Pursuit job training program
More Americans than ever want to escape the rut of a low-paying job, but quitting to pursue a new profession is a risky proposition. Pursuit has raised $10 million in funding for a promising and potentially self-sustaining new model for training up new tech workers in which learners only pay when they land a real position.
The job market is a strange one right now: Tons of open positions, but workers are holding out, demanding fair compensation and good working conditions — and many jobs with those in tech won’t give a second look to an applicant without an appropriate degree.
Pursuit founder Jukay Hsu observed that there are job training programs out there, but not only do they often cost considerable money upfront but their support ends when the classes do. And philanthropy in this area, while generous in some ways, is simply not commensurate to the size of the problem.
On the employer side, managers are desperate to fill positions but unwilling to take the risk on an applicant with no degree or relevant job history. But as Hsu pointed out, the truth is entry-level jobs are seldom actually skill-limited — more likely you need someone familiar with the tools and flexible enough to learn on the job.
The missing piece is in risk management on both sides of the market: job seekers don’t want to go into debt for training that might not get them a position, and employers don’t want to gamble on someone who doesn’t meet their (not necessarily relevant) qualifications.
Pursuit is building a model for job training that mitigates both of these risks. On the job seeker side, learners with low or no income can get training and support that costs them nothing unless they get a job earning more than $50,000, at which point they can figure out payment. That takes the form of four years of payments of 5-15% of the income from the new job.
Pursuit job training program
