We’re thrilled to share some exciting news with you —
In line with the United Nations’ World Youth Skills Day, we’re proud to release Skills on Goodwall!
Up until now, the backbone of Goodwall was your user profile, your own personal homepage on the app. While that’s not changing, there is a major shift in what’s prioritized. Rather than a profile resembling a CV, which is heavy on academic and professional experience, we’re emphasizing — you guessed it — skills.
While we timed the launch to coincide with World Youth Skills Day, the primary reason for reinventing how Goodwall functions was to reduce barriers to entry into employment and increase access to opportunities for showcasing and improving real-world skills.
To further our mission of leveling the playing field for everyone, no matter their place of birth or economic status, we set about redefining what we stress as important. And, having the right skills is far more important — and relevant — at the workplace than having a Big Tech or Ivy League name on one’s resume.
Or, at least, it ought to be.
We’ll go into more detail at the end of this post, but, for now, let’s take a look at what’s new on the app!
The Skills on Goodwall
What does the Goodwall Skills Launch entail, you ask?
Well, we’ve essentially introduced skills tags across several of the app’s features (iOS only, for now). Here’s an example of how these skills tags appear now throughout the app:
On your feed, you’ll be able to see skills tags on content shared by your fellow Goodwallers. And, of course, you’ll also get the ability to tag the relevant skills on the video and text posts you share, as well.
On your profile, you’re now able to add your different talents and abilities, choosing from hundreds of available skill options. When you or a profile visitor clicks on one of the skills, it’ll open up a progress page for that skill.
The progress page is just that, a way to track your development in every skill you’ve added to your profile. You’ll earn points toward leveling up in a skill by sharing content (posts or videos) and by getting votes from other users.
Over 250 skills are available now to add to your profile and posts, grouped into 14 areas:
- Arts & Crafts – drawing, painting, woodworking, etc.
- Business – marketing, sales, investing, management, etc.
- Communication – PR, storytelling, sign language, etc.
- Design – prototyping, typography, UX/UI, etc.
- Engineering – energy, robotics, urban design, etc.
- Environment – sustainability, horticulture, recycling, etc.
- Health & Wellbeing – medicine, mental health, yoga, etc.
- Media & Entertainment – publishing, acting, films, etc.
- Performance – choreography, opera, singing, theater, etc.
- Politics & Social – sociology, volunteering, human rights, etc.
- Science & Education – zoology, teaching, physics, etc.
- Services – cleaning, building, fishing, etc.
- Technology – cybersecurity, automation, nanotechnology, etc.
- Transferable Skills – networking, multitasking, resilience, etc.
The new Skills Graph sets Goodwall apart from other social networking platforms by helping Goodwallers set themselves apart through how they earn and show off their skills.
While we believe building real-world talent and featuring these abilities are crucial to gaining future opportunities, we don’t want to lose the fun, collaborative aspect that makes Goodwall unique.
Which means — by sharing content, participating in challenges, responding to tailored opportunities, and earning votes (and voting for others), we believe Goodwallers can improve their qualifications, increase their professional prospects, and lift up their peers along the way — all while enjoying the experience.
Ready to Start Showcasing Your Skills?
For now, this new version of the Goodwall app is only available on iOS. If you have iOS, simply update to the latest version of the app to start skilling up!
For you Android users out there — we’re not leaving you out, don’t worry!
Because our Android users outnumber their iPhone counterparts, we need just a bit more time to get things ready for you. But, rest assured, our Android team is working hard on putting the final touches on it and squashing any remaining bugs.
Check out the Google Play Store to download the new and improved Goodwall app very soon!
We Need to Value Transferable Skills Over Professional & Academic History
Goodwall was built to connect youth to opportunities. As the global platform helping students, young professionals, and future entrepreneurs build up important skills and get recognized for those skills, we work alongside renowned employers, NGOs, and governments around the world to help our growing base of 2M+ young people in more than 150 countries.
Global issues, exacerbated by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, continue to pose a challenge for youth employment. Climate change, inequality, an economic downturn, and dozens of other factors disproportionately affect young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds and the Global South.
According to the OECD, youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET) is far higher than it should (or could) be: 30% for young women and 13% for young men. “Young people who are neither in employment nor in education or training are at risk of becoming socially excluded – individuals with income below the poverty line and lacking the skills to improve their economic situation.”
And, as the UN has warned, “The youth population will grow by more than 78 million between 2021 and 2030. Low-income countries will account for nearly half of that increase. Education and training systems need to respond to this challenge.” The most vulnerable among us will suffer the most.
So, we need to reevaluate how we think about talent (“talent” here meaning both “skill” and “skilled worker”). Only a lucky few young people, when you take the entire world into consideration, have access to name-brand education or a supportive professional network to open doors. If we don’t break the cycle now, we are dooming another generation of young people — indeed, a majority of the global youth population — to far higher chances of that aforementioned socioeconomic exclusion.
As the social networking platform dedicated to helping young people build employable skills, showcase their talents, and access great opportunities, this skills launch simply made too much sense.
We’re really proud of this new release, and we’ve enjoyed getting things ready for the launch. If you come to enjoy it even a fraction of the amount we do, you’re going to really have some fun!
So, once you’ve tried out the new features, we’d love to hear from you. What do you think about the Goodwall skills graph launch? Anything you’d like to see in upcoming releases? We’ll gladly address your comments and feedback below or in the app!
