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Microsoft and LinkedIn announce new job skill program

Microsoft together with LinkedIn announced a new Skills for Jobs program. With this program, the companies aim to offer free access to 350 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 brush up their skills.
The tech giant reveals that to date it has engaged 14 million learners in Asia via LinkedIn. Of this, 7.3 million learners were from India. The top six LinkedIn Learning Pathways in India were: Critical Soft Skills, Software Developer, Data Analyst, Financial Analyst, Project Manager, and Customer Service Specialist.

"Microsoft has been invested in various initiatives to skill India’s youth, tapping into the potential of underserved communities and the opportunity to bring more women into the workforce. With our new commitment to help equip another 10 million globally with highly relevant skilling support, we want to continue making tech skills accessible to all, opening up employment opportunities for people to succeed and embrace innovation," said the company.

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.

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 skills, technology, and opportunity.

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