7 How Micro-credentials are Meeting the Needs of the Workforce

With all the technological advances in the past few decades, industries are constantly evolving to meet the needs of society. This generates new job opportunities to address those needs; however, it also brings about job displacement for individuals in the workforce who lack the necessary skills for these emerging job prospects. According to the World Economic Forum, 50 percent of the workforce must reskill by 2025 (Timmes, 2022). Based on the impacts of many emerging technologies, it is expected that this trend will continue.

Today, employers find it difficult to recruit and retain employees with the necessary skills their industry seeks. Standard higher education pathways are criticized for lacking alignment with employer and employee needs and not being current with teaching the latest skills (Brown et al., 2021). Pursuing a standard higher education pathway will not address the lack of alignment and gap between employees and employers; it will widen it since such credentials require a longer time commitment (Brown et al., 2021). The skill may no longer be relevant when a standard higher education degree is earned.

Several employers see competency-based micro-credentials as the solution to the rapid change in industries’ demands, allowing their workforce to quickly gain recognition for skills critical to perform their job-related tasks (Orman, Șimșek, & Kozak Çakir, 2023). Due to their design, micro-credentials hold the potential for employees, or workforce learners, to develop career-aligned skills and become lifelong learners.

Designing Micro-credentials for Workforce

Micro-credentials are designed to be affordable, flexible, and personalized for workforce learners. A workforce learner is an employee who strives to obtain skills critical to their success in their career’s industry. With micro-credentials, the employee can become competent in a skill or set of skills needed to succeed in their current or future role. In the workplace setting, micro-credentials represent competency-based units of learning aligned to workplace tasks (Galindo, 2023). They archive the skill achievements of workforce learners and encourage them to develop other skills essential to success in their industry. The workforce learner can learn quickly and implement the new skill or set of skills to remain current in the workplace instead of pursuing a degree that will require extensive time and financial commitment.

Micro-credentials often highlight skills not represented by a transcript, certificate degree, or diploma, which allows for a higher level of personalization. The employee can pursue a specific skill or set of skills that they need to be successful in their industry but did not acquire via the completion of a standard education pathway.

Moreover, micro-credentials provide visibility into the knowledge and skills held by the employee. The micro-credential assessment requires the employee to implement the new skill or set of skills in an authentic workplace setting and demonstrate evidence of this implementation. For example, earning the Social Media Marketing Micro-credential required employees to gather information about their employer and “distill it into the essential elements needed for social media marketing platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.” With earning this micro-credential, the employee demonstrated that they are able to do social media marketing. The employee can share this evidence of skill implementation with their current or prospective employer, allowing the employer to validate the understanding. Clicking on the micro-credential’s digital badge “enables any employer to independently verify, in more detail, the individual’s skills” (Bell, Liu, & Murphy, 2022, p. 37). The employer is able to view the metadata of the digital badge which includes but is not limited to the badge name, badge criteria, badge image, issuer, issue date, recipient, tags, alignment/standards, expiration date, and URL to the evidence.

Just as employers are looking for quick ways to train their workforce to increase productivity, workforce learners are looking for quick ways to reskill and upskill (Gauthier, 2020). Micro-credentials help both the employee and the employer; employees compete for job opportunities just like employers compete for employees. “Micro-credentials expand the competitiveness and capacities of both groups by providing opportunities for employees in both recruitment and professional development processes” (Orman, Șimșek, & Kozak Çakir, 2023, p. 12).

Micro-credentials Help Upskill/Reskill Employees

“In the past decade, micro-credentialing has emerged as a time-saving and cost-effective method to prepare workers in an ever-changing job market.” Aside from strengthening and filling in the gaps in an employee’s learning journey, micro-credentials allow employees to upskill or reskill with competencies currently in demand by the industry. “Micro-credentials will decrease skills mismatch and enhance employability” (Pirkkalainen et al., 2022, p.12).

Tamoliune et al. (2023) states that micro-credentials that give “learners a quicker and more cost-effective mechanism for acquiring specific industry-recognized competencies and skills that are necessary for successful work performance and/or employability are valued and recognized by employers” (p. 10). By the time the micro-credential is earned to meet the industry demand, years have not passed like they do when pursuing a formal degree. They provide the opportunity to obtain the right credentials at the right time.

Aside from being affordable, flexible, and personalized, micro-credentials create a constructive learning environment. The micro-credential assessment requires the employee to construct their knowledge by applying the specific skill or set of skills authentically in a workplace setting. This learning opportunity allows employees to build on their expertise or expand into a new area of interest.

I still have several jobs posted that we’re not able to find people to fill. I’m hopeful that when we do find applicants, and if they are alternative certifications, that we can utilize these micro-credentials to expedite their learning.

– Anna Prince, Director of Personnel and Pupil Personnel, Lawrence County Schools

(Tinsley et al., 2022)

Impact on Workforce

The employer can provide intentional skill-focused learning opportunities to employees and subsequently offer micro-credentials to recognize these competencies. Other employers request their employees obtain specific micro-credentials from educational institutions or subject matter expert organizations. Regardless of an employer’s avenue, the micro-credential option provides them with a fast avenue to improve or increase the skill set of their employees.

Workforce learners need affordable, flexible, and personalized lifelong and life-wide learning that provides them with the skills necessary to adapt to an ever-evolving society.