LinkedIn Offers Free Training for 10 Key Roles

by Rachel Musicante

Our nation’s teetering economy has prompted many organizations to offer free resources and training to the public. This article highlights LinkedIn’s free training options and how and why LinkedIn (LI) is offering them.

From now until the end of March 2021 LI is providing training in 10 key skills. Each of the 10 learning paths (flexible, user-led courses) is online, free, and marketable. LinkedIn carefully chose the 10 roles to help job-seekers get back on their feet now and post-COVID.

What Are the 10 Roles and How Did LI Choose Them?

These are the roles that LinkedIn is offering (in descending order of demand):

  • software developer
  • sales representative
  • project manager
  • IT administrator
  • customer service specialist
  • digital marketer
  • IT support/help desk
  • data analyst
  • financial analyst
  • graphic designer
To identify the right skills to offer the public, LI analyzed data on 690 million professionals, 50 million companies, 11 million job listings, 36,000 skills, and 90,000 schools. LI tracked trends for “in-demand skills, emerging jobs, and global hiring patterns” to develop a set of critical skills that are gainful both now and in the future. In developing the learning paths for this free training, LI’s sought to pinpoint the right combination of utility and accessibility. The 10 roles that emerged met four criteria: 1. “[have] the greatest number of current job openings, 2. [have steadily] grow[n] over the past four years,
  1. [pay] a livable wage, and 4. [require] skills that can be learned online.

Why is LI Offering this Training?

According to LinkedIn’s CEO Ryan Roslansky, the company’s goal is “to help those who have become unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis get the skills they need to land their next job. By giving free access to the skills and training that job seekers need to get jobs, we hope to do our part and help connect job seekers around the globe to new opportunities.” LinkedIn’s goal is to engage 25 million learning path consumers by the end of 2020.

Additional Benefits of LI’s Training Opportunities

If obstacles such as money, time, and academic prerequisites prevented career training and advancement in the past, LinkedIn’s training initiative might be the right opportunity to seize now. As previously mentioned, the learning paths are completely free. If setting aside time for training was once a problem, many job seekers can now optimize daytime hours, newly available due to lost employment. The problem of unemployment thus carries a potential upside: allotting time for “reskilling” becomes manageable. And the upsurge in online learning opportunities means increased access to new career possibilities without going back to school. Unlike traditional college courses, there are no prerequisites to take these self-paced courses. Additionally, registration is not required to view the content. With less demands on money and time and no previous experience required, the barriers to entry virtually evaporate.

How Much Training is LinkedIn Offering?

The amount of training varies by course. Average instruction time is roughly 21 hours; customer service specialist course time clocks in at just 5½ hours, while IT support/help desk requires the greatest time commitment at 34 hours. Some learning paths prepare you for an exam and have associated costs and commitments beyond the LinkedIn learning path.

Access to Training and Broader Initiative

To explore or embark on a learning path:
    1. click here
    2. scroll down to the list of 10 roles
    3. click on “become a…” next to the role/s that you want
Upon completion of a course, you can post a certificate on your LI profile. This notifies recruiters, potential employers, and your network that you have upgraded your qualifications. LI is offering a range of other resources to get job seekers back into employment, available by scrolling further down the linked webpage above. For example, LI users can access free interview preparation tools, including an artificial intelligence-based feedback feature. The 10-skills training detailed in this article are actually just one component of a larger initiative by LinkedIn (and its parent company Microsoft) to support job seekers. Please see “Helping Job- seekers in the Covid-19 Economy,” a video linked here, in which top Microsoft and LI representatives discuss various training initiatives, including the 10 learning paths.

Resources

 Our economy is crisis only one candidate realizes it – Washingtonpost.com

Helping 25 million jo seekers get back to work –Blog

Microsoft makes 250+ hours of LinkedIn learnign content available for free –Class Central

LinkedIn, Microcsoft launch free learning path job training courses to fight coronavirus unemployment- USA Today

Resources

J. T. O’Donnell, “Laid Off: 4 Options To Help You Add Value & Move Forward” (12-minute video), April 15, 2020

Ryan Roslansky, “Helping 25 Million Job Seekers Get Back to Work,” June 30, 2020

Christof Rindlisbacher, “Microsoft Makes 250+ Hours of LinkedIn Learning Content Available for Free,” June 30, 2020

Mike Snider, “LinkedIn, Microsoft launch free Learning Path job training courses to fight coronavirus unemployment,” USA Today, June 20, 2020