This story has been corrected to reflect that Cornerstone does not have exclusive rights to TED’s content.

Cornerstone OnDemand wants to give its customers ideas worth spreading.

Pressed by its clients to build out a library of career development content, Santa Monica’s Cornerstone has partnered with TED, the nonprofit New York conference organization, to provide educational videos to its human resources software users.

Cornerstone’s cloud-based software is designed to help large companies better manage their employees via hiring features, employee evaluation tools and training management tools.

TED is a popular conference for discussing subjects such as technology, life-sciences and business. The talks are free to view online and have become wildly popular, especially with the millennial generation, which is, in part, why Cornerstone licensed the content.

“Millennials are choosing an employer based on things like having development programs and having training programs,” said Jason Corsello, Cornerstone’s vice president of corporate development and strategy. “It’s becoming a very important priority as they’re making career choices.”

Cornerstone declined to disclose the terms of the licensing deal, but said right now it is the first and only distributor of TED content in the HR industry. Officials of TED did not return a call seeking comment.

About 400 videos have been curated by Cornerstone for professionals in industries such as financial services, health care and retail. Those videos are further grouped into themed playlists built around subjects such as innovation, sales training and change management.

Licensing the TED content was also about fulfilling demand for less rigid on-demand educational content, Corsello said.

“We’ve seen a big shift in the last couple years were clients want more self-directed content,” he said. “Instead of the company telling me go take this course, it’s the company offering up a library, offering up a curriculum.”

The TED conference makes a point to limit the speaking time of its presenters to 18 minutes or less, something it claims increases engagement. Cornerstone thinks its younger users will appreciate that as well.

“People today learn very differently than 10 years ago, even 5 years ago. They want short-form content that is impactful and they want content when and where they want, on any device,” said Corsello. “The new demographics in the marketplace, millennials in particular, desire a new way of learning.”

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.