Employers tend to identify skill-based hiring as one of the most important current trends in human resource management (Fuller, Langer and Sigelman, 2022). This describes a set of practices that focus on identifying the skills needed to be successful in a given role and then matching potential employees to the opportunity. This matching is based on their skills and competencies, or the aptitude they have shown for acquiring the necessary skills quickly (DeMark, et al., 2022).
As a mixture of both industry-specific and professional competencies are expected of most jobs, employers typically look for self-reporting of skills via a CV, rather than a list of achieved micro-credentials. By using a mixture of experience, credentials, interviews and tests to assess a candidate, employers would be able to evaluate an applicant's skills more directly and with efficiency. In this context, it is not the micro-credentials that are recognised but rather the skills and competencies contained within those micro-credentials. As such, in hiring, micro-credential recognition may be limited to being used as evidence of 'willingness to learn', or of acquisition of certain niche skills that may not be covered by a main learning programme. This always assumes that either the employer has a willingness to accept micro-credentials, and/or that the applicant tracking software in use by the employer has the ability to read and process micro-credentials. It is not unusual for these assumptions to fail (SHRM Foundation, 2021).
Recognition of micro-credentials becomes more attractive to employers with respect to continuing professional development (CPD). Compared to other options for CPD, such as mentorship, part-time or full-time degrees, micro-credentials offer a more flexible, cheaper pathway that is more easily integrated with the requirements for promotion or change of responsibilities. This considerably increases the incentive of employers to recognise micro-credentials in this context.
Various routes to recognition exist:
- An employer may decide to use a specific corporate training provider (such as LinkedIn Learning, EdX or Alison, among others) to recognise courses from a subset chosen by the employer or from the whole list.
- An employer may decide to agree in advance with an employee to take a specific micro-credential from a specific provider.
- An employee may simply present micro-credentials taken at their own initiative to the employer as evidence of newly obtained competencies and have these recognised.
Table 7 sheds light on the tendencies for micro-credential recognition in hiring and CPD across the main major types of employers in the labour market.
Table 7: The role of micro-credentials in hiring and continuing professional development.
|
Type of Employer |
Role of Micro-Credentials in Hiring |
Role of Micro-Credentials in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) |
|
Large Employers |
CVs are typically screened using applicant tracking software - these will typically screen for discrete skills, but not specifically for micro-credentials. |
Will typically have in-house training programmes that consist entirely of micro-credentials. These micro-credentials may or may not be certified, and form part of personal development plans. |
|
Small-Medium Employers |
CVs are typically screened more manually - micro-credentials may need to come from a reputed provider, or have their own reputation to make a significant effect on the hiring process. |
CPD is less formal - it is likely that employers and/or employees might suggest specific micro-credentials to help learn new skills. |
|
Regulated Professions |
Micro-Credentials are likely to play no role in hiring - unless they are specifically indicated as a route to entry the profession. |
A trusted list of micro-credentials and micro-credential providers may be established where professionals can obtain certified CPD credits. |
|
In all Cases |
Evidence of several achieved micro-credentials can serve as evidence of initiative to learn. |
Increasingly employers will use an external micro-credential provider (such as LinkedIn Learning, EdX) to supply the micro-credentials for learning, and will recognise all micro-credentials from the approved platform. |
Source: Adapted from Camilleri et al. (2022).
Please log in or sign up to comment.