Getting back to the why: How skills inspired a movement

The ultimate goal of shifting hiring practices by leveraging digital talent profiles like learning and employment records (LERs) is to provide jobseekers — regardless of their pedigree — opportunities to secure jobs and other relevant pursuits that match their skills and align with their passions. 

Our team spoke with Simone Ravaioli, a global ecosystem and innovation director for Instructure, and Colin Reynolds, senior education designer at Education Design Lab, about their personal why and how it inspired them to join the skills movement.

Digital credentials help jobseekers illustrate the value of their experiences.

92% of talent professionals consider durable skills equally or more important in the workplace than hard skills. Matching the right candidate to the right roles begins with job descriptions that emphasize skills, including those acquired outside traditional degrees.

Ravaioli attributes his deep understanding of the value of portable records to the experiences he gained before his career in the verifiable credentialing world began.

“Two of my life's most significant learning moments were being a Boy Scout and traveling to study abroad in the U.S.,” he said. “As a scout, my first badge was for cooking, and food became my passion. Since then, I've had opportunities to pursue side projects in that industry.” 

Adopting skills-based hiring and LERs can result in more frequent recognition of self-taught expertise and real-world experiences. This is beneficial for all jobseekers, including non-traditional candidates who may lack formal qualifications but do have the required skills for a specific role.

“I think I should have had a badge or credential for being an international student,” said Ravaioli. “Studying abroad clearly correlates to having skills like versatility, resilience, tolerance, empathy and other soft skills you develop along the way.” 

LERs give all stakeholders a seat at the table. 

Skills-based hiring offers endless potential for learners, earners and employers alike. Major corporations like Dell, Grainger, Comcast, Walmart, Accenture, Cisco and IBM have shifted to skills-based hiring. If other corporations followed their lead, 1.5 million jobs would open to non-degreed talent. 

Reynolds is excited about SkillsFWD’s potential to create an infrastructure that can be scaled across hiring ecosystems, allowing jobseekers to map their skills more accurately to job opportunities. 

“SkillsFWD is moving the needle toward a future where an individual is involved in the data sharing and interpretation of their own information,” said Reynolds. 

For employers, jobseekers and institutions to adopt skills-based hiring and digital credentials, Reynolds stressed the need for widespread mindset shifts and systemic changes — which start with human-centered design. 

“The opportunities in this work are powerful if the humans most directly impacted by skills-based hiring are directly involved in the process from beginning to end,” he said. “If we root this in the human-centered experience and listen to people shaping this world, we can learn how they see these tools impacting their work.” 

A skills-based approach finds qualified candidates who are often overlooked. 

“We want to empower individuals to use these tools to pursue things they care about, connect them to causes and jobs that help them make more money, provide for their families and experience new levels of success,” said Reynolds. 

Skills-based hiring gives all learners and earners a fair chance to compete for roles and provides employers with a talent pool tailored to their needs. It also removes barriers for those who have gained expertise through self-study, online courses, camps or on-the-job experience. 

“Every aspect of my journey, whether it was my early experience as a Boy Scout or studying aborad in the U.S., connects me to the work I do every day and inspires my passion,” Ravaioli said. 

As a result of these efforts, more jobseekers can tap into their passions and access career growth based on skills and abilities — leading to higher-paying, more meaningful careers.