Upwork Launches Academy and Bolsters Community Offerings to Support Independent Talent
June 02 2022 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
New interactive learning hub to provide career
tips, upskilling opportunities, and other educational resources
Upwork (Nasdaq: UPWK), the world’s work marketplace, today
launched Upwork Academy, a learning hub for professionals looking
to build their business on Upwork, in addition to releasing a
wide-ranging set of updates, features, and resources for its Upwork
Community.
Skilled professionals across the globe turn to Upwork as they
reevaluate their priorities, pursue professional and personal
growth, and explore new ways of working. Upwork’s Community is the
ultimate hub for news, insights, training, and trends around
careers and work where people can connect, learn, and grow, and
have a more engaging Upwork experience.
“Upwork is a unique tool and opportunity to each person who uses
it, and the new offerings in Community are built to meet those
unique needs: education, discussion, thought leadership and so much
more,” said Francis Murphy, vice president of community at Upwork.
“Our Community was positioned as a support channel for a long time.
While we’re still here to help, we now offer much more by way of
content, connection and community-building.”
“I have been on Upwork for over six years and it’s changed my
life by providing me with the freedom to leave a difficult personal
situation and avoid working a 9-to-5 job so I would have the
flexibility to support my three kids on my own,” said Jennifer
Lester, a copywriting expert and leader of Upwork’s Women’s
Community Group. “Upwork’s Community, in particular, has helped my
business grow while allowing me to engage with and learn from other
entrepreneurial women like me who have faced similar
challenges.”
User feedback has directly impacted updates to Community. For
example, an audit earlier this year found members were interested
in additional resources related to finding work and job matching,
getting started on Upwork, and coaching. Feedback has directly
impacted multiple new solutions and countless Community features
Upwork delivered in the first half of 2022, with many more to come,
including:
Upwork Academy
- Today’s launch of Upwork Academy, an interactive learning hub
for all Upwork users looking to build their businesses, including
the release of 11 on-demand courses with topics ranging from
"Creating Your Profile" to "Submitting Proposals.”
- Introduction of Academy Coaching cohorts to help talent
succeed on Upwork. Academy has been piloting cohorts this quarter
with expert coaching teams involving social impact partners Gaza
Sky Geeks and CatipillHERS.
- Creation of a new home for Upwork Skills Certifications, where
talent will be able to learn about available skills assessments,
access test preparation materials, and opt in for web, mobile,
software development (WMSD) and design & creative (D&C)
certifications.
Community Platform and Content
- Rollout of a complete redesign of Upwork Community including a
new homepage, updates to forums, and features aimed at increasing
functionality and scalability.
- Launch of the Career Path Database by the end of the quarter, a
collection of personal stories that share the path people took to
get to where they are in their careers featuring different routes
(freelance, full-time, solopreneur, etc.). The stories will be
shared in various formats like video, photo, and audio and include
complementary worksheets and guides to help users reach their
goals.
Community Groups and Events
- Availability of 20+ Community Groups – collaborative and
celebratory places for the Community to connect, learn, and grow
across themes like identity, industry, interest, and impact. New
groups are launching monthly and provide members a sense of
belonging and further opportunities to uplevel, including those in
rapidly scaling location-based groups. Current country groups
include: USA, Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt, Ukraine,
Moldova, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Germany with many more
country groups coming throughout 2022. Several groups saw hundreds
or thousands of members join within the first few days of
launch.
- Bolstering of Community Events, including:
- Adoption of a new event hosting platform to enhance event
offerings and turn events into a one-stop shop for content from
upcoming, live, and past Community events.
- Launch of a brand new Community Event series “Community Hours,”
as well as product events, interactive workshops, and Expert Talks
with guest speakers.
- Restart of localized events for talent in Ukraine with an
“Upwork LIVE Support for Talent in Ukraine” event, and hosting
in-language events with geo-custom content for five international
markets during the second quarter.
- Enablement of user-generated events within Community
Groups.
To celebrate the release of Academy, Upwork will host a virtual
event on June 7 at 9:00 a.m. PDT. Join us as our team walks through
the new on-demand resource for talent and discusses the improved
Community experience for independent professionals.
Connect with skilled, global, and in-demand talent on Upwork
Community.
About Upwork
Upwork is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from
one-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful,
trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work
together in new ways that unlock their potential. Our talent
community earned over $3.3 billion on Upwork in 2021 across more
than 10,000 skills in categories including website & app
development, creative & design, customer support, finance &
accounting, consulting, and operations. Learn more at upwork.com
and join us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
TikTok.
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Zach Moses press@upwork.com
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