Employer Insights on Digital Credentials and Skills Profiles: Lessons Learned

Haley Glover

Senior Director

Learning and Employment Records, including digital credentials and skills profiles, hold tremendous potential to aid hiring and talent management decisions, but employers want more clarity on interpreting and validating what these credentials indicate about a person’s knowledge and skills, according to a new report by UpSkill America.

More work is needed, too, to integrate them into employer hiring systems. Employers view digital credentials as a positive signal of a prospective or current employee’s growth and self-improvement mindset, but few have implemented systematic ways to recognize and integrate digital credentials in the hiring process. They aren’t sure what credentials indicate about knowledge and skill levels or how they validate specific competencies and job preparation. The lack of uniformity among digital credentials and skills profiles is also problematic and makes it hard for employers to evaluate their value, credibility and how they align with jobs.

UpSkill America, an initiative of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program, conducted the qualitative study on behalf of Western Governors University. The report describes what employers said they need to make better use of these Learning and Employment Records and makes recommendations for credential providers.

You can read the report here and watch a conversation between Courtney Hills McBeth, chief academic officer and provost at WGU, and Haley Glover, senior director at UpSkill America and report author, here.