Google opens enrollment for its career certificate program, adds new Android developer course

Google has opened up enrollment for its latest career certificate programs and announced new tools and resources for job seekers. In a blog post, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said the certificate courses are part of the company's efforts to help workers upskill to high-demand careers in digital technology.

Enrollment is currently open for Google's latest career certificates in the areas of data analytics, project management, and user experience (UX) design. Google is also introducing a new Associate Android Developer Certification course that aims to prepare students for entry level jobs in Android development.

"With more businesses embracing digital ways of working, it's estimated that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025. As U.S. job growth returns with more people getting vaccinated, we are committed to ensuring that all Americans have the skills they need to benefit from greater economic opportunity," Pichai wrote. "To help, today we're announcing new efforts, including opening up enrollment for our latest career certificates, expanding our employer consortium, and introducing new tools to improve the job search."

Google has also expanded the employer consortium that links certificate program graduate to companies with open positions. The consortium now includes more than 130 companies including newcomers Anthem, Verizon, Bayer, Deloitte, SAP, and Better.com. Google counts itself among the companies that will hire graduates of its certificate program, along with Accenture, Walmart, Infosys, Zennify, SiriusXM+ and Pandora.

Meanwhile, Google said it plans to provide 100,000 scholarships for its career certificates program that will be distributed through nonprofits, workforce development boards, and other community organizations. The company claims to have helped 6 million Americans get training in digital skills and nearly 170,000 Americans get a new job since launching Grow with Google in 2017.

Google has also redesigned the results for Google Search queries like "great jobs without a degree". 

"Now when you search for "no degree jobs" in the US, you'll see a new job carousel highlighting relevant opportunities near you," Pichai wrote in the blog post. "You can also filter by education and experience requirements, and there will be new labels on positions that do not mention degrees in their requirements. We're also working with job sites — including Glassdoor, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Snagajob and CareerBuilder — and U.S. employers to make education and experience requirements clearer on job postings."