Salaries were largely static during 2009, with
65% seeing no increase compared with 44% the year before.
Benefit
packages were depleted during 2009 across all categories, with fewer people
receiving company pensions or pension contributions, occupational sick
pay, bonus schemes, private medical insurance, life assurance and
critical illness insurance, share options and company cars, and those
without any employment benefits at all rose from 13% to 25%.
The number
of people that are considering changing jobs during the next twelve
months rose to 63% from 55% the previous year. Of these, more people
want to move into e-learning (32% up from 22%) with a reduction in
those wanting to find a role in management and soft skills training
(22% down from 33%).
Reports an increase in the number of job vacancies during the second half 2009 with a significant increase during the last three months.
Learning Industry Work and Salary Survey 2009 Blue Eskimo
Nothing surprising here..as with past recessions, you will see an increase of people planning to make a job change once the economy shows signs of improvement.
By David Boggs, CEO and Founder of SyberWorks, Inc.
The Web is where many of our customers and users will increasingly “live” for their information needs. This means that anything we do to both deliver e-Learning and spread the word about our products and services “over the Cloud” will both serve our audiences and build our businesses.
Most of us already deliver e-Learning over the Web in a variety of ways, but the following Web channels also may be used to promote our products and services:
Search engines
Web blogs
Webinars
Wikis
YouTube
These are all places where your e-Learning business can live on the Web to good advantage. But people must first be able to find you there. So let’s first discuss:
Search Engines
Remember when your parents bought their first encyclopedia, to bring the world’s knowledgebase into your home? How times have changed. Now, the Web itself is the world’s knowledgebase, and engines like Google are its keyword-searchable Index. In a very real sense, if an e-Learning product or service isn’t widely present (and readily found) on the Web, it doesn’t exist.
Why do I add “readily found”? Because peoples’ willingness to wade through masses of text (and pages of Google hits) is limited. So even if you do have a Web presence, you also need to worry about where you show up in browser search results.
Even I rarely venture past the first three pages of Google hits. So in effect, three Google pages (about 36 items) is my personal Search Horizon. And if your firm’s products or services fall beyond it in my searches, then you’ve fallen off the edge of my informational world. I won’t know you exist until a different search pulls you inside my Search Horizon.
And the key to making that happen is to broaden your presence on the Web, increase your organization’s “hit rate,” and raise your position in search-result lists. This article and the next will help you do just that, by promoting yourself on as many different Web sites as are appropriate for your products and marketing plans.
Web Blogs
Blogs are basically online chat rooms about specific topics. Google any area of interest to you, your company, or its markets, and you’ll probably find online blogs that are already discussing it. Track those that seem well targeted to your markets. Watch them. And as much as possible, throw in your own expert comments, advice, and product links. Or if you see a need, consider starting your own targeted blog.
Every time you post a blog comment (or use any of the other web sites we’ll discuss), you add a tiny piece to your presence on the Web. Google and other browsers can find these pieces, and by scattering as many of them across the Web as possible, you’ll gradually draw yourself into potential customers’ Search Horizons.
Webinars
“Web-based seminars” are done in so many ways, using so many technologies, that a summary cannot do them justice. They’re like Online, Instructor-Led classes, delivered in real-time to free or paying customers or prospects. They may be lectures, workshops, or presentations delivered across the Web, and usually involve audience interaction (which differentiates them from “webcasts”).
Just Google “webinar” and you’ll find millions of links about them and specific webinar offerings. But also examine your own LMS/LCMS system. It may already include web-conferencing capabilities that you can use to deliver your own webinars to both prospects and customers, both quickly and inexpensively.
The bottom line here (as elsewhere) is that if your products or services lend themselves to promotion via webinars, consider trying them.
Wikis
When you Google a topic of interest to you, your company, or its markets, you’ll frequently find related Wikis at or near the top of your results. That’s because so many other people have found and viewed them. So when you do, check them out. And if you see anything blatantly incomplete or incorrect in them, fix it, and make sure your firm’s name and products are at least mentioned in your addition. (By definition, you can edit most Wikis once you “join” them.) Who knows, you may even decide to write and post your own Wiki.
Either way, you’ll expand your firm’s promotion and presence on the Web, and make it easier for existing and potential customers to find you there.
YouTube
This is a great place to make promotional videos available for anyone around the world to view. More can be said about this than a short article permits. And not all e-Learning products lend themselves to promotional videos. But if your products or services could be promoted through short videos, then get to know YouTube.
The above are only a few of the more “mainstream” Web avenues for getting your organization and its e-Learning products before your audiences. In Part 2, we’ll explore some less obvious channels, ones that you might not have considered!
About the Author:
David Boggs is the Found and CEO of SyberWorks, Inc. in Waltham, Massachusetts. He has been involved with computer and web-based training for more than twenty years. Before founding SyberWorks, Dave was the VP of Sales and Business Development for Relational Courseware. He holds a BS in Physics from Union College in Schenectady, NY, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
About SyberWorks, Inc.:
SyberWorks, Inc. is a leader in the custom e-Learning Solutions and Learning Management System/Learning Content Management System (LMS/LCMS) industries for Fortune 1000 corporations, law enforcement, healthcare, and other industries. Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, the company serves the multi-billion-dollar e-Learning market. Since 1995, SyberWorks has developed and delivered unique and economical solutions to create, manage, measure, and improve e-Learning programs at companies and organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and around the world.
"Over the past two decades we have seen a significant shift towards
eLearning - especially in areas where the focus is on vocational
training and the acquiring of job-related skills. Many of these skills
have a large computer-oriented component, so that makes eLearning
especially appropriate for this type of training. "
Found an interesting post on Talent Management ....A Year Without Learning by Kevin D. Wilde
The author does a good job illustrating the results of cutting the training budget...I agree..
Excerpt:
"Explain Away the Numbers
The CEO's self-satisfied glow began to fade as uneasiness crept in. Rereading the numbers portion of the year-end results, he wondered, so how do I explain this to the board?
Market share was down five points. The sales force did have more face time with customers, but its effectiveness wasn't impressive. In fact, comments from the CEO of one of our most important customers were concerning. Our team botched the proposal and let the competition come in at the last minute and steal the contract. Something about misreading the client's real needs.
In defense of the sales force, it really didn't have anything that revolutionary to sell this year. For some reason, the pipeline of new products thinned out in the past year.
But I can't be hard on the R&D leader either. Marketing really dropped the ball, missing new trends, and we were blindsided with that new product announcement from our key competitor. I guess the high level of turnover and churn in marketing this past year kept that group in turmoil.
He glanced at the resignation letter on his desk, the latest defection of promising marketing talent. I don't understand this new generation, he thought, leaving for a role where she felt more commitment to her professional growth, even if the salary and responsibilities aren't that different!
Those losses have put our new product platform launch behind six months. It's not like I don't give these new leaders visibility. How do I explain to the board the two, bright international leaders they met last year are now gone, as well?"
While we don't normally cover e-Learning in the university or academic space, it just so happen that yesterday there was an article about Amazon now offering Kindle for textbooks..Amazon Set to Offer Kindle for Textbooks by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Ben Worthen
According to the article they are testing at some universities. Off the top of my head, I am not sure how this is going to make textbooks cheaper for students in the long run because someone will need to pay for the device. But don't mind me, I am being cynical...
An article in today's Wall Street Journal, Publishers Nurture Rivals to Kindle by Shira Ovide and Geoffrey A. Fowler discusses some electronic reader alternatives being pushed by newspapers magazines.
Excerpt:
"Behind the publishers' e-reader efforts are hopes for a digital-distribution mechanism that offers new venues to expand readership and collect revenue for news and information, publishers say. The tablet-style device plays a role in the debate about charging for electronic content. Some publishers regret not charging people for newspapers and magazine subscriptions on the web.. They believe Mobile devices-whether it's iPhone or e-readers- are new enough that consumers won't balk at paying for the digital content."
Not so sure about that.....but its an interesting read all the same..
The whole point is that learning professionals should speak the language of business and performance not training and development....here is an excerpt from the article:
"For a start, they need to understand that most business managers are not particularly interested in training and learning per se. Some may be, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. During my career I have only known a very few line managers who were keen to engage in discussions about instructional design or the advances in our understanding of pedagogy. As professionals, those of us working in training and development need to know about these things and behind closed doors (or down at the pub) we expect to discuss them.
However, they're just not topics with which to engage a business manager. That said, most managers will be extremely interested in the output of the learning process - in the improved performance and productivity of individuals or groups within their remit, and in the impact of training and development on business results. If they are senior leaders they will also be passionate about what the training and development department is doing for the performance of the organisation as a whole."
While surfing my rss feeds, I came across an another article that had the theme of 'why its bad to cut training'. What is different about this article is that the author makes a good case, stating that training is really every manager's responsibility - his premise is that companies generate more revenue by making training every manager's responsibility.
What I really liked about the article is that it provided specifics for industry professionals (this happens to be an article from the hospitality industry on hotel employee training) about how to integrate training into all aspects of an employee's daily routine taking into account temporary dips in business activities.
"Yet even companies that do have designated training manager or director to lead the charge still understand: training is a process not just a title, position, or job description.......
Whether you are a hotel trainer by title, or a department head,
assistant manager, or shift supervisor, here are some ideas to make
training happen every week, every day, every shift:
When forecasting temporary dips in business activity, schedule formalized, workshop style training during down-times.
Even during periods of peak activity, there always seems to be dips
in the “cycle of service” during which staff have predictable periods
of down-time. This is a great chance to schedule some on-the-job
coaching.
Sometimes business levels drop unexpectedly; during these times it
is not always possible to cut hours by sending staff home early. If so,
conduct impromptu “grab and go” training meetings.
Conduct individualized coaching with frontline associates directly
in their workplace between transactions during actual shifts.
Reinforce what was done well; focus on what could have been done more effectively.
Distribute copies of article reprints from publications such as this for discussion/review at meetings.
Checkout cost-effective multi-media (DVD’s and videos) from
resources such as the Educational Institute or the Sunrise Basic
Training series.
Reinforce training themes with workplace displays that can be made fun with simple word processing programs.
Find ways to cut costs but to still attend industry conferences or
events; book early to reduce registration fees. The biggest cost
historically is usually airfare and travel costs, which can be secured
at value rates if you plan ahead to send your leaders to such events.
If you are a hotel company or association, this is a terrific
opportunity to show value to your stakeholders by finding a way to
still offer quality educational and training events at future meetings."
I agree and these are ideas that can be applied to many different industries.
Global Industry Analysts report that the e-Learning industry is expanding at a rate of 15 to 30% globally through year 2010. The US e-Learning market is expected to surpass 52.6 billion by 2010.
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