How to develop a powerful skills-based certificate program

When I was at IBM, CEO Ginni Rometty put a line in the sand: You don’t need a college degree to launch a great career in IT. She called it, "New Collar," which is not white collar or blue collar.

A small group of us worked together to flesh that idea out. We created a "New Collar" Certificate Program, which is a skill-based certification program. The idea has more relevance today as organizations develop skills-first and skills-based programs.

The steps are straightforward, and start with the "job to be done" using a Job Task Analysis approach.

Here's how it works:

1. Fix the job descriptions

Examine the job descriptions. We found many jobs had a college degree requirement that was completely unnecessary, so we removed it. We made a list of most in-demand roles which could be skilled up without a degree.

2. Identify the real capabilities for the job

Our certification leader conducted a job task analysis (JTA), bringing together experts in the field to determine the requirements and skills which were needed for the job -- and at what level.?

3. Develop the skills training program

The JTA forms the basis for the exam and the outline for the curriculum. We developed training content, and the certification manager developed psychometrically sound exams and digital credentials (Open Badges) to signal achievement.

4. Validate the content and publish

At this point we reconvened Subject Matter Experts to validate the approach, course content and exams. Only then could we finalize the instruments, content and credentials for the program.

5. Assess the candidate

Before someone entered the program, we wanted to make sure this was a job they would love and be successful doing. This was incredibly important, because too many people pick jobs based on availability or wage potential, and they end up dropping out. And that costs organizations time and lots of money. We selected @MyInnnerGenius, a tool that quickly determines if a person has the personality traits and skills and abilities, regardless of previous education or experience. This ensures a tight match for the role.

6. Administer minimum viable training:?

We wanted to shave off a few weeks of onboarding time and ensure candidates have the aptitude and baseline skills. So we created a program that would give people the foundational level skills they need for the job in a very short amount of time. This mirrors the concept of a pre-apprenticeship, where baseline skills are taught before a person enters a full-blown apprenticeship.?

7. Show the unexpected side of work

In this part of the program, the candidate enters an internship, apprenticeship or a mentorship experience so they can get a feel for the wheel job, the unexpected side of work. This is where most of the skills are fully developed.

8. Connect to full-time work

This is the talent-matching portion of the program, where we used job databases and job requisitions to match candidates to open jobs. The idea behind this is to allow the jobs to search for and find the job prospect, rather than expecting the job prospect to search for the job.

This approach also saves a tremendous amount of money. By assessing a candidate for career fit up front, you can reduce attrition. It can cost up to a year’s salary to retrain and replace someone. And it is is a great model for anyone who wants to incorporate a certificate program into a skills-based talent program, whether it be in higher ed, government or the corporate sector.

The strategy is more relevant than ever today as skills-based hiring and skills based transformation is becoming the norm. So grateful to have been able to work with people like.

About the Author:

David Leaser is an award-winning strategist, C-Suite consultant & program lead in L&D and HCM, Vice President at MyInnerGenius? and the co-founder of Digital Badge Academy . He is the founder of the IBM Digital Badge program, a leading-edge digital credential program, the IBM New Collar Certificate Program and IBM’s first cloud-based embedded learning solution. David was a senior strategist for IBM’s Smarter Workforce and the Global Skills Initiative. David is a Commissioner for The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) 's Digital Badge Commission, a member of the 1Edtech Board advisory group for digital credentials, the national Credential As You Go Advisory Board and a senior advisor to New Markets Venture Capital Group. He provides guidance to the US Department of Labor and the US Department of Education as an employer subject matter expert.

David was appointed as an Industry Fellow in the Center for the Future of Higher Education & Talent Strategy in the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University, an American Tier 1 university. He is the author of thought leadership white papers on talent development, including “Migrating Minds,” “The Social Imperative in Workforce Development” and Wiley’s “Connecting Workplace Learning and Academic Credentials via Digital Badges.”

David holds an?M.A. in Communications Management from USC’s Annenberg School and?a B.A. in Communications from Pepperdine University. Connect with David through https://digitalbadgeacademy.com or https://myinnergenius.com