Monster.com Launches MonsterLearning to Empower Individuals to Fulfill Career Aspirations and Enhance Professional Growth

Marking its foray into the learning space, Monster.com® today announced the launch MonsterLearning (www.monsterlearning.com), a unique online resource for managing learning as it relates to advancing careers.  Monster.com a global online careers site and flagship brand of TMP Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: TMPW), is the first online careers site to provide a variety of learning tools, opportunities and information in one comprehensive location, empowering individuals and corporations to take more control of the career development process.

 

MonsterLearning debuts with MonsterLearning Search (ML Search), the first of several products and services designed to help track, plan, manage and assess career and professional growth.  Leveraging Monster.com’s powerful search engine technology, ML Search offers individual and corporate learning seekers looking to gain new skills or knowledge the opportunity to explore and research all their options for career-related learning.  The one-stop search engine provides free access to a universe of learning opportunities, including online and classroom courses, test preparation, degree programs, certifications and other instructional materials such as books and videos, anytime – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

 

“Continuous learning is a critical part of career development, making the introduction of MonsterLearning a logical extension of our business,” said Jeff Taylor, CEO of Monster.com.  “Monster.com pioneered the online job search and is now setting another precedent with ML Search by changing and simplifying how individuals and corporations manage learning as it relates to career development.  Through access to knowledge, MonsterLearning empowers individuals and corporations to make choices that spur personal and professional growth, making their career “half about a better job, half about a better life.”

 

“With more and more jobs across all industries requiring higher skills and more training, individuals and corporations will both need to embrace learning as a key to success,” said Linda Natansohn, senior vice president of MonsterLearning.  “We’ve designed ML Search to provide learning seekers with an easy way to explore and connect with the learning opportunities and resources they need to enhance their career development and professional growth.”

 

For Individual Learning Seekers – – – Demand Is There!

With the demand for learning on the rise, MonsterLearning helps individuals – from intern to CEO – gain the skills and knowledge they need to help them achieve their career goals.  According to a Marketing Facts Study, 70 percent of Americans have considered taking a course of study to help further their careers.  Also, according to a Department of Labor study conducted by Merrill Lynch and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2000) 65 percent of jobs today require additional skills.  By 2005, that figure is expected to increase to 85 percent.  Additionally, 42 percent of consumers indicate at least some difficulty in locating education/training resources (International Communications Research, Dec. 2000).

 

The MonsterLearning search engine contains general and enrollment information on all types of learning opportunities from top learning providers offering online and offline courses and other instructional products and services.  Fast, targeted searches can be conducted two ways.  “Search All Learning” allows seekers to search an extensive selection of learning opportunities by keyword and/or subject, learning type (e.g. courses, certifications or seminars) and delivery method (e.g. online, books, or classroom).  Search results display course title, delivery method, learning type, learning provider and price.  Alternately, “Search Classroom Courses” enables seekers to focus their search specifically on learning opportunities taking place in a classroom or a combination of classroom and online. 

 

 

For Corporate Learning Seekers

An investment in organization-wide training quickly pays for itself in productivity gains, employee satisfaction and retention.  MonsterLearning Search provides corporate seekers, including HR and hiring managers, a comprehensive resource to easily find learning opportunities to meet their employees’ needs and goals.  It eliminates the need to sort through tedious catalogs and brochures, saving time and money. 

 

Additional benefits for individual and corporate learning seekers include:

• A “First Time Seekers” page featuring MonsterLearning capabilities and “how-to” information, making it easy to get up to speed. 

• Direct links to the learning provider’s corporate website for detailed enrollment information.

• Timely articles, newsletters and forums on learning-related issues and topics. 

For Learning Providers

According to a November 2000 Harris Interactive survey, the number one unaided response regarding desired website functionality by 44 percent of Monster.com’s surveyed audience was online courses.  Learning providers can leverage Monster.com’s career motivated online audience of more than 7.2 million unique visitors per month, and the 18 million registered seeker members who are actively looking to expand their skill set and enhance their careers.

 

MonsterLearning provides a highly targeted reach entry onto the Web and an alternative to costly marketing methods, offering learning providers a low cost vehicle to exponentially expand their reach while increasing their visibility and market share.

 

Time-saving features include batch posting, which allows submission of postings, and the “learning provider office,” which enables providers to submit and approve postings within the MonsterLearning database.  Password-protected platforms allow easy generation of site traffic reports that show how many times listings have been visited by learning seekers. 

 

To date, several top learning providers, including University of Phoenix Online, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning, Kaplan, Inc., New Horizons and Unext’s Cardean University, have signed on as MonsterLearning customers.

 

“Monster.com is the most recognized global, online network for careers, drawing millions of visitors each month,” said Patricia Leonard, president of McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning.  “Our partnership with Monster provides important training opportunities to these visitors, developed with the latest in sound instructional design and educational theory.  This practical, real-world training will assist people worldwide with their career management needs.”

 

Future MonsterLearning Products

Monster.com will expand the MonsterLearning platform with additional products designed to empower individuals to track, plan, manage and assess career development.   Early next year, MonsterLearning will introduce an ASP-based learning management system that will allow organizations to effectively manage and track the online and offline training of their employees.