Ready to Get a Promotion? Showcase Your Skills With Digital Credentials

What’s your goal in getting the promotion? Are you looking for more responsibility? Greater influence? Higher salary? An opportunity to make a difference?

It will likely be a combination of some of these things and more. But understanding the why behind your desire to move up will help you stay motivated—while you’re searching and once you’re in the new role.

What skills are needed in the role you’re hoping to land? If you have your intentions set on getting promoted to a specific role, you likely have many of the skills required to be considered as a candidate. But perhaps there are areas you could work on sharpening in order to increase your chances of landing the job.

This leads us to the importance of skills, and how employers are shifting the way they source, screen, and ultimately select candidates for an open role.

In Your Quest for a Promotion, Pay Attention to Employers Making the Shift to Skills-Based Hiring

Across industries, there’s a sweeping trend of employers moving towards a skills-based hiring strategy. Skills-based hiring involves identifying the specific skills a job requires for success, and screening candidates based on whether they possess those necessary skills or not.

With a skills-based hiring approach, a candidate’s verified skills are prioritized over traditional proxies such as a college degree or previous work experience.

Putting data behind hiring decisions and promotions ensures the organization has the skills necessary to compete today and in the future and helps ensure a diverse workforce that can meet any market challenge.

In fact, research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 79% of HR professionals today say that skills assessments are just as or more important than other hiring criteria, revealing a willingness to consider candidates without a college degree or minimum years of experience as long as they could verify certain skill sets required for the job.

Enterprising workers with an eye on career advancement need to take this strategy shift into consideration when applying for new positions or gunning for an internal promotion. Showing that you have the necessary skills to succeed in a job—and that you’re willing to upskill and reskill to grow your career—can put you at the top of the list for consideration.

How to Show Proficiency in a Required or Desired Skill

With digital advancements, today’s recruiters and hiring managers don’t have to take an applicant’s word about what’s included on their resume or job networking profile. Instead, they can rely on digital credentials issued by independent third parties—such as an industry association like IEEE, a trusted learning platform like LinkedIn Learning, or a product certification provider like Adobe.

If you’re looking to prove your proficiency in a skill that’s critical to the role you’re hoping to be hired for, digital credentials are the most effective way to do so. After all, how better to prove you can manage an AWS environment than to earn a certification directly from AWS?

Why Experience Isn’t the Most Important Criteria When Applying for a Job or Promotion

Today’s employers are broadening the definition of what makes an applicant “qualified” for a particular role. Hiring and promotion decisions are made on a combination of criteria—including skillset, personality fit, and individual motivation and values—not solely on experience. In fact, research suggests that the skills an individual has are a greater predictor of success in a future role than previous job experience.

Hiring managers will look for signals that your skills are relevant, current, and transferable. In other words, they’ll want to know that if you join their team, you’ll be able to hit the ground running and quickly be successful.

It doesn’t mean that your traditional degree or relevant experience doesn’t matter. But showcasing what you can do (instead of what you have done) can go a long way when you’re trying to get a promotion.

Employers following a skills-based approach will first identify verifiable skillsets during the initial top of funnel screening before inviting a select group of applicants to the interviewing process to determine fit. As more organizations use verifiable skills as the initial screening, candidates who have previously been able to game the system with bloated resumes are going to find it increasingly difficult to mask the fact they don’t necessarily have the skills needed to succeed in the job.

Do Hiring Managers Really Value Digital Credentials When Making Hiring and Promotion Decisions?

Absolutely. In fact, according to Coursera, 86% of U.S. employers agree that earning an industry micro-credential strengthens a candidate’s job application, while 74% say that it would positively influence a hiring decision. And, this makes sense. Digital credentials provide independent, verifiable proof that a candidate has the skill set necessary to succeed in the open position.

Making hiring decisions based on skills also decreases the imbalance that exists across many industries, where the demand for talent far exceeds supply. As a result, employers have reframed their approach to talent attraction—particularly in the tech industry—with many big players starting to phase out degree requirements in order to appeal to a larger demographic.

There are many stories of individuals getting a promotion or making the jump to a new career after completing IT certifications, such as those offered through CompTIA.

“The value of a CompTIA digital badge is undeniable: I’m getting more callbacks during my job searching than before.”

-CompTIA badge holder

How to Showcase Your Digital Credentials and Improve Your Chances at Getting a Promotion

1. Create your Credly profile

If you’ve already started earning digital credentials, that’s fantastic! If your badges were issued on the Credly network, be sure to start showcasing them by creating your Credly profile. Credly is the largest and most connected network of digital credentials, with over 58 million digital badges issued to users around the world. Each day, over 40K new badges are issued and countless connections are made as individuals unlock their full potential based on verified skills.

2. Put your digital credentials to work by sharing them with the world

Credly makes it easy to accept your digital credentials and start showcasing them to the world. You can add your badges to your email signature, display them on your employee profiles, and share them with your network via social media.

The video below will show you just how simple it is:

3. Get in front of hiring managers and recruiters

By connecting with your employer on the Credly network, you can be sure they’re aware of your verified skills and open the door to future opportunities. Showcasing your digital credentials can help you talk with your manager about a path to promotion or uncover development opportunities to grow your professional skills.

Or, for those times when you feel you've accomplished all you can in one role, and are looking for another, having a Credly profile gets you in front of hiring managers and recruiters looking for candidates with your exact skills. Wherever your path may lead you, remember that your Credly profile is yours to keep and carry with you.

Lead With Your Skills and Land Your Next Promotion

As you look for ways to grow your career and get a promotion, it’s important that you understand that hiring managers and HR professionals are looking for candidates that have relevant, current, and transferable skills they can put to use straight away.

Join the millions of professionals, recruiters, and employers on the Credly network by creating your free profile today—and access new opportunities to take your career to the next level using your unique set of skills and talents.