Microsoft, LinkedIn partner to teach 10M people digital skills
Microsoft and LinkedIn recently announced the next step in the Skills for Jobs program, providing free access to 350 courses and six new Career Essentials Certificates for six of the most in-demand jobs in the digital economy.
Through “Skills for Jobs learning pathways,” 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.
The launch builds on the Global Skills Initiative, which helped 80 million jobseekers around the world access digital skilling resources.
In Puerto Rico, the Global Skills program has benefited 34,233 people who have been trained since July 2020, in several courses offered by both companies. The most taken learning paths have been: Fundamental Skills, Creating PowerApps, Getting Started with Artificial Intelligence, Creating and using Analytics Reports with Power BI, and Data Warehousing in Azure.
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 seven languages, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. 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.
“We’re committed to providing training opportunities, knowing that there’s still much to do. We are living in the present, and at the same time facing a future, in which most of the modern workforce needs to learn and have digital skills to fill the most in-demand roles and build a livelihood in this changing economy,” said Daniel Verswyvel, general manager at Microsoft Central America and the Caribbean.
“Through this new program, and with the support of strategic alliances with governments and non-profit organizations, we can help build the capacity to deliver personalized training and employment services at scale. We hope to provide opportunities for millions of people to learn the skills necessary to succeed in the digital economy,” he said.
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 certifications that will be 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.
