• Program 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

[MALAYSIA and REDMOND, Wash. – 7 December 2022] – Microsoft and LinkedIn announced the next step in the Skills for Jobs program, providing 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 get ahead in their skilling journey.

By 2025, Microsoft will help train and certify 10 million people with skills for in demand jobs. This announcement builds on the Global Skills Initiative, which helped 80 million jobseekers around the world access digital skilling resources. To date, Microsoft has engaged 14 million learners in Asia via LinkedIn, Microsoft Learn and non-profit skilling efforts. Of this, more than 280,000 learners were from Malaysia.

Using data from LinkedIn and the Burning Glass Institute, Microsoft analyzed job listings to determine six of the roles in greatest demand for the program: Administrative Professional, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Systems Administrator, Software Developer or Data Analyst. On the local front, the top six LinkedIn Learning Pathways were: Critical Soft Skills, Project Manager, Digital Marketing Specialist, Financial Analyst, Data Analyst, and Sales Development Representative

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.

The new courses and certificates will be offered in seven languages: English, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. This expansion builds on Microsoft’s commitment to empowering an inclusive economic opportunity so learners around the world have equitable access to the skills, technology, and opportunity needed to succeed in a digitizing economy.

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.

“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 program follows on the heels of Microsoft’s Bersama Malaysia commitment, where the organization pledged to upskill 1 million Malaysians by December 2023. To this end, Microsoft has achieved over 60% of its skilling target as of August 2022. Alongside this pledge, Microsoft also announced plans to establish its first datacenter region in Malaysia and committed to help form the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council to collaborate 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:

1. Free Learning Paths for Top Jobs (linkedin.com)
2. e-LATiH | Malaysia’s Premier Learning Hub | Home (hrdcorp.gov.my)
3. Microsoft Skills for Jobs Malaysia – Biji-biji Initiative