- Programme to provide free access to 350 courses, six new Career Essentials Certificates, and 50,000 LinkedIn Learning Scholarships
- More than 280,000 engaged learners in Malaysia to-date under Skills for Jobs program
Microsoft and LinkedIn recently unveiled the latest phase of their Skills for Jobs initiative, which will provide users free access to 350 courses and six new Career Essentials Certificates for the six most in-demand positions in the digital economy. Additionally, 50,000 scholarships for LinkedIn Learning will be made available by Microsoft and LinkedIn to aid individuals in their expertise pursuits.
Microsoft will assist in certifying and training 10 million individuals with the necessary skills for in-demand occupations by the year 2025. This news expands upon the Global Skills Initiative, which gave 80 million job seekers access to digital skill-building resources worldwide. Through LinkedIn, Microsoft Learn, and non-profit skilling initiatives, Microsoft has so far engaged 14 million learners in Asia. Over 280,000 of these students were from Malaysia.
Six of the positions with the highest demand for the programme were identified by Microsoft through job listings analysis using data from LinkedIn and the Burning Glass Institute: Administrative Professional, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Systems Administrator, Software Developer, or Data Analyst. Critical Soft Skills, Project Manager, Digital Marketing Specialist, Financial Analyst, Data Analyst, and Sales Development Representative were the top six LinkedIn Learning Pathways in the local market.
The new Career Essentials Certificates are created to assist learners in bridging the gap between fundamental technical skill training and more advanced digital literacy courses and to enable them get certifications that will be helpful in finding employment. After completing a learning pathway, students will obtain a LinkedIn badge to display their credential and demonstrate to employers their competence in the skill set.
Seven languages will be available for the new courses and certificates: English, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. This growth continues Microsoft’s dedication to enabling inclusive economic opportunity, ensuring that students everywhere have fair access to the knowledge, tools, and opportunities required to thrive in a digital society.
All classes may be found at opportunity.linkedin.com. Furthermore, Microsoft-created courses are accessible for nonprofit partners on Microsoft Community Training (MCT) and in downloadable format for use on other Learning Management Systems (LMS).
“Bridging the skills gaps is foundational to an inclusive digital economy in Malaysia. With our new commitment to help equip another 10 million people globally with digital skills, we want to ensure every person has equitable opportunities to thrive in a cloud and AI-enabled future, opening up employment opportunities for people to succeed and embrace innovation. Together with LinkedIn and our ecosystem partners in Malaysia, we remain committed to empower every person to achieve more as we journey into the digital era.”
— K Raman, Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia
The renewed Skills for Jobs initiative follows Microsoft’s Bersama Malaysia commitment, in which the company vowed to upskill 1 million Malaysians by December 2023. As of August 2022, Microsoft has met more than 60% of their skilling objective. Along with this vow, Microsoft announced intentions to construct its first datacenter area in Malaysia and pledged to assisting in the formation of the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council, which would work on cloud-first and digital-native policy recommendations for Malaysia.
To learn more about how you can sign up for the Skills for Jobs program, refer to the links below:
- Free Learning Paths for Top Jobs (linkedin.com)
- e-LATiH | Malaysia’s Premier Learning Hub | Home (hrdcorp.gov.my)
- Microsoft Skills for Jobs Malaysia – Biji-biji Initiative