Online Training Platform Gives Job Seekers a Boost LearnUp.me turns job seekers into qualified candidates by helping them bone up on in-demand skills.

What It Is
LearnUp.me, an online job placement and training platform, enables job seekers to bone up on specific skills required by prospective employers. Companies post their open positions, ranging from bakery clerk to technology associate, then add links to training videos on YouTube or other approved material. For example, Staples candidates might be asked to watch the YouTube video "How to Make a Business Card." Once users complete the training, their LearnUp résumés are automatically updated to reflect their efforts, and they can be considered for the open slot.

How It Started
After her startup Valence Energy was acquired in 2010, Alexis Ringwald became interested in the unemployment problem. She spent six months interviewing people in the unemployment lines in the Bay Area, trying to determine what was keeping them from landing work.

"It seemed a lot of people's skills were out of sync with the labor market needs of today," Ringwald says. "There was a sense of confusion by the job seekers, a paralysis over what they needed to learn to be qualified."