When a job falls through, a manager crosses a line or career uncertainty sets in, where can a worker turn? For far too many people, the answer is nowhere. What if a single, judgment-free text could help someone take the next step— or simply feel less alone in a hard moment? That’s the question that sparked SkillUp’s collaboration with Empower Work, a national nonprofit offering confidential, text-based support, to pilot a new way of helping users address real-time career challenges.
Together, we set out to test whether human-centered, low-barrier coaching could offer tangible value when integrated directly into the SkillUp platform. The results were clear: when support is embedded at the right moment and in the right, low-threshold context, people engage — and succeed.
The Challenge
Millions of workers — especially those who are skilled through alternative routes (STARs) — experience job instability, workplace issues or career uncertainty, but don’t feel safe or supported enough to raise concerns through internal channels. SkillUp’s more traditional virtual group coaching had shown promise for our users, but we wanted to explore an additional model: private, asynchronous, text-based support that meets people in their exact moment of need. Would users engage with this offering? Could it provide help-seekers the emotional clarity and confidence needed to take informed next steps?
The Solution
SkillUp integrated Empower Work’s SMS and web-based peer counseling into our career services platform to complement our existing career coaching offerings. After strong initial interest via email and SMS, we embedded Empower Work into SkillUp users’ dashboards for maximum visibility.
The goal: offer support that feels accessible, confidential and immediately useful to STARs facing tough moments.
Our Approach
The SkillUp team tested placements, messaging and delivery strategies to optimize user engagement. We took a data-driven, iterative approach, amplifying Empower Work via:
- Automated lifecycle emails and SMS
- User dashboards and profile pages
- Coaching-related pages across the SkillUp site
We regularly reviewed anonymized user insights with Empower Work, analyzed cohort behaviors and cross-compared text-based coaching users with Zoom coaching participants. “We are always looking for innovative ways to help people build their careers,” said Steve Lee, CEO of SkillUp. “We approach all of our work with a learning mindset, and it has been incredibly energizing to test and learn in partnership with Empower Work.”
The Outcomes
In just six months, more than 1,000 SkillUp users turned to one-on-one text-based support — with traffic nearly doubling since fully integrating the service into our platform. This surge in engagement underscores how powerful well-placed, low-barrier support can be, even at scale.
Striking engagement:
- 1:1 Text-based advising via Empower Work is the top-viewed resource for logged-in users.
- A 25% conversion rate from SkillUp visitors to Empower Work users, over 4x higher than our group coaching session conversion rate (6%).
- It’s the second most-clicked resource across SkillUp, with user dashboard placement driving 80% of engagement.
Strong emotional resonance:
- 86.3% of SkillUp help seekers felt better after chatting with an Empower Work counselor.
- 92.2% reported being more likely to take action.
- Users praised the calm, nonjudgmental, and deeply human experience.
“Chatting with my peer counselor was a grounding experience. These last few decades have been rough and the past few years even harder. But in that conversation, I felt heard, supported and valued. I can’t thank the coaches who dedicate their time to helping people like me enough.” — Empower Work texter via SkillUp
Individual users, individual needs:
- Users ages 25–34 showed higher engagement with text-based support than with Zoom coaching, suggesting mid-career STARs value private, personalized support.
- Users pursuing training were the most likely to use Empower Work, indicating alignment with those seeking long-term growth, not just short-term jobs.
- Despite youth engagement across both text and Zoom-based models, Empower Work’s text-based coaching proved especially appealing to STARs navigating complex career transitions or workplace issues.
Tangible Impact
A six-month survey by Empower Work of a small cohort of SkillUp users and analysis of their Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) scores revealed a +4.7 point increase in users’ CFPB financial well-being scores — moving from “medium-low” to “medium-high” during a time when national averages declined. This shows meaningful improvement in participants’ financial security and freedom of choice, and surpassed national benchmarks even during challenging economic times.
“Our hope is to demonstrate the scalable power of combining deep human connection with technology that meets people where they are, collectively improving economic and emotional well-being.”
— Jaime-Alexis Fowler, Empower Work Founder and CEO
What We Learned
At SkillUp, we believe every project is a chance to learn, whether the outcome matches our expectations or takes us in a new direction. This pilot with Empower Work fell into the latter category, offering valuable surprises and lessons we’ll carry into future partnerships.
Here are a few of the “aha” moments we uncovered:
- Integration drives engagement. Early promotion through email and SMS generated some interest, but sustained use only took off once Empower Work was embedded directly into the SkillUp product platform and “For You” recommendations.
- Training users showed unexpected demand. We typically see higher engagement from job-focused users, but this time our training users leaned in most.
- User needs are evolving. Many participants used coaching not just for career advancement, but to navigate underemployment, workplace challenges and layoffs.
Conclusion and Next Steps
This partnership proved that human connection, when delivered simply, quickly and privately, can drive measurable impact for SkillUp users. We’ve seen that integrating mental health and emotional support within a career-focused experience deepens trust, boosts confidence and improves outcomes.
Next, we’ll build on this momentum by:
- Expanding in-platform placement and optimizing dashboard visibility
- Deepening outreach beyond email/SMS
- Segmenting more strategically to reach users at the moments they need support most
- Tracking long-term outcomes, including retention, self-efficacy, and engagement across SkillUp tools
“We’re already seeing an impact among SkillUp community members as people share back how much the 1:1 coaching support has meant to them,” said Lee. “As we continue this work, we’re excited to scale the offering and sharpen our understanding of how emotional support and career navigation intersect.”
At the end of the day, meaningful career growth starts with feeling seen, heard and supported.
