Since launching earlier this year, Palo Alto-based Coursera has established itself as a force in online education, attracting more than two million students, 33 top-notch universities and $22 million in venture funding. But this week, the company made a key step toward building out its business model, announcing that it had opened up a recruiting service that matches employers with top-performing students on its site.
自从今年早先时候上线以来，开放课程教育平台Coursera已经成为在线教育的一股强力：吸引了超过 200 万学生加入课程，33 个顶尖高校入驻，并成功募集了 2200 万美元融资。上周，Coursera 在商业模式的探索中又迈出了重要一步：推出了一个匹配未来雇主和网站上的顶尖学生的招聘服务。
In a blog post Tuesday, the company said:
If you opt-in to our Career Services, we will try to find companies that match your interests, skills and knowledge. If you do well in a Coursera class and allow us to share that information with potential employers (who will have agreed to keep this information in strict confidence, and use only for the purpose of considering you for employment), this could make you even more appealing to employers.
Coursera 在官方博客上这样写道：
如果你选择加入我们的就业服务，我们就会基于你的兴趣、技能和知识的帮你匹配公司。假如你在 Coursera 的课程中表现优异并批准我们跟潜在雇主分享你的信息（这些雇主同意会保证信息的高度机密，这些信息的使用将完全用于招聘），那么你对雇主来说就会更有吸引力。
As with Coursera courses, the Career Services support is free for students, but employers pay Coursera for information on who might be good candidates. So far, Facebook, Twitter, AppDirect and TrialPay are among the companies that have signed up. For now, the company is just starting with software engineering but plans to expand to other disciplines.
和课程一样，Coursera 的这个就业服务对学生来说是免费的，但是雇主需要为获取潜在雇员的信息支付费用。目前，Facebook, Twitter, AppDirect 和 TrialPay 等数家公司都已经跟 Coursera 签署了协议。尽管 Coursera 的这项服务目前还限于软件工程，但会在之后拓展到其他学科。
The announcement isn’t surprising as Coursera has previously indicated that matching students with employers is a possible revenue model, as well as charging students for certificates from partner universities. The company did not disclose how much it is charging employers or how it is splitting the revenue with its university partners, but a contract between Coursera and the University of Michigan obtained this summer by the Chronicle of Higher Education indicated that partners could get 6 to 15 percent of the revenue.
Coursera 公布这项计划实际不足为奇，因为 Coursera之前 就暗示了这种商业模式的可能性。而它先前提到的另外一种可能性，则是通过授予合作高校证书向学生收费。就第一种商业模式而言，Coursera 目前尚未公布它向各公司收费的额度；就第二种模式而言，合作高校的分成比例目前也是未知数。但是，基于Chronicle网站在今年暑假公布的 Coursera 与密歇根大学的一项协议推测，高校应该可以拿到收入的 6% 到 15%。
According to the Chronicle, through Coursera’s Career Services program, participating employers are provided lists of students who meet their requirements, which typically includes the top-performing students in a given discipline in a geographic area. If one of the students piques the employer’s interest, Coursera reaches out to the student via e-mail asking if she wants an introduction to the company. In addition to requiring an opt-in from students, the program gives universities offering courses the choice to participate.
根据 Chronicle 的报道，Coursera 的就业服务项目会向参与雇主提供一个满足他们要求的学生列表，该列表通常都会显示在某个特定地区（Coursera 面向全世界）、特定学科的优等生。假如某个学生满足公司要求，Coursera 就会通过邮件方式询问学生是否有意被介绍给该公司。另外，合作高校也有权利选择是否加入这个项目。
Co-founder Andrew Ng told the Chronicle that not all of the universities have joined the program but given the “uncontroversial” nature of the business model, he added that he expects more to join in the future. He also said that while results of its Career Services program have been positive, they expect to make more revenue from selling certificates, something it plans to do in the coming months, the Chronicle reported.
Coursera 的联合创始人 Andrew Ng 称，目前并非所有的高校都已经加入了这个项目。不过，因为这个商业模式也没有什么争议（跟授予证书相比），他预测未来会有更多高校加入。另外，尽管这个就业服务项目目前的结果非常积极，但他预期 Coursera 未来更多的收入依然会来自出售证书（Coursera 计划在未来几月推出该项服务）。
Online learning site Udacity also makes money from a similar “headhunter”-style model and, earlier this fall founder Sebastian Thrun told me that, so far, 20 students had found employment through the site.Even though the recruitment programs are still in their infancy, considering that the startups themselves just launched in the first quarter of the year, the progress shows the interest on both the university and employer sides. And even before it had an official program in place, Coursera said its courses helped students find new jobs, indicating the value of free online education, especially as university costs rise and jobseekers struggle to keep up in the changing economy.
实际上，另外一家在线教育平台，美国在线教育的三座大山之一Udacity也有类似的“猎头”服务。据其创始人 Sebastian Thrun，目前已经有 20 名学生通过网站找到工作。虽然这项尚处于非常早期的阶段，但考虑到 Coursera 在今年第一季度刚刚上线，Coursera 取得的这些进展也显示出校方和雇主方双边的兴趣。但话说回来，教育是一个慢热行业，教育的变现也是一个相对漫长的过程。所以先把内容做好，让更多的学生获得优质教育，潜在雇主才会愿意为这些学生的信息买单。