Free skilling resources: career advancers, jobseekers, and students

Back at it again with the free resources!

Firstly, thank you all for the support on the release of this bi-weekly newsletter, with the first edition released two weeks ago (linked below).

In this edition I will be sharing; free resources to up-skill in your career, skilling resources for jobseekers and skilling and career trajectory tips for students.

1. Free resources to up-skill in your career (Microsoft virtual training + certifications)

If you are someone in the IT or developer world - or keen to strengthen your skills in that industry and skill-up on the latest technologies, ramp up your existing skillset or help drive change in your or future organizations - then I got the resource just for you! Here are one to two day virtual events that will give you the opportunity to expand your skillset and space to connect with Microsoft experts. These events are free for you (the public) to attend.

In addition, for the Microsoft Azure virtual event, after your attendance you will be eligible to take the Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals certification exam at no cost to you (this exam is usually ~ USD $100+)

This is a great resource for those looking to advance in their career and in search for the toolbox to do just that. I encourage you to take advantage of this offering and use this to become more equipped and bold in your career.

2. Skilling resources for jobseekers

Last year, Microsoft announced a Global Skills Initiative. Here you will find a toolbox for jobseekers and students "access newly available tools and resources, job seekers can visit opportunity.linkedin.com to begin pursuing in-demand technology skills for free across LinkedIn, Microsoft Learn and GitHub."

The team has done a great job to bring you all learning skills for on-demand jobs (per number of jobs posted globally in 2020). Here you will find top 10 jobs with steady growth over 4 years and their learning paths.

It's incredible to also read stories here about how people are finding unexpected career paths and using this time to strengthen their skills for the jobs they're applying for, careers they are shifting in to, roles that they either never thought possible or weren't aware of.

Once you've skilled up - you are probably thinking about how to find your next role, here are two resources that can help you find your next role: Looking for a job? | Find your next opportunity on LinkedIn and How to find open roles on LinkedIn.

Once you've found your new role and landed an interview, a question I get asked quite a bit is "How do I prepare for an interview?". Here are resources from LinkedIn to prepare for your interviews (inclusive of step-by-step guides, tools and video prep): How to Prepare for a Job Interview: Free Online Training Classes (linkedin.com)

Check out these resource, as you will find some helpful tips that will make you more equipped and bold during your job search.

3. Skilling and career trajectory tips for students

As a student, I believed that whatever I studied, I had to ultimately work in. So, for example, I studied accounting and I thought that my career paths were only limited to accounting, careers and accounting firms.

This is false.

As students, we learn more than just base skills in our degree. We learn a ton of cross-functional skills. So, for example, in my accounting degree, I learned a ton of problem solving, ways to communicate, ways to analyze issues, not just accounting issues, but issues across various businesses. However, at the time when I was a student, I really believed that I could only work in accounting firms. What this did was make my options very narrow. It also allowed me not to understand so many opportunities that were open to me.

It wasn't until I was recruited for a role that wasn't a mainstream accounting role. From here, I quickly learned that I have a whole slate of jobs that I didn't even think about, in industries that I hadn't even pierced yet. So, with this, I want to encourage you. As a student, think about the cross-functional skills that you possess. I don't say this to encourage you to study one thing and work in a completely different thing. No. I'm encouraging you to understand the slate of opportunities open to you. Understand what skills you have that are cross-functional and apply that to various industries that you may be interested in.

Don't limit yourself! I hope this tip will help you be more bold as a student and more bold as you take on your career. Linked above is a free course I put together with LinkedIn Learning. I provide tips for not only jobseekers, but students and those in their careers as well - check it out!

I have curated this edition of the newsletter with resources from Microsoft, LinkedIn and GitHub. I love that these are free and decided to share them broadly because, I believe in bridging the gap between access and opportunity and I know that starts with access to information.

Here is Edition 1 of this newsletter if you missed it:

Happy New Month of February! Love and light to you - take care and talk in two weeks.

#theBOLDjourney #CareerAdvice #LinkedInNanoLearning