Microsoft and LinkedIn are coming together to help individuals reskill, upskill, or acquire new skills as a response to the sudden change of the employment landscape as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two companies will also be utilizing available and relevant resources at Github.

Micorosoft acquired LinkedIn, a professional network platform, in 2016. Github, a company that hosts software development, became Microsoft’s subsidiary in 2018.

The pandemic forced governments to impose lockdowns to curb the spread of the highly contagious disease that causes COVID-19. As a result, companies, especially in those in the service industry, shifted their businesses online prompting a surge in apps and software development. While a significant number of people lost their jobs, the swift change in business operations created new kinds of jobs.

Professionals watched 1.2M hours in a week of LinkedIn Learning during lockdown

78% of Filipinos say network connections key to employment opportunities

According to Microsoft’s media advisory, “this is a comprehensive technology initiative that will build on data and digital technology, which starts with data on jobs and skills from the LinkedIn Economic Graph. It provides free access to content in LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn, and the GitHub Learning Lab, and couples those with Microsoft Certifications and LinkedIn job-seeking tools. These resources can all be accessed at a central location and will be broadly available online in four languages: English, French, German and Spanish.”

Learning paths

Those interested can choose from the free 10 LinkedIn Learning paths, which will be aligned to the jobs that became in-demand and are forecast to grow in the future, given the current state of the global economy. These 10 jobs were identified as having the greatest number of job openings, have had steady growth over the past four years, pay a livable wage, and require skills that can be learned online.

These 10 role-based learning paths include software developer, sales representative, project manager, IT administrator, customer service specialist, digital marketer, IT support/help desk, data analyst, financial analyst, and graphic designer. Interested individuals can check out current job opportunities and the different learning paths available.

At the end of May 2020, almost three months after the first announcement of lockdown in the Philippines, hardware and networking, construction, consumer goods, and finance emerged as the top hiring industries.

New features

In addition, LinkedIn will launch the following features on its platform to help job seekers.

#OpenToWork: Job seekers can now indicate to employers and their network that they are ‘Open To Work’ by adding a specific photo frame to their online profile photo.

Offer Help: We’ve made it easier for LinkedIn members to share in a simple post that they are willing to offer a helping hand — by connecting people, reviewing resumes, or providing general job-seeking guidance — to others in their network.

Interview Prep: To help job seekers get through the interview phase, LinkedIn is offering free interview prep tools, including a newly launched feature leveraging Microsoft-AI for real-time feedback on answers.

To help shed light on the rapidly changing economy, LinkedIn is also making available some of its Labour Market Insights from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph. Using this new interactive tool, policymakers and the public can search and download data on which companies are hiring, what jobs are available, and what skills are needed in over 180 countries and regions around the world.