Furloughed workers offered free online courses to help improve their CVs
The courses teach a range of skills including maths, internet safety and website coding.
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Learning and technology giants including The Open University and Google are just some of the big-name companies who are providing the content for the lessons.
The courses come as part of a new online learning platform launched today by the Department for Education (DfE).
To search what free lessons are available, check the GOV.uk website .
Once you've found a course that interests you, you'll need to sign up to it by filling in your personal details.
What to use to help you write your CV
IF you're thinking about updating your CV during lockdown, these apps and programmes may come in handy.
- Resume app: If you struggle formatting your CV, you can choose from 21 templates in the Resume app to help you. And once you've put it together, you can export it as a PDF directly to your email. is free to download and use, but has additonal premimum options that you can pay for.
- Grammarly: It's important to get your spelling and grammar accurate, so run your CV through a tool such as to check for any errors. It's free to download straight to your desktop.
- Vizualize.me: If you've got an exisiting LinkedIn account, takes the data and turns it into a timeline of your employment history and a breakdown of your skills. The free tool has six different themes so it's a good option to make your CV look visually appealing as well.
- VisualCV: As well as making your CV look eye catching, also makes sure it can be read by electronic systems that some recruiters use to filter CVs. It's also free to sign up.
- Google Docs: is completely free to use and offers a range of downloadable CV templates for you to choose from.
The lessons are broken down into subjects, as well as introductory, intermediate and advanced levels.
Each course also shows you how many hours it takes to complete.
Some of the shorter courses take two hours to do, while others will need 70 hours to complete.
When The Sun checked today, there were 13 courses available.
Announcing the new initiative today, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he wants businesses to encourage furloughed workers to sharpen their skills while on lockdown.
Adults who are still working can also still apply for these courses.
He said: "I know how difficult the recent months have been and the huge changes the coronavirus has brought on the daily lives of us all.
"The high-quality and free to access courses on offer on our new online learning platform, The Skills Toolkit, will help those whose jobs have been affected by the outbreak, and people looking to boost their skills.
"I want businesses to encourage their furloughed employees to use The Skills Toolkit."
Matthew Fell, CBI chief UK policy director said: "Maths and digital skills are highly prized by employers.
"I’d encourage all businesses to make their staff aware of this learning opportunity."
The DfE has confirmed there is no limit on how many places are available per course and said The Skills Toolkit can handle 60,000 users per minute.
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