Google Apps as a Route to Work

This Google Apps Certified Administrator training programme is designed to give sustainable employability skills to jobseekers in Tower Hamlets. However, it is just a small part of what we can offer. If people on the Google Apps training decide they want to challenge themselves to learn development skills (thus unlocking the most in-demand career opportunities) we can help coach them further after they complete this initial training.

Why?

Tower Hamlets faces two problems¹:

1. High Youth Unemployment (16-24 year olds) 15.4%
2. Technical Skills Shortage.

We propose making progress towards a potential solution to both.

¹These are not unique to the borough, most countries/cities face this exact pair of issues, however we are focussing on solving them locally first.

What?

According to recent figures, Youth Unemployment remains High at 15.4% . The statistics are especially grim for long-term unemployment for young ethnic minority people in UK; up by 50% since 2010.

While there are several government schemes to aid people in getting in/back to work, few have proved successful.

Often people face a "chicken and egg" situation:

• Can't get a job without experience ...
• Can't get experience without a job ...

How can we address this?

How?

We propose offering to guide jobseekers through the e-learning course which will lead to Google Apps Certification. We will coach each jobseeker through each of the 5 core apps: Email, Calendar, Word Processing (Docs), Spreadsheets (Sheets) and Drive in a class-based learning environment till they reach proficiency.

These skills are highly transferable and will give them a differentiator in the job market.

2-4 hours per day for a 5-10 days self-paced

It is possible to watch all the videos and complete the exercises in one day. However we expect people to pace themselves and ask for help when they get stuck and get it done in a week or two.

What Qualifies Founders & Coders to do Google Apps Training?

At Founders & Coders we use Google Apps and have industry experience of introducing companies to Google Apps/Docs, we feel we can guide people through a short & intensive program to equip people with the skills so they can successfully apply for jobs in businesses which are using Google Apps.

Google Apps?

The "traditional" (Microsoft) office suite of applications have been replaced by Google Apps in almost 50% of the Fortune 500. The move to "The Cloud" has been relentless over the past 4 years.

The greatest advantage Google Apps have is that they can be used on any computer, smartphone or tablet with access to the Internet.

A short list of the "old" (desktop-bound) Microsoft "Office" ("productivity") applications and their corresponding Google replacements:

• Email + Calendar: Microsoft Outlook > Google Mail + Calendar
• Word Processing: Microsoft Word > Google Docs
• Spreadsheets (Data/Calcuations): Microsoft Excel > Google Sheets
• Presentations: Microsoft PowerPoint > Google Slides
• Conference / Video Calling: "WebEx" > Google Hangouts
• Document Storage & Sharing: Google Drive
• Building/Hosting Websites: Google Sites

Today over 5 million businesses have switched to using Google Apps including: FedEx, Ocado, The Guardian, National Geographic, The New York Times. Most of the businesses using Google Apps are Small and Medium companies (SMEs) and that's where the opportunity is.

The features are industry leading, everything works immediately without any setup costs and total cost of ownership is lower than other systems.

A Google Apps Certificate will help jobseekers stand out from the crowd:

e-Learning (from anywhere, any device and at own pace)

Because the course learning materials are online, anyone can go through them on any device and at their own pace. We will simply provide guidance and clarify any issues people face, to keep them on track towards completing the certification.

To Do

To get this ball moving we need to contact people at Google to get them to waive the certification exam fee for jobseekers ...

I've sent a help request to Kim:

Further Reading

• How Google Apps Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doHnLiAzQ5M
• Google Apps Customers: https://www.google.com/work/apps/business/customers/
• http://googleforwork.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/custom-email-apps-and-more-for-Google-Domains.html
• Google Apps YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleApps (learn everything!)

Unemployment Stats:

• http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/youth-unemployment-rate
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_unemployment_in_the_United_Kingdom

Skills Shortage:

• http://www.cio.co.uk/insight/workforce-development/it-skills-shortage-is-hurting-uk-companies/
• https://hbr.org/2014/08/employers-arent-just-whining-the-skills-gap-is-real/
• http://www.theguardian.com/careers/work-blog/stem-skills-shortage