learning for education based on communities, discussions, conversation and flexibility? Curious? independent, willing? social networking expert? These are qualities that recruiters can’t ignore!
MOOC platform operators have understood very well that they are providing access to the ideal bank of qualified CVs and have developed their service in this direction.
Coursera has just therefore launched a service for purchasing of student’s “simple” CVs (students or professionals seeking professional development), for placement agencies and headhunters, and is now working on the sales of detailed profiles, taking into account the student’s behaviour during the course and thereby allowing tendencies to be identified (leadership, team player, etc.).
MOOC for training within the company
Unlimited flexibility and ease of access to the information are advantages to be studied in using a MOOC for training and professional development within a company.
Existing employees can take training whenever they want, without having to leave the company, and integration of new recruits is facilitated by the availability of information.
The employer also has the opportunity to identify, within the company, employees who would like to train and develop.
MOOC for communicating and identifying candidates
While course quality is uneven and there is still a high dropout rate, MOOCs still collect talents and provide a fertile hunting ground for those responsible for their employer’s brand.
There is a high investment and MOOCs need financing – this is a good card for employers to play, who can purchase visibility in the form of banners, videos to present their company before the course, etc.
Participating in writing course content, with case studies, also has a good effect on impressing candidates.
So, recruiters and managers, keep an eye on the emergence of this new economical platform model. Your future employee might be on Harvard’s MOOC. It could be time to think about forging new partnerships…