Are you searching for strategies to attract more young professionals to your continuing education program? If not, you should.
By 2025, early careerists will become an overwhelming majority in the workforce, and the group is looking for continuing education (CE) to advance their careers.
Read on for tips on how to attract and retain young professional learners in your CE program.
What do young professionals prioritize in a CE program?
According to the latest Community Brands Association Trends Research, early careerists are more focused on tangible benefits like job opportunities and help with career advancement. Young professionals also value training, certifications, and targeted, applicable content to help them advance in their industry.
Early careerists are the only group to identify online-continuing education as a priority. This means if your organization isn’t offering your CE program virtually, you’re likely missing out on a key learning benefit, and you might not attract young professionals to your program.
5 tips to attract and retain young professionals
Here are five strategies you can utilize to attract and retain early careerists in your CE program:
1. Mix up mediums. Be sure to offer opportunities for your learners to attend courses both virtually and in person. Also, offer on-demand options for learners who missed the live course or for virtual learners that may be in a different time zone than the course instructor. Try leveraging webinars, webcasts, and virtual conferences to attract young professionals to your CE program.
TECH TIP: With Freestone, make it easy for your staff to deliver live and on-demand events for your CE program. Ensure you attract and retain early careerists when you offer engaging course mediums and provide accessible learning options.
2. Promote learner engagement. During live events, incorporate opportunities for young learners to chat and offer live polling for real-time learning results. Provide Q&A options so early careerists can take the discussion deeper. Try fostering discussions in your live chats or Q&A sessions by having a staff member ask questions or facilitate the conversation.
TECH TIP: Boost learner engagement with Freestone’s virtual chat, Q&A, and live-polling options. Freestone fosters connection and community across your CE program and with young professionals.
3. Mobile is a must. Did you know that 98% of Generation Z own a cell phone, with 55% using their phones for more than five hours a day? Ensure you make CE courses mobile-responsive for your young learners. When you make learning mobile-responsive, it will attract more early careerists to your CE program and boost retention.
TECH TIP: Create mobile-responsive content with Freestone and work with our award-winning team to produce engaging CE courses your learners can access anywhere.
4. Keep courses short. Try accommodating young learners by making CE webinars an hour or shorter. You can also consider creating nano courses to deliver just-in-time learning options for young professionals. Nano courses meet early careerists’ needs by offering targeted, applicable content.
TECH TIP: With Freestone, easily break up content into chapters, or smaller sections to create nano courses, helping you attract and retain young professionals. When you break content out into smaller segments, you’ll increase learner engagement in your CE program.
5. Personalize content. Adobe reports that 64% of Gen Z appreciate brands that offer a personalized experience. Consider customizing the content you send to young professionals as you market your next CE webinar. Personalizing your marketing strategy is a great way to reach more learners and attract a larger audience to your CE program.
TECH TIP: Empower young professionals to personalize learning content with Freestone LMS and its bookmark feature. With the feature, learners can assign a timestamp to a specific section of a presentation and easily reference CE content.
Learn more tips to attract young professionals to your CE program
For more on how Freestone can help you attract young professionals to your learning program, connect with our team today!