An Eloquent 21st Century Way to Hire Those with the Right Credentials
It might be the case of too much information. With so much confusion and multiple search stops along the way, a hiring agent without a detective badge and a Fedora might understandably walk away from the credential discovery process before finding details that would clearly clarify the competency of a potential hire.
When digging to find out what a certification means, there are a number of pieces to put together before the whole picture is evident. What skills are needed to be awarded the certification? What requirements do candidates need? What’s the time limit on the certification before it needs to be renewed? What’s needed for renewal? Each of these questions can lead to different web pages, multi-page documents, and complicated information.
A digital credential can solve this problem.
Compressing multi-layered information about a person’s certification, and the guarantee that the information is reliable and current, provides a convenient shorthand so that a certificant can send their competency achievement directly to a hiring employer. Nice and neat and easy.
IREC is piloting a’dynamic digital credential’ that enables our certified clean energy instructors and master trainers to leapfrog the pack by embedding in a digital mark the requirements that they have met to be awarded the IREC certification. A simple click on the mark gives “just the facts, Ma’am” – when the credential was issued and when it expires, the skills it covers, what it takes to earn the certification and the standards on which it is based. Along with this evidence is confirmation that the certification is in good standing.
“A printed certificate or a fabric badge might be seen by a limited number of people, but when the digital credential becomes part of an individual’s social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email signature block, or a website), the reach is widespread and cascades to many,” says IREC’s Kristen Ferguson, who is leading this pilot.
The digital credential is more than a signal for employers. It is an easy recruitment filter offering a tool for competency-based human resources practices. The “click” finds qualified talent.
The National Network of Business and Industries Association (National Network) is leading the charge to create an industry-led shift towards hiring based on the demonstration of skills through performance or behavior – also known as ‘hiring on competency.’ IREC is a member of the National Network and it is through this group and the ACT Foundation that our dynamic digital credential pilot is supported.
