How to use micro-credentials to further your career?

Category: Centre for Professional and Part-time Learning

According to Robert Half research, 95% of executives believe finding employees with the necessary skills and competencies is difficult. Micro-credentials assist people in retraining and upgrading their skills to find new employment. Micro-credentials are short-term training offered by Durham College’s Professional and Part-Time Learning department that can help you gain the skills that employers require.

Organizations are looking for opportunities to train, development, and upskill their employees.  Micro-credential can provide a great avenue for companies to achieve this goal.  Many organizations are rethinking how they screen candidates for interviews and are looking for specific competencies during the interview process. Micro-credentials align directly to this need and can assist candidates in standing out during the screening process.

Micro-credentials tend to be shorter to complete compared to traditional qualifications like degrees. At the same time, they can also help you work on practical projects and problem-solving assignments.

Why should you consider completing a micro-credential?

Working full-time professionals don’t always have a schedule that aligns with a traditional college or university. Micro-credentials provides a flexible and efficient approach for employees to expand their skill set and increase their employability.

Micro-credentials can be completed on your schedule and are usually shorter than a traditional degree. There are stacked micro-credentials designed to be combined and create a comprehensive portfolio of qualifications in a subject area.

Types of Micro-credentials:

  • Individual Micro-credential: These are the most popular type of micro-credentials; they are highly focused on a specific competency related to a particular job.
  • Stacked Micro-credential: As the name suggests, multiple micro-credentials support the development of various competencies related to a particular type of job.

What are the benefits of micro-credentials?

  1. Cost-effective: The investment required for micro-credentials is far less when compared to traditional academic credentials. Given their nature and duration, making them cost-effective also make them easily accessible for many professionals.
  2. Accessible: Since Micro-credentials are taught online, professionals can study from anywhere in the world. Unlike traditional academic courses, many individual micro-credentials don’t have prerequisites, ensuring that you can complete them without any prior experience.
  3. Efficient & Modern Learning Style: When you take micro-credentials, many are taught through storytelling, practice-based assignments, and work-learning projects, allowing you to be self-paced with an end date to complete your assignments.

Do employers recognize micro-credentials?

Micro-credentials have been around for a long time, but it’s a modern learning style. They are widely recognized in constantly changing industry sectors such as business, marketing, and information technology.

In some organizations, micro-credentials are considered additional skills that a candidate brings to the table. Here these qualifications work hand-in-hand with traditional education. By taking these micro-credentials, a candidate can demonstrate their dedication to life long learning and gain specialized education in a particular area to grow their career.

Examples of Micro-credentials by Interest available at DC Professional and Part-Time Learning:

The skills learned with micro-credentials can be applied to your industries. You choose the skills that make your profile more competitive and marketable, making it easier to further your career.