Amber Hickman |
Microsoft and LinkedIn are extending their joint Skills for Jobs programme by providing 350 free courses as well as Career Essentials Certificates for the most sought-after jobs in the digital economy.
Microsoft analysed job postings using data from LinkedIn and the Burning Glass Institute to determine which six professional roles are currently most in-demand in the digital industry. They include administrative staff, project managers, business analysts, system administrators, software developers and data analysts.
The two businesses will also offer 50,000 LinkedIn Learning scholarships to help people develop skills. This will help Microsoft to achieve its goal of empowering and certifying 10 million people in digital skills by 2025.
“The launch is the next step in Microsoft’s and LinkedIn’s global education initiatives as a response to the pandemic’s impact on the labour market,” said Thomas Floberg, vice president and head of marketing and operations for Microsoft Sweden. “In Sweden, the initiative has been interwoven with our local initiative, Skill up Sweden, which aims to promote digital competence development for everyone.”
The collaboration is part of Microsoft’s Global Skills Initiative, which has helped approximately 80 million people worldwide. In Portugal, for example, more than 417,000 people have already been trained by Microsoft. The collaboration with LinkedIn will help these people to display the skills they have learned to recruiters.
“Skills alone are no longer enough for people to get the jobs they want, especially in the most sought-after areas,” said Andres Ortolá, managing director of Microsoft Portugal. “People need to show recruiters that they have these skills. Together with LinkedIn, we have launched these new courses and certificates to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities to access skills in a changing digital economy.”
The courses and certificates will be offered in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.