What are micro credentials?
In the labour market, micro credentials are booming. They are taking a larger part in workforce training and employers are increasingly recognising the value of micro credentials in business. Microcredentials are shorter term learning experiences that allow employees to gain specific knowledge and skills quick. They are designed to address skill-gap by providing training on in-demand skills.
Related: The argument for using a skills based job description
Microcredentials, a definition
Microcredentials complement formal qualifications. They are certifications earned by employees or candidates through short courses. Typically, microcredentials focus on gaining new and in demand skills in the labour market. They allow employees to be competitive and to boost their career progression. In many cases, they also enable organisations to address specific skill-gaps, ensuring their workforce remains agile and future-ready. In the long run, this makes them more competitive.
Related: Employee satisfaction surveys: What they are and why they’re important for your business
How do microcredientials work
Microcredentials are not traditional certifications or diplomas. They focus on specific skills that can be learned through workshops or online courses. The competencies learnt are evaluated by the institutions delivering the course. The recognition from such punctual and to the point training might be microcredentials themselves or may be completion badges. The credentials earned from microcredentials are often stackable. Individuals can combine multiple microcredentials to demonstrate a broader set of competencies or even work towards larger qualifications.
Examples of microcredentials
Microcredentials are short learning programmes. To understand better what they entail, here are some examples of credentials that individuals can gain:
- Leadership or management credentials: A course on leadership skills that provides core principles and best practices when it comes to management is good entry point for team members looking to move up the ladder. These credentials may cover how to motivate teams, agile project management or people development.
- Marketing certifications: Having a marketing certification proves knowledge in digital marketing, analytics and understanding of SEO strategies. These are specific and necessary skills to the marketing field.
- Presentation skills: Presentation skills can be learnt through short and focusses courses. Individuals wishing to improve their public speaking skills should consider this type of certification to progress their technique, speech writing, storytelling and to overcome any anxiety linked to public speaking.
To be relevant, microcredentials need to be focussed on the skill-gap of an organisation or a specific industry.
Related: Skills gap analysis: why is it important and how to conduct one?
The importance of microcredentials in today’s recruitment market
With the rapid technological advancements, the labour market evolves at fast pace. Staying on top of the skills necessary to remain current is paramount. This section provides insights into the current hiring market and highlights the growing importance of skill-based hiring.
The rise of skill-based hiring
In our current environment, most industry evolve rapidly and so does the technology that support them. Traditional ways of learning, such as degrees, fail to meet the workforce demands. Finding ways to continuously patch the skill-gap is critical. With microcredentials, recruiters can identify candidates that possess specific and targeted knowledge. These can be technical skills or soft skills. The access to relevant, up-to-date expertise ensures that organisations have a quick return on investment with both existing teams and new hires.
For recruiters, evaluating and validating candidates’ skills is facilitated by microcredentials. The fact that microcredentials focus on specific competencies gives employers the confidence that their teams or candidates have the required knowledge to meet the demand of the role. Additionally, individuals who possess certifications and course badges demonstrate their continuous will to learn and develop their competences. This quality makes them attractive candidates seeking constant growth.
Related: What is skills-based hiring?
Benefits of microcredentials in recruitment practices
The fact that microcredentials are specific and fast brings many advantages to employers and candidates. This new way of learning changes the landscape of workforce development. Here are some of the core benefits or microcredentials for employers:
- Encourages continuous learning and development: With microcredentials, continuous learning is made easy and quick. Employees can upskill in line with the business’ needs.
- Lowers costs of training: The solution is cost effective versus traditional programmes. Despite this, it delivers measurable improvements.
- Serves as proof of competencies: Microcredentials allow for skill validation which is highly beneficial to recruiting teams who can have the certainty that the candidate they are interviewing possess the desired skill-set.
- Optimises hiring cost and time to hire: Recruiters can identify qualified candidates quickly. Training costs are also reduced and new hires can deliver on their role faster, thus significantly reducing the end-to-end hiring and onboarding costs.
Related: How to reduce time-to-hire with Indeed’s recruitment automation
- Widens the talent pool: Incorporating non-traditional qualifications in the search for the right candidate, significantly increases the talent pool available to recruiters. Skilled individuals who do not hold formal degrees can apply for the role and qualify as competitive applicants.
Related: How to consistently attract and filter quality applicants
- Improved workforce agility: As microcredentials support life-long learning, they allow employees to stay up-to-date with the changes of their industry. This simple fact makes for a more agile and competitive workforce that the organisation will benefit from in the long run.
- Increased development opportunities and positive impact on retention: Offering microcredentials as part of people development programmes allows employees to see a clear career path for growth. Development opportunities tend to have a positive impact on employee retention.
Related: 9 Effective employee retention strategies
- Boosts internal talent performance:
By integrating micro-credentials into talent management systems, companies can define the skill-gaps in their organisation. They can then use microcredentials to build clear pathways for their teams to develop and address the skill-gap internally. - Promotes diversity and inclusion:
Considering and recognising non-traditional candidates has a direct impact on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It leads to a fresh perspective and improves workforce diversity.
Micro-credentials are a game-changer for businesses. They provide a blend of cost-effectiveness and agility to meet the skills demands. By fostering an environment of continuous learning, employers support innovation and sustained growth.
Related: Putting an upskilling strategy in place to empower employees
Challenges of microcredentials for recruitment teams
Business should promote microcredentials and even integrate them in their learning and development strategies. However, when implementing such opportunities they should be aware of the following pitfalls that the solution presents:
- Limitation in terms of standardisation: The learnings from microcredentials are highly specific and lack standardisation which may present challenges when looking at the overall workforce skill-set.
- Challenges to compare qualifications: Microcredentials may be challenging for recruiters to compare candidates. This difficulty is due to inconsistencies in existing evaluating methods and to the varying quality of courses.
- Verification issue: Recruiters may find it difficult to confirm that microcredentials are genuine. There is no official issuing body for microcredentials. As a result, microcredentials may fail to demonstrate the practical application of skills.
- Integration issues with existing systems: HR systems may find it challenging to integrate microcredentials. This is particularly true when it comes to matching job description or career paths with training. Microcredentials add complexity to the process and makes it more time-intensive for both IT and HR teams.
- Challenges with employee engagement: While microcredentials may have a positive impact on employees’ motivation, the abundance of options can also overwhelm employees.
Related: How to develop talent and improve employee experience
Microcredentials can also present other challenges such as financial constraints, over-specialisation and upfront cost for employers. Businesses may benefit from partnering with education providers specialised in microcredentials. By doing so, they can design clear evaluation frameworks and integrate microcredentials in people development strategies.
Related: Professional development: how teaching employees new skills can improve employee retention
Microcredentials are a powerful solution to the fast pace business landscape. They allow employees and candidates to stay up-to-date with the ever-evolving labour market and skills demand. However, formal qualifications still hold value and microcredentials may be used to add complementary expertise. Recruiters can use them to identify the right candidates faster through quicker skill validation.
