Blockchain-Based Resume — A Resume You Can Trust

A blockchain-based resume could save employers and universities a lot of time and resources that they spend checking applicants’ backgrounds.

Employers have struggled for years with the question: How do I know these job candidates are telling the truth about their background?

New assurance may come from a surprising place: blockchain technology.

A handful of educational institutions and technology companies are working on developing trustworthy, quickly verifiable digital diplomas and resumes using the same technology that helps verify transactions in the world of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain acts as a digital ledger, a record of online transactions that can’t be changed.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology just issued digital diplomas based on blockchain to all of its students who graduated in February. The diplomas can be shared on social media or directly with employers.

Companies including London-based startup Appii Ltd. see blockchain as the future of the resume. Appii is working with employers and universities to develop a product that first verifies the claims individual make about their history, then issues them a digital resume in which all of their data from multiple locations and institutions are listed. The digital document can be shared with employers and updated as the owner’s career progresses.

Meeting a need

Employers and universities spend a lot of time and resources checking the work and educational backgrounds of applicants—as well as verifying queries from other organizations as to whether an applicant of theirs was a past student or employee. Risk Advisory Group, a risk-management firm based in London, says that of 5,500 resumes it reviewed over a six-month period, 80% contained “discrepancies,” and 12% contained false information about an applicant’s education.

A digital diploma could enable organizations to instantly check credentials without running background checks. Using a digital signature, for example, students could provide a copy of the diploma to employers, who could then upload the file onto a verification page to get confirmation that the degree is legitimate. The university doesn’t need to be involved.

We see this as the ability to give the student stewardship over their own records, which expects all of its students graduating this year to receive digital copies of their diplomas, in  addition to the traditional certificates." — Mary Callahan, senior associate dean and registrar at MIT

Natalie Smolenski, a vice president at Learning Machine, the company that worked with MIT on the code libraries behind its digital diplomas, says the technology, called Blockcerts, is an open standard. Once created, these digital diplomas can be published online and verified long into the future. Even if MIT goes away, anyone can use the code and verify that documents are legitimate.

Appii, which launched its digital-resume product just three months ago, is working with the biggest provider of higher-education courses in the U.K., the Open University, among others.

There’s a fair bit of effort required at the moment to determine the credentials that someone puts forward on their [resume]. That friction diminishes the ability for employers to find talent quickly and to have them sitting in a chair or taking on a role as quickly as they need.” — Gary McKay, co-founder Appii

Such efforts are part of a larger move to use blockchain to verify other kinds of credentials as well. Appii, for example, is looking to apply the blockchain process to situations where people need proof of having completed continuing professional-development classes, or of having attended conferences to take tests required by a professional license.

The Federation of State Medical Boards, which advocates for all of the medical licensing boards in the U.S., has issued sample verifications using the same Blockcerts system at MIT. Officials at the federation say they hope that its work will initiate a conversation at the state-boards level.

Resistance to change

Still, regulatory hurdles could slow wider adoption of blockchain verification. Mike Dugan, chief information officer of the Federation of State Medical Boards, says regulation at the state-level hasn’t caught up with the technology. Only a handful of states have passed legislation to enable broader usage of blockchain technology. For example, in 2017, Arizona added a law to recognize blockchain-based digital signatures.

Digital signatures have been around a lot longer than blockchain, and…there’s still not a lot of widespread adoption. “Some of this is skepticism, and people unwilling to change their processes.” — Mike Dugan, chief information officer of the Federation of State Medical Boards

Members of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, a global freight-industry trade organization focused on commercialization and education, are experimenting with using blockchain technology as a form of driver identification.

The managing director of the alliance, Craig Fuller, says digital identity for drivers could help to protect companies from unnecessary litigation because whole work histories and skill sets could be on the blockchain, easily accessible to companies when they hire.

These big enterprise companies just can’t afford to hire a driver that has any amount of risk. [After an accident] you end up in court, and the attorneys suing you can prove you’re making all this money and you’re hiring drivers that are unsafe.” — Craig Fuller, Managing Director, Blockchain in Transport Alliance

By Henry Williams, Deputy Editor, The Wall Street Journal |  Original Article

Micro-credential recognition on the Blockchain

In our article Opportunities for Micro-Credential Recognition on the Blockchain, we explore areas beyond the blockchain-based resume, such as occupational licensing. In addition to employers’ use described above, we see opportunities for students, institutions of higher learning, trade in service agreements, consumers, accreditation bodies, professional regulators, licensing boards, newcomers and government.

We all have natural strengths, over our lifetime we build our unique “talent stack” of knowledge, skills, experience on top of our behavioral traits. Learning is not just time in schools. It extends across multiple contexts, experiences and interactions. Building our talent stack is not an isolated or individual concept, but is inclusive, social, informal, participatory, creative and lifelong quest. Moreover, it is not sufficient to think of learning as just consumption, but instead, we are active participants and producers in an interest-driven, lifelong learning process. All our efforts would be recorded on our blockchain-based resume.

Blockchain technology will accelerate the end of a paper-based system for documents. Any kind of certificate issued by organizations, including qualifications and records of achievement and requirements for licenses, can be permanently and reliably secured using blockchain technology. More advanced blockchain implementations will automate the award, recognition, and transfer of credits, or even store and verify a complete record of formal and non-formal achievements throughout lifelong learning — all recorded on our blockchain-based resume.

We believe that evidence-based decisions are essential for long-term success. Our advanced analytics help you make evidence-based decisions regarding people, money, and governance. Moreover, we help you gain insight by asking the right questions — we support each category with strategy development and implementation, and in-depth coaching services.