In a working environment where many roles and industries are suffering the effects of a digital skills gap, it’s vital that managers and employees understand, appreciate and take action against the fact that skills and knowledge need to be evolving constantly.
The brand giants out there have been, of course, eagerly aware of the many skills gaps opening up across industry workforces over the past few years, and the opportunity it gives them to offer solutions to the issue.
Enter the LinkedIn Learning Platform. LinkedIn launched their learning platform around one year ago, in October 2017, and what better platform to bring a learning portal to their social media fold than the employment-oriented service, focusing on professionals and their business and industry connections over personal ones?
What is LinkedIn’s Learning Platform?
Well, if you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s LinkedIn’s offering to training and development, giving individuals (for the fee of £19.99pcm after a month’s free trial) the chance to enhance their understanding and knowledge of certain topics and areas of industry, ultimately increasing their skill set. Not dissimilar to the style inspiration platform, Pinterest, you’ll be asked to select your areas of interest, the areas you’d like to improve, or you can simply search for the desired area. It’s simple to use and available to everyone with a LinkedIn account, so if you’d like to take advantage of the month’s free trial before you commit to a monthly payment, why not?
How can it help you?
Whether you’re inclined to think this is an amazing opportunity to learn or just another way for social media to monetize their users, it can’t be denied – it is appealing. The range of courses offered are vast, so there’s bound to be something that most of us will find useful. These courses can improve confidence in areas you feel you currently might be lacking; these new ‘qualifications’ can be added to your CV, showing that you are a proactive individual who is constantly ready and willing to learn without encouragement and is already actively growing their skillset. Whether going up for a promotion or a new job with a new company, this kind of initiative, on an accessible level, is the kind that could just help you to outshine your competitors!
And managers, it could help not only individuals but the whole team with the option to ‘buy for my team’, and have on demand learning available to train whole teams, new starters or company stalwarts.
Who is it for?
So, who might look at giving it a go? Well, anyone really!
Anyone who’s looking to gain a better understanding of a specific topic or area of industry, i.e Google Analytics or Excel.
As we mentioned, for those currently in the midst of a job search or preparation for a promotion, LinkedIn Learning could be the way to get your edge, especially if the job search is taking you into a different area of industry or line of work.
Perhaps some courses would be ideal for those just entering the working world and need a little more understanding of subjects like teamwork or people management.
E-Learning is rapidly becoming the way to learn, and with technology enveloping our work-lives, online is often the best or only place to get to grips with new topics, so will you be giving LinkedIn’s Learning Platform a whirl?
