Stand Out in the Job Market - The Benefits of Microcredentials [Part 2]

We hope you enjoy Part 2 of this conversation! Discover how microcredentials can give you a competitive edge in today's job market. In this episode, we explore the benefits of microcredentialing, how it helps you gain job-ready skills, and why it’s a flexible option for students and professionals. UMBC's Digital Credentialing initiative offers cutting-edge microcredentials designed to showcase specific competencies and accomplishments that employers value. Whether you're looking to upskill, switch careers, or enhance your resume, UMBC’s microcredentials provide a targeted approach to learning that meets the demands of today’s workforce. Tune in to learn how UMBC's microcredentials can fast-track your career success! 

Access Part 1 of this conversation here: https://youtu.be/ciV9zlP2-NE 

Learn more about UMBC here: https://badges.umbc.edu/

Transcript

Dennise Cardona 

That would be really powerful, very beneficial to students, especially like I said to those who may not want to invest in a full program right away, and they just want to put their dip, their toe in it, so to speak, and this is a really great opportunity for them to get their roll up their sleeves and figure out what it's all about and realize, yeah, I really love this. I could see myself doing this absolutely diving deeper. So micro credentials have been touted as tools for creating more equitable opportunities. Can you elaborate on how they can be leveraged so that people can access these?

Collin Sullivan  

Yeah, so I love this question. I think that I want to break down what do we mean by equity first, because I think that, I think that there's a couple of ways that micro credentials could be really intentionally used to build equity, and I think the first one is about the knowledge, skills and abilities that we know students and learners acquire on a campus that may not be recorded anywhere meaningful. We have a colleague, Keisha gamble, who's from Morgan State University, and she gave an amazing podcast interview recently, and totally stealing, borrowing this from her, but it's so true. Basically, her point that she was making was, you look at a 4.01 Student versus a 2.5 student, right? And you think about, what does that mean, but that 2.5 student, they may be working, they may have outside responsibilities that they have to take care of. They also may be involved in a student organization. They also may be involved in service learning opportunities, and that 4.0 student may just be going to class and may be excelling and doing all those things. So on paper, that 4.0 student may be a more attractive candidate, right? But if you had the context of that 2.5 student, and you knew that from their service learning experience, they were gaining X, Y and Z competencies they're thinking about, or they know how to make a budget. They know how to manage time. If you had more information, there actually may be more skills that are relevant from that other student than from the 4.0 student. So I think how micro credentials are building equity in that sense, is that I think it's easy to write off that 2.5 student, right? And what micro credentials can do is again, really reveal some of the context of their life that is making them present as a student in one way, but they actually are excelling in various different competencies, right? And that could be life changing, right? Because, again, if we're looking at someone who's applying to jobs, and that employer is really, again, looking at the just at the information that they have in front of them, the 4.0 student may be more attractive, but if I see a 2.5 student, and I know exactly what competencies they have, and I know exactly where they demonstrated them. I actually might give that 2.5 student, maybe I'll give them an interview, and that could be a door open that otherwise would not have been open for them. So I think that's a really important equity piece about micro credentials, and it goes back to micro credentials really being a tool for economic mobility, but there's just also a deeper sense of equitable skills, or finding equity in the skills that We have. And I keep thinking back to our students from it versus our arts and humanities students. And I think that we we operate in an economy and a society that may value one skill set over another, but instead, let's just lay it all out on the table, right? Let's lay out all the skills everybody has, and we can determine and decipher from there. So again, I don't think that, or I think that micro credentials can really help articulate the skills that people have in a way that makes more meaning, it makes more sense in a way that adds depth that we are often lacking right now, so that we actually end up conflating what a macro credential means and what skills someone brings because they have that macro credential.

Dennise Cardona  

Yeah, and it's all about attracting. For employers, it's you want to attract great candidates, and you want to be able to see through what their skills and their knowledge bases are. But at the end of the day, for the person seeking this advancement, these jobs, these roles, really at the end of the day, you that's what you want to do. You want to enhance your education. You want to learn and grow as a person. And if micro credential, it sounds like micro credential is that way to be able to that stepping stone, to be able to get that new knowledge base, that new mastery, so that you can then showcase that out there in the real world, in the workplace, and that's really what matters to people at the end of the day, that's what people want. They want to be able to be they want to be able to look great, not just on paper, but in that open when that interview happens, that open door, to be able to sell themselves and to be able to showcase their real value that they can bring to a workforce.

Collin Sullivan 

Yeah, absolutely. And I think one of the things that I hope I'm conveying is thinking about micro credentials being able to capture those skills that are quote unquote marketable or have heightened relevance in the job market. And there's a lot of truth in that, right? But I also still want to acknowledge that there are so many experiences, and I'm thinking about general education courses that are really important for lifelong learning, for a robust liberal arts education that may often feel to a student. Why am I taking this? Why. Why am I here, right? Like, why I'm just sitting in this classroom? I'm just trying to fulfill this general education requirement so I can graduate and move on with my life, and that's real, right? We should acknowledge that those students exist, right? But if we attach a micro credential to those experiences, I think that students are going to find more meaning in them, because I think that micro credentials are going to help students articulate exactly what they got out of that experience, so that when they're finished the course, they go, oh, you know what I did? Learn all of these things in this course. It wasn't just me sitting in this classroom to fulfill my agenda requirement, or my cultural requirement, or whatever it may be, but I did this right? I was able to take away this competency. And I think what's cool about that, and that kind of approach goes back to the if you have this micro credential associated with some cultural competency. You may not find utility in that micro credential tomorrow. You might in three years, you might in five years, might say, I don't know, right? I don't know where your your journey is going to take you, right? But you have this micro credential now you can use it how you would like and how it makes sense for you. When it's right for you, it may not be, but you'll have that choice so that you can say, I have this particular competency. And again, my argument is that's still saying that competency and that skill is still a lot better saying, Oh, I took GES 1027, years ago my undergrad. Right now, we can start to unpack that, and you can remember that competency from when you had to take that course?

Dennise Cardona  

That's right, it's giving meaning and purpose and depth. So why are micro credentials important for earners? Like what specific advantages do they offer to individuals looking to enhance their skills or advance their careers?

Collin Sullivan  

I think it goes back to when you leave an institution, what are you taking with you? Right? When you start to go and interview for a job, right? Oftentimes, it's your word, right? You start talking, and you're saying, I gained X, Y and Z things, and that's great, and that's cool. That's awesome. But wouldn't it be great if there was something or the institution can actually back you on your claim, right, that you actually had this asset, that can actually say, Oh no, I am really good, or I really do have this competency, right? So I think that for earners, it is this layer of trust and verification of a competency that they currently don't have right that this could be a huge value add for them as they start thinking about this, I also want to recognize that life happens right? And for students, that may mean when life happens, I need to evaluate how I'm showing up at UMBC, right? And when life happens, we know that. For some students, that means I need to take a step back, and I need to think about another area of my life. So with that being said, the oversimplified analogy I make is, what is a 119 credit undergraduate student? Yeah, I don't know either, because they're one credit short of their full bachelor of their full macro credential, right? So I think that the value for earners, whenever they're earning micro credentials is to be able to take their knowledge skills and abilities and their broader competencies. As soon as they acquire them, they have agency to leverage them for whatever is right for them and whatever's next. They don't have to wait four years to be able to have this credential, to be able to do and find an internship, to apply to a different program or a different institution that may be right for them at that right time, right but it will help them be able to it really is agency for me that I think that you're going to have agency about your own learning experience and what that means for you. So I think that there are so many benefits to micro credentials for earners, but it always boiled back down to me, how are we capturing what you've done and how you can talk about that and have someone standing behind you and saying, Yes, I attest and affirm that you have this competency.

Dennise Cardona  

Oh, that's really well said, Yeah, from an employer's perspective. Colin, what is the relevance of micro credentials like, how do they impact hiring decisions and workforce development strategies?

Collin Sullivan  

It's interesting because they're so upsia, which is our professional organization, I don't even think the letters stand for anything anymore. Anything anymore. I think they changed it so it's just upset like the YMCA. The YMCA doesn't stand for anything anymore. That's upsia, but upsea did this report that is finding that pretty much it's anywhere in the ballpark of 20 to 30% year over year, growth of employers that are saying they're interested in skills based hiring. What we're noticing is that a lot of employers aren't walking their talk, right? So we know that. So in other words, employers are posting jobs saying, Oh, we're looking for candidates with X, Y and Z skills, and then they still default to, do you have your bachelor's degree? Do you have your master screen? So I'm saying all of that because we this has been the ask of employers of higher education for ever like this has been the thing that employers have been asking for, right? Okay, you got your degree, and the degree is really great as employer, because I know that you have persistence. I know that you can critically think. I know that you're in this field, right? That's all helpful for jobs for employers. But again, we know that employers have been asking, what are the niche skills that on day one you're going to have when we hire you? What are those competencies we know and can have assurance that you're going to bring to us day one on this new job? Right? That has been the age old question of employers to higher education, and now we have the mechanism to do right. Micro credentials are going to be that tool that speaks to employers to say the exact competencies. So what ends up happening, which is really important for our work at UMBC, when we create micro credentials is making sure as we build out the micro credentials, market labor data is built into the micro credential. We do this with all of our micro credentials, so that if employers walk their talk and look at the micro credential, they can see the skills, they can see the skills and tags, and it's speaking their language, because we're using different market labor tools to be able to pool and verify what those skills and tags should be based on the learning experience. So I think that this is what employers have been looking for a long time. And I'm really excited, and I'm just I'm excited to work with employers, because it's really getting out of the over credentialing that I was talking about earlier, right? And getting at the what are you really looking for employers? And in many times, it's still, don't get me wrong, many employers are still looking for bachelor's degrees and master's degrees for specific jobs, but they're really interested in making sure that you have the right skills that are going to be right for that exact position. Yeah. Now

Dennise Cardona 

My last question to you, Colin, implementing micro credentials might seem like a significant lift for faculty and staff. Can you address this concern and explain why it isn't as burdensome as it might appear?

Collin Sullivan  

Yeah, I love this question. I my goal and my position is to build out my hair credentials all across campus, all across our experiences, and all across our co curricular and curricular and applied learning experiences. And I hope that because we're focused, we're focused on the most nimble thing, we're focused on the competency. We're focused on the learning outcomes. It's my hope that this actually isn't as much as a lift as it may sound. And what I try to do when I work with faculty and staff, it's one of the first things that I try to assure them, is that I will take the brunt labor of this, right? That's my role. Is helping to turn your experiences that faculty and staff offer into micro credentials. I need some information from you, right? I don't know everything on this campus. I know a good deal, but I don't know a lot, and I don't know everything about your particular program or your particular experience. So yeah, I need some information from you, but it's really I look at. It my role to help build that micro credential to be that. Bridge to understand what we're doing in the academy. And then also be able to use that Rosetta Stone and translate it for external parties, right? So that this micro credential is going to have meaning for learners, earners, for the faculty and staff that are going to be offering them. And then again, whoever is going to be consuming micro credentials, employers, higher ed institutions, whatever. So I really try to make the process as simple as possible and as easy as possible, because this is where we want to go. We want to support learners and acknowledge their competencies and help them build their own pathway for their own learning journey. So that's really, I'm not saying it's no work, right, but I think that the work that we do together, even if we don't end up building a micro credential, I think, and I hope, that it's always making programs and experiences more thoughtful, more intentional, more rich, right? In sense, in the sense of creating learning outcomes, defining the alignment between assessment and the learning outcomes, and having learners in those experience demonstrate that,

Dennise Cardona  

yeah, yeah, it's all defining that output that you're looking for those students, and if faculty and yourself, you look at that as the output, and you're focused on that, then as a community, it's a great benefit to everybody involved. It's a win/win.

Collin Sullivan  

Yeah, absolutely.

Dennise Cardona  

Colin, is there anything that I haven't asked you that you think would lend value to this conversation today on micro credentialing.

Collin Sullivan   

There's still a lot of newness behind micro credentialing, which is both exciting but also a little nerve wracking, right? Because I think that's I think because of the newness, there may be some employers that aren't ready for your micro credentials, or there are some faculty and staff that aren't ready to add micro credentials to their programs and to their initiatives. But we're seeing a lot of emerging trends across higher education, across the learn and work ecosystem that things are changing. It's unclear at that right? And it's unclear about that pace, but we know that micro credentials with certainty, almost, that this is going to be a really important part of our learn and work lives about credentialing those competencies. So I think that UMBC is admittedly an early adopter in some of this work, but we're not alone anymore, and we know that we have partners in this work, and it's growing and still building and it's still iterating. So I think that that's something to consider for everybody, that I feel like I often have to explain micro credentials, and I'll explain micro credentials for as long as I need to, but that's because this is that's a growing pain still, but I do think that in 510, years, I won't mean to explain micro credentials anymore. I think that they will be a part of our lives in such a way that, like macro credentials, right that we have a conceptual understanding of what they are, how they're used, but just recognizing that we're in the process of change right now and changing how higher education operates and how consumers of higher education credentials receive them. There's change, and that takes time, and being okay with that, that process.

Dennise Cardona  

Collin, this has been a really great conversation. I'm so happy that you came on the show to explain to everybody. I this was fascinating for me. I love the world of micro credentialing from what I knew of it, but wow, you just expanded my mind on it, and just makes so much sense. So thank you so much for being here with us. Yeah, thanks for having me, and thank you everyone for tuning into this episode of UMBC's Mic'd Up podcast. We hope you enjoyed it.