MICROSOFT Corporation and LinkedIn have announced a global skills initiative to bring digital skills to 25 million people worldwide by the end of the year.
By using data from LinkedIn, in-demand skills, emerging jobs, and global hiring patterns have been identified to provide these people with the right training for employment.
LinkedIn chief executive officer Ryan Roslansky said the company has identified 10 jobs that are in-demand in today's economy and are well-positioned to continue to grow in the future.
"We're making the 10 LinkedIn Learning Paths aligned with these jobs available for everyone for free. Each learning path includes a sequence of video content aimed at helping individuals develop the core skills needed for a given role.
"These resources can be accessed at opportunity.linkedin.com, and will be available online in four languages — English, French, German and Spanish."
The 10 in-demand jobs are software developer, sales representative, project manager, Information Technology (IT) administrator, customer service specialist, digital marketer, IT support/help desk, data analyst, financial analyst and graphic designer.
LinkedIn said Malaysian industries that had seen growth in April and May in terms of the number of job posts include those in the consumer goods, energy and mining, hardware and networking, and finance sectors. The top job based on volume in April and May was software engineer.
LinkedIn said as there was a strong demand for soft skills, it would make the four learning paths, which are focused on helping professionals come up to speed on these skills, available for free. These are job seeker, critical soft skills, digital transformation, as well as allyship and inclusive conversations.
Roslanksy said job seekers needed these tools as it would allow them to access to greater opportunities and connect "directly with jobs".
To help job seekers through that last mile of landing a job, LinkedIn is providing free tools and resources for job search and placement.
"This announcement is an important start to helping job seekers whose lives have been impacted by the pandemic, but it's really just the beginning. This isn't a challenge any one company can address alone. This undertaking requires tech companies and employers, non-profit groups, and government workforce agencies to connect and collaborate.
"I'm honoured and excited to be part of this initiative and will continue to focus our team on ways we can help — immediately and for the long term. By working together and helping those whose jobs have been impacted by the Covid-19 economic crisis, we can make a difference in the workforce, economy, and our everyday lives. Because we're all #InItTogether," said Roslansky.
Last edition of Higher Ed
Since 2016, the New Straits Times has been publishing a dedicated section called Higher Ed (HE) on Wednesdays, featuring news on the country's tertiary education. But today is the final edition of HE. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our readers for your support in the last four years.