Microsoft online courses for the unemployed
Microsoft online courses have been created on LinkedIn in support of those hit hardest by the pandemic. The pandemic has caused widespread devastation to worldwide economies, affecting different parts of the world in varying degrees. One thing is for sure, worldwide unemployment hasn’t been this high since The Great Depression.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), it is projected that the economic and labour crisis brought about by the pandemic may see around 25 million additional people unemployed worldwide.
What’s more, they estimate that some 436 million businesses in sectors such as retail, manufacturing, wholesale, hospitality and others are at high risk of “serious disruption”. Some businesses and jobs may bounce back after the pandemic, but there will most certainly be permanent changes to the post-Coronavirus job landscape.
“This is no longer only a global health crisis, it is also a major labor market and economic crisis that is having a huge impact on people.” Said Director-General of ILO, Guy Ryder.
“For millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future” he later continued. “As the pandemic and the jobs crisis evolve, the need to protect the most vulnerable becomes even more urgent.”
In response to the crisis, we are seeing tech companies push relief efforts on their own platforms, assisting severely affected communities through various means. Efforts like information platforms, live maps, updated news, and even platforms to ease distribution of medical resources worldwide, have become invaluable tools.
Microsoft online courses are meant to boost efforts in education, with the company distributing $20 million in donations to numerous NGOs, aimed at aiding those impacted by unemployment.
Using its own tool, LinkedIn Learning Paths was designed with tutorials to kickstart a person’s career in 10 fields currently in high-demand, according to LinkedIn’s data. These jobs will offer livable wages with promising future prospects.
The jobs listed include: digital marketer, graphic designer, IT support, sales representative, project manager, IT administration, software developer, customer services rep, data analyst, financial analyst. With courses free of charge and available to everyone until March 2021, anyone can go to this link and learn a new trade.
The education portal is part of a global trend pushing towards remote education inclusion in mainstream education systems. Microsoft online courses are just a drop among thousands of hours of quality educational material offered by companies such as Udemy, Skillshare, The Great Courses Plus and many more.
Alongside these, Microsoft Learn is offering supplemental technical content to these Paths, and Microsoft is also making GitHub’s Learning Lab free to practice if you’re learning skills to become a software developer.