Skill Finder and Commonwealth Bank address Australia's growing skills gap

To help fill the gap between talent supply and demand in Australia, Skill Finder, the government-funded national skills marketplace led by Adobe, has joined forces with the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) to help provide more Australians with access to a wide range of free digital courses.

As part of the collaboration, the free micro-skills marketplace will be incorporated into Commonwealth Bank's digital feature 'Benefits finder' and 'Benefits finder for Business' via the CommBank app.

Customers who use the features to claim government benefits and rebates will now also be guided to explore more than 2,000 free digital courses, available on Skill Finder, to obtain transferable micro-skills that may help them get back into the job market or upskill and reskill into new roles and growth sectors, the company states.

Adobe ANZ vice president and managing director Suzanne Steele commented on the announcement and the need for companies to address the skills gap.

She says, "The pandemic has added to the urgency of increased collaboration between employer organisations, industry and government to deliver more targeted and flexible skills development programs.

"The wider corporate Australia has a shared accountability to help provide people with the tools needed to upskill and reskill in line with emerging skills demand.

Steele says, "CBA has taken a step forward to empower its customers with future-ready skills. We are proud to work with CBA to bring this digital experience to life and to expand the reach of Skill Finder to those who need it.

Commonwealth Bank head of financial wellbeing, Ben Grauer, says, "The bank was pleased to partner with Adobe and integrate Skill Finder into the 'Benefits finder' and 'Benefits finder for Business' features within the CommBank App as this collaboration will help to deliver even more benefits to both personal and business customers.

Grauer says, "'Benefits finder' is designed to help our customers access and claim benefits and rebates they're entitled to and ultimately improve financial wellbeing.

"This new integration with Skill Finder will help customers to also find new learning pathways to build in-demand digital skills that may help prepare them for the next stage in their career.

"We've seen positive results in the first week since launch, with Skill Finder quickly becoming one of the most popular benefits. Over 50% of 'Benefits finder' visitors to Skill Finder have enrolled in a course, he said.

Skill Finder was launched during the pandemic to help Australian citizens prepare for an accelerated digital business landscape.

The free marketplace, available to every Australian, has expanded to more than 2,000 online courses from over 25 different providers.

To date, more than 245,000 visitors have enrolled in more than 40,000 courses, to help them upskill in areas such as graphic design, coding, cloud computing, and data analysis and management.

In March this year, the Australian Federal Government provided a $2.7 million grant to move Skill Finder into the next phase of production.

According to the company, the grant will support the expansion of courses and categories with more technology companies continuing to contribute micro-courses and resources, as well as to optimise the user experience by adding new features and connecting people to relevant job boards.