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Microsoft said on Tuesday that it intends to place 50,000 people in tech-enabled jobs as part of its professional networking arm LinkedIn’s effort to re-skill workforce. The software maker’s ‘Career Connector’ service will act as a clearing house to connect people to find jobs in Microsoft’s ‘ecosystem’ over the next three years. It will also work with local non-profit organisations involved in skill-building.
Launched last June, Microsoft’s skill-building effort aimed to impart digital skills to 25 million people worldwide. The company said it has helped over 30 million people in several countries through its global skills initiative, including close to three million people from India.
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“Over the past year, we’ve seen the pandemic hit people who can bear it the least,” Brad Smith, President at Microsoft, said in a blog post. “We are doubling down at LinkedIn and across Microsoft with new work to support a more inclusive skills-based labour market, creating more alternatives, greater flexibility, and accessible learning paths that connect these more readily with new jobs.”
Microsoft is offering free courses and low-cost certifications, aligned to 10 on-demand technology jobs in the global skills initiative, through LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn until the end of 2021. It also plans to extend the low-cost certification offer beyond job seekers, to students.
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LinkedIn will provide new ways and tools for job seekers and employers to connect with expanded access to its Skills Graph feature. Additionally, for students in higher education, a personalised coaching feature will provide career guidance.
Apart from this, some of the new features LinkedIn will roll out for its global users this week are an option to upload a short profile video; a space to share hashtags on topics of interest and expertise; a place for users who freelance to list their services.
