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Where can I find careers support online?
I have found five companies that offer online career coaching with expert advisers, including Levo League, Ellevate, Evisors, Power to Fly, and PivotPlanet. I also found four companies that offer other types of career advice and support. These companies include Vault, PayScale, TapWage, and Vmock. I have included information about each of these companies, such as what services they offer, how they deliver these offers, and who their target market is. When possible, I have also included an approximation of how many customers they have.
METHODOLOGY
My research began with the company mentioned in the request, The Muse, so that we knew exactly what kind of competitors to look for. After gleaning any information I could from their corporate website, I navigated to CB Insights and Owler to find competitors. This led me to five companies that offered career coaching or advisers in the same vein as what The Muse offers. It also led me to three companies that are not direct competitors, but offer similar career advice and support. All of these are outlined below. I have attempted to find customer counts for each company on the list, but some were unavailable. As requested, I have used Facebook followers as a possible customer count, however, many of the companies do not have active social media accounts.
CAREER COACHING
LEVO LEAGUE
• At Levo League, there is an option to make a profile that can be shared with potential employers. There are also “topics” that you can join which give personalized advice for job skills and general personal development. There are also courses, labeled toolkits, led by expert coaches. These courses include videos, exercises, and worksheets. Currently, there are nine coaches to choose from, and their courses are free. Levo League targets anyone who wants to better their position in life, whether through their career or in a more personal way. There are currently 7,998 members in Levo League.
ELLEVATE NETWORK
• While many of Ellevate’s offerings are not available to deeply analyze without an account, I was able to find that they offer leadership training, interactive “online jam sessions” and networking events, both physical and online. There are also articles, blogs, and videos offering career and networking advice that are able to be accessed with a paid membership. Ellevate’s target customers are women, especially those looking to form a professional network from scratch. While I was unable to find information regarding customer count for Ellevate Network, I have concluded that they have 18,835 followers on Facebook.
EVISORS
• Evisors offers webinars that cover a plethora of sectors, such as finance and consulting, topics, such as industry insights and interview advice, stages in a career, such as undergraduate or professional, and region of the presenter, such as Africa or North America. Previously recorded or future webinars are available for $3 each, or you can purchase packages for $50-$100. There are also advisers offering consultations on many topics and in many industries. I was unable to find the number of customers served by Evisors, however, their target market seems to be recent graduates, or those who will graduate soon.
POWER TO FLY
• Power to Fly does offer some physical events across the country, however they also have a large offering of advice videos and webinars. Unlike the rest of the companies on this list, Power to Fly does not offer the ability to choose an adviser, however, it does give an option to choose the course. Webinars and videos are free. The target market for Power to Fly is professional women, and while I was not able to find an exact customer count, I did find that the company has offices in 12 different countries and consists of 47 team members.
PIVOTPLANET
• PivotPlanet offers one-on-one video conferencing or phone consultations with hundreds of experienced adviser. Expert sessions begin at $50 an hour, with the customer's choice of adviser, time and date of consultation, and type of consultation. Some experts offer more than one type of class. The target market for PivotPlanet is vast, as there are hundreds of categories, from experts in meteorology, sales, CEOs and many more. While the exact customer count is unavailable for PivotPlanet, they currently have 12,295 followers on Facebook.
CAREER ADVICE
VAULT
• Vault offers advice on many topics, such as resumes, cover letters, interviewing, networking, industries, and professions. The advice is offered through a library of blog posts created by professionals. They also have a job search board and links to career guides published by Vault. Their target market consists of job searchers in the law, consulting, banking, and accounting industries. While Vault’s customer count is not publicly available, they provide details on over 5,000 companies in 120 industries.
PAYSCALE
• PayScale is a unique company, as their main focus is comparing salaries in similar positions across an industry. For hopeful employees, PayScale offers salary reports, consisting of a glance at other salaries in the same field, position, and with the same experience level. It also offers other jobs that might be appreciated by the user, a glance at the easiest and hardest cities in the US to live in based off of current income, and a “career path explorer,” which compares your current job title to what you were likely to have been and earned five years ago, as well as what you are likely to be and earn in five years. This information is collected through user surveys, and the target market is anyone who is looking for a possible raise. To date, PayScale has completed over 55 million surveys.
TAPWAGE
• TapWage has a large online library offering advice on many career-related topics, such as applying, industries, and resumes. They also offer a comprehensive job-search board, with career channels based on job type, company type, and interest. Their target market is rather vague, however their image is quite professional.
VMOCK
• Vmock offers personalized career advice, and ample help to build a resume from scratch. They offer real-time feedback and tips on how to make your resume the best it can be. There is also a library of blogs related to job-search advice. Their target audience is beginners in the search for a career.
CONCLUSION
I have found four companies that offer general or specific advice on careers or career searching. I have also found five companies that offer expert advisers and courses led by those experts.