REDMOND, Wash., March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft
Corp. on Tuesday announced it has helped over 30 million people in
249 countries and territories gain access to digital skills,
topping its initial goal of 25 million last June, and is
extending the company's commitment to help 250,000 companies make a
skills-based hire in 2021.
From laid-off factory workers to retail associates and truck
drivers, millions of people turned to online learning courses from
GitHub, LinkedIn and Microsoft during the pandemic to help prepare
for and secure the most in-demand roles, including customer
service, project management and data analysis. The announcement,
detailed on the Official Microsoft Blog, builds on the
company's efforts to help people by extending through 2021 free
LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost
certifications that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs. The
next stage of the initiative sets a new foundation for a
skills-based economy through a suite of new tools and platforms
designed to connect skilled job seekers with employers.
"Over the past year, we've seen the pandemic hit people who can
bear it the least," said Microsoft President Brad Smith. "We are doubling down at LinkedIn
and across Microsoft with new work to support a more inclusive
skills-based labor market, creating more alternatives, greater
flexibility, and accessible learning paths that connect these more
readily with new jobs."
LinkedIn plans to help 250,000 companies make skills-based hires
this year through new and existing hiring products. The company
will provide both new ways for job seekers to demonstrate their
skills and new tools for employers to connect to candidates based
on their skill proficiencies including:
- The pilot of LinkedIn Skills Path, a new way to
help companies hire for skills. Skills Path brings together
LinkedIn Learning courses with Skill Assessments to help recruiters
source candidates in a more equitable way — based on their proven
skills. LinkedIn is piloting Skills Path with various companies,
including BlackRock, Gap Inc. and TaskRabbit, committed to
broadening their hiring practices to better include candidates with
diverse experiences.
- New expressive and personalized LinkedIn profile
features will help people share more about themselves, their
career and goals in a more authentic and engaging way. This
includes a video Cover Story that allows job seekers to demonstrate
their soft skills to recruiters and hiring managers. Seventy-five
percent of hiring managers believe a standard resume is
insufficient in evaluating a candidate's soft skills, and almost
80% believe video has become more important when evaluating
candidates.*
- Expanded access to LinkedIn's Skills Graph will help
create a common skills language for individuals, employers,
educational institutions and government agencies to help improve
workforce planning, hiring and development programs.
Microsoft is bringing together every part of the company to
supplement LinkedIn's work to promote far-reaching digital skills
opportunities, including Career Coach, a Microsoft Teams for
Education app powered by LinkedIn that provides personalized
guidance for higher education students to navigate their career
journey. Career Coach offers educational institutions a unified
career solution for students to help them discover their goals,
interests and skills using an AI-based skills identifier and
LinkedIn integration that aligns a student's comprehensive profile
with job market trends and helps them grow real-world skills and
connect with mentors and peers all in one place.
"For a long time, the way people got hired was based solely on
the job they had, the degree they earned or the people they knew.
That's starting to change. Workers are now better understanding and
articulating the skills they have and the skills they need while
businesses are looking not just at those familiar credentials but
also at the skills that workers from often- overlooked communities
have to get the job done. We want to help accelerate that change,"
said Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn CEO.
"Since last June, Microsoft and LinkedIn have helped more than 30
million people worldwide gain access to digital skills, and today
we're extending our commitment to skills by helping 250,000
companies make a skills-based hire in 2021."
As part of the initiative, Microsoft has worked closely with its
nonprofit partners to help provide wrap-around support with
coaching, mentoring and networking to nearly 6 million learners.
Microsoft will apply these lessons more broadly and is announcing a
new online service, Career Connector, that will provide
50,000 job seekers with the opportunity to secure a tech-enabled
job over the next three years. It will focus on learners who have
built skills via Microsoft's nonprofit and learning partners, with
an emphasis on women and underrepresented minorities in technology.
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital
transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an
intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every
organization on the planet to achieve more.
* Survey methodology: Censuswide conducted online research on
behalf of LinkedIn, between Feb. 25 and
March 2, 2021, among 1,009 hiring managers and 2,101 job
seekers, ages 18 to 69, in the U.S.
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SOURCE Microsoft Corporation