Excel Essential Training (Microsoft 365) (2025)

Dennis Taylor’s Excel course keeps surfacing near the top of LinkedIn Learning’s own top-20 popularity ranking, and it shows why nearly 30 years of teaching Excel matters — the jargon is stripped out and every concept is tied to something you’ll actually use. Across roughly three hours you work through formulas, PivotTables, chart creation, sorting, filtering, and conditional formatting on the current Microsoft 365 interface, refreshed February 2025 so it isn’t teaching an outdated ribbon layout. Each lesson has downloadable practice workbooks rather than a single capstone project. Access is bundled into LinkedIn Premium Career, not sold separately. Recommended without hesitation for anyone who touches spreadsheets at work and has never had formal training on them.

Critical Thinking

Mike Figliuolo’s course is the single most-taken item on LinkedIn Learning’s own top-20 popularity path, with over 1.4 million learners and a June 2025 refresh. In just over an hour it covers structured problem-solving frameworks, how to spot assumptions and bias in your own reasoning, and how to build an argument that holds up under scrutiny — useful in decision-making meetings as much as solo work. Its short runtime is part of why it’s so widely taken; that also means it’s an introduction rather than a deep framework course, so don’t expect a rigorous methodology. Bundled with Premium Career. A genuinely useful hour, especially early in a management or strategy-adjacent role.

Learning Personal Branding

Chelsea Krost’s course has the highest learner count of anything on LinkedIn Learning’s top-20 path — nearly 2.9 million completions — which says as much about how anxious professionals are about their online presence as it does about the content’s depth. In under an hour it covers defining a personal brand and translating it across LinkedIn and other platforms for a job search or business development push. It’s motivational rather than tactical; don’t expect a step-by-step content calendar. Last updated February 2021, so some platform-specific advice (posting cadence, algorithm behavior) has aged. Bundled with Premium Career. Worth the 47 minutes for the mindset shift; pair it with a more current course for actual platform tactics.

Speaking Confidently and Effectively

Adapted from Pete Mockaitis’s How to Be Awesome at Your Job podcast, this is a brisk 22-minute hit on leveling up presentations and executive presence — a highlights reel of practical fixes rather than a full public-speaking curriculum. Close to a million learners have taken it, likely because it fits into a lunch break and still delivers two or three usable techniques. Released in 2020 and not recently refreshed, though the core advice on structure and presence doesn’t really go stale. Bundled with Premium Career. A solid quick tune-up before a big presentation, not a substitute for full public-speaking training if you’re starting from scratch.

Time Management Fundamentals

Dave Crenshaw’s course is one of LinkedIn Learning’s longest-standing popular titles, with over 715,000 learners despite last being refreshed in February 2022. Across 1h47m it covers prioritization frameworks, calendar and task-management systems, and distinguishing what’s actually eating your time from what merely feels urgent. It’s practical rather than motivational — Crenshaw favors concrete systems over pep talks. The core techniques (batching, single-tasking, calendar blocking) hold up regardless of the course’s age. Bundled with Premium Career. Recommended for anyone who has never deliberately built a time-management system; less essential if you’ve already worked through Getting Things Done or similar.

SQL Essential Training

Walter Shields walks through relational database fundamentals and SQL syntax — SELECT statements, joins, aggregations, subqueries — using an interactive CoderPad-based environment rather than static slides, making it more hands-on than much of LinkedIn Learning’s technical catalog. At 4h36m it’s the longest and most technically substantial course on this list, refreshed May 2024. Over 520,000 learners have taken it, reflecting steady demand for practical SQL skills across data, analytics, and product roles. Bundled with Premium Career. Recommended for beginners wanting a structured, practice-heavy SQL foundation instead of scattered tutorials — pair it with a dedicated database-design course if you need the theory behind the syntax.

Communicating with Confidence

Vinh Giang’s course, refreshed within the last month as of this writing, covers tools for becoming a calmer, more persuasive communicator — vocal variety, body language, and framing under pressure. At 1h17m it sits between the quick-hit courses and the longer fundamentals courses on this list, with nearly 492,000 learners. Giang’s delivery style is energetic and performative, which some learners find motivating and others find a bit much, so it’s worth sampling the first module before committing fully. Bundled with Premium Career. Recommended for people who feel physically nervous or flat in high-stakes conversations; less necessary if the issue is content and structure rather than delivery.

Strategic Thinking

Dorie Clark, a well-regarded voice on career strategy, covers how to think strategically, build and act on a strategy, and course-correct as circumstances change. At 53 minutes it’s a focused primer rather than a deep strategy framework course, refreshed September 2025 so the examples are current. Just over 252,000 learners have taken it — the smallest audience on this list, likely because its topic is more abstract than the tactical courses ranked above it (Excel, SQL) or the universally relatable ones (time management, personal branding). Bundled with Premium Career. Recommended for individual contributors moving into roles that require more independent judgment and less task execution.

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