Today, Microsoft and LinkedIn announced the next step in the Skills for Jobs program, providing free access to 350 new courses and six new Career Essentials Certificates for six of the most in-demand jobs in the digital economy. Microsoft and LinkedIn will also be offering 50,000 LinkedIn Learning scholarships to help people get ahead in their skilling journey. By 2025, Microsoft will help train and certify 10 million people with skills for in demand jobs. Today’s launch builds on the Global Skills Initiative, which helped 80 million jobseekers around the world access digital skilling resources.
Using data from LinkedIn and the Burning Glass Institute, Microsoft analyzed job listings to determine six of the roles in greatest demand: Administrative Professional, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Systems Administrator, Software Developer or Data Analyst. The new courses and certificates will be offered in eight languages, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. This expansion builds on Microsoft’s commitment to supporting inclusive economic opportunity so learners around the world have equitable access to the skills, technology, and opportunity needed to succeed in a digitizing economy.
“Within two years since we launched Global Skilling Initiative, more than 700 000 people in Multi-Country engaged in free learning. Today digital skills are key contributors to the competitiveness at the labor market. After gaining these skills via Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning, we further support people to validate their knowledge with industry-recognized Microsoft certificates that play major role in career development,” commented Michelle Simmons, General Manager, Microsoft Multi – Country.
The new Career Essentials Certificates are designed to help learners bridge the gap from basic digital literacy to more advanced technical skills training and gain industry-recognized certifications that are valuable to securing employment. Once a learning pathway is completed, learners will receive a LinkedIn badge to denote their certificate and indicate fluency in the skillset to employers.
All courses are available on LinkedIn at opportunity.linkedin.com. In addition, Microsoft-developed courses are also available on Microsoft Community Training (MCT) and in downloadable format for use on other Learning Management Systems (LMS) for nonprofit partners.
