There's a national labor shortage in technology across the United States, making it more difficult for companies of all sizes to find qualified workers. The Department of Labor says that for every two job openings in tech, there is only one qualified worker. Corporations will also tell you that today's college graduates aren't entering the job market with the necessary skills.
Amazon, Cisco, JP Morgan, Deloitte, TD Ameritrade, Accenture, and other large corporations are pulling workers from low-skilled jobs, training them for free with technology skills, and then hiring them for difficult-to-fill tech jobs. These corporations have had so much success that they've now hired NPower, a nonprofit organization, to recruit and train their potential hires.
The nonprofit recruits young adults, women, and veterans from jobs in high-poverty, high-crime areas; trains them at no cost to participants; and helps corporations fill tech vacancy roles. More than 80 percent of graduates are employed full time or enrolled in higher education within one year of completing the six-month tech training program.
In New York, Amazon is funding NPower to teach these high school graduates how to manage Amazon Web Services. Cisco created a similar curriculum that trains young adults from high-poverty areas to operate its NetAcad Module.
NPower is bringing more tech opportunities to cities throughout the United States.
