Skilled Credentials At Work

Research Shows Skilled Credentials are Essential to The Future of Work

Datapoints to help you make the case.

Increasingly, U.S. workers are turning to skilled credentials as a way to enhance and demonstrate skills and work readiness. But can certifications, badges and apprenticeships stand in for traditional education and work experience when seeking a new job?

SHRM and SHRM Foundation conducted research to demonstrate the value and impact of nondegree credentials to identify skills and talents in the workforce and to delineate future work.


THE RISE OF SKILLED CREDENTIALS

Skilled credentials have expanded considerably under rising demand for upskilling and reskilling as part of a worldwide skills shortage. This research was made possible by a grant from Walmart to the SHRM Foundation.

Making Skilled Credentials Work

THE RISE OF SKILLED CREDENTIALS IN HIRING

This research report answers baseline questions about what a skilled credential is, when and how employers value skilled credentials, what types of skilled credentials are most valued and more.

Accelerate Your HR Career

MAKING SKILLED CREDENTIALS WORK: A NEW STRATEGY FOR HR PROFESSIONALS

Leverages the research findings to provide strategies to incorporate skilled credentials as a mechanism for driving more diverse hiring.

DEGREE INFLATION

Degree inflation is the rising demand for a four-year college degree for jobs that previously did not require one.

POLICY, LEGAL, AND REGULATORY FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO DEGREE INFLATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

POLICY, LEGAL AND REGULATORY FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO DEGREE INFLATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

SHRM conducted this study with support from the Stand Together Trust, to learn more about HR perceptions and how and if degree inflation is a barrier to hiring skilled talent.


ARTICLES & RESOURCES

Browse our library of resources to see what others are saying about skilled credentials and skills-based hiring.

Month after month, for over a year, more than 10 million jobs went unfilled in the U.S…
Tiffany Brown spent five years in accounting before deciding to change professions…
As many employers continue having difficulty finding workers to fill positions…
Rebalancing the Talent Equation
The Case for Skills- and Aptitude-based Hiring Practices…

ALL THINGS WORK PODCAST

In this episode of All Things Work, Wendi Safstrom, president of the SHRM Foundation, joins host Tony Lee to discuss skilled credentials and their role in closing the skills gap.