KUALA LUMPUR: Professionals and jobseekers in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia (SEA) have been adopting new soft skills, as well as other technical and digital skills to future-proof themselves against an uncertain economic backdrop, as this year's listing of the most popular courses by LinkedIn shows.
Malaysian learners were among the 7.3 million globally who enrolled in the most popular courses on LinkedIn in the past year (June 1, 2021 - June, 30, 2022) on its educational platform, LinkedIn Learning, which offers over 18,000 expert-led sessions. The number of learners was almost double that of the preceding year, indicating that more around the world are building skills to future-proof their careers.
LinkedIn head of talent solutions, Asia Pacific, Frank Koo said that the most popular LinkedIn Learning courses shed light on the priorities of SEA professionals and all who are looking to dip their toes in the job market.
In Southeast Asia, learners spent over 2.6 million hours on LinkedIn Learning in the past year, which is 18.4 per cent higher than the previous year.
With skills increasingly becoming the new currency for the future of work, Malaysian learners have been actively engaging in upskilling and reskilling.
As LinkedIn's 2021 Future of Skills report notes, on average, skills for a particular job have changed by 27 per cent in Malaysia since 2015, with the pace of change accelerated during the pandemic. As the world of work continues to transform, this could potentially change by over 40 per cent (43pc to 47pc) and there would likely be three new skills in the top skills for a job by 2025.
"There is a growing skills gap in the fast-evolving job market, and as digital transformation accelerates across businesses and industries, individuals and enterprises who build their competencies in soft and hard skills will be the ones who remain most competitive. Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, is moving towards a skills-based economy, along with the rest of the world, and we will see a diverse range of in-demand skills emerge for the future of work," added Koo.
LinkedIn's Most Popular Courses list for SEA from July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2022 offers insight into top-of-mind topics for today's professionals.
Below are the top 10 free courses (accessible until Aug 31) at https://www.linkedin.com/learning for LinkedIn members in SEA:
1.Excel Essential Training (Office 365/Microsoft 365)
2.Speaking Confidently and Effectively
3.Project Management Foundations
4.Communicating with Confidence
5.Strategic Thinking
6.Critical Thinking for Better Judgement and Decision-Making
7.Excel: VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP for Beginners
8.Digital Marketing Foundations
9.Critical Thinking
10.Communication Foundations
Courses imparting "hard" or technical skills include two courses related to Excel, with the most attended course in the region being Excel Essential Training (Office 365/Microsoft 365). Digital Marketing Foundations (#8) was the other most sought-after technical course.
In the top 10 list, seven relate to soft skills – Speaking Confidently and Effectively (#2), Project Management Foundations (#3), Communicating with Confidence (#4), Strategic Thinking (#5), Communication Foundations(#10) as well as two courses in critical thinking.
Local graduates with top soft skills including in communications, critical thinking and problem-solving have been known to be highly sought after by employers across industries in Malaysia.
According to LinkedIn's Future of Talent report, companies in Malaysia prefer candidates with technical (38pc) and transferable (28pc) skills over experience and education when hiring externally. When hiring internally, companies look for problem solving skills, good communication and strategic thinking. In fact, two out of three (67pc) companies are open to hiring employees from another industry if the skills they possess match the job requirements.
