n January 27, 2010 Steve Jobs stood on stage at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco and introduced the world to the iPad. Along with the millions of others watching the ‘Stevenote,’ I was transfixed, not only by this magical device but by what I would be able to do with it in the context of my work. The promise of an internet connected, touch based device with a screen 4x larger than my iPhone, had my mind spinning with possibilities.
I felt that the cord had finally been cut, we would no longer be tied to our desktops. A device had emerged that provided us with similar capabilities of our computers, but with mobility. This allowed us to move from a command and control technology environment to one that empowered people and their devices. The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement was born. While our community embraced this movement, others shunned it. The fear, uncertainty, and doubt that accompanies any new technology permeated every sector struggling to grapple with the “consumerization of IT.” Looking back through the veil of the COVID-19 pandemic, those that choose to embrace the digital realm are now reaping the benefits of that investment as being socially distant has put a new premium on digital experiences.
BYOD 2.0
While the first version of BYOD created opportunities for technology leaders to embrace a person’s device, the next version will do the same with someone’s data.
In September of 2019 the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board explained its push for an to create a record and a standard method of transport that would empower the American worker while providing new methods for businesses, universities, and governmental agencies to interact with someone’s information. Removing data silos that service an entity and liberating the ‘personally valuable’ data by providing each user a way to store, curate, and share their information in a verifiable way. Though this work the Learning and Employment Record (LER) was conceived.
Right now, you may be asking yourself what differentiates this from LinkedIn. While there are similarities, there are some very important differences.
Verifiable
When employers look at someone’s LinkedIn profile, how do they know that it is trustworthy? How can they verify that the person has the skills and abilities they claim or how and where they were attained? Verifiable entries in someone’s LER are not created by the user, but by the issuing institution. For instance, an employee goes through skills-based trainings to build the required capacities to perform a new role within a company. As these skills are assessed and attained the information is encapsulated into a digital badge and offered to the user. The user accepts the badge and associated information that is cryptographically signed by the issuing institution, thus validating that this has attained these skills. The information is stored in the user’s digital wallet. Creating digital trust in the data while allowing it to be portable.
Immutable
LER can also insure that the information has not tampered with or embellished by the user. By using blockchain technology when these skills badges are written into the user’s wallet, it becomes impossible to tamper with the data due to the cryptography used to create the record.
Many data standards, one container
To make the LER work we need to adopt one container for data standards. Since data standards vary by industry and profession, the ability to accept many is imperative. The difference is the standardization of the transport method in the form of the user’s wallet. This standard provides a method to encrypt, share and verify data without the need for an intermediary.
The Promise of LER
With these new capabilities, and in light of a disrupted world due to COVID-19, the promise of this approach is to help improve the hiring process in any industry by removing the friction of credential verification. For example, in our proof of concept work with a large health care system, the goal is to decrease the cost of recruiting and onboarding a nurse by 10%. A very conservative goal. But when you factor in the size of the system this equates to over 100 million dollars in savings per year. Not to mention the speed in which current validation of certifications, degrees, and licensures take. By empowering the nurse with their profile, contained in their digital wallet, the process of validating becomes instantaneous, eliminating a majority of the onboarding cost and time. Another benefit of this approach is the ability to align talent and their skills with the needs of the business.
Change is hard. It becomes easier when you can help everyone see the future and how they can value and, more importantly, be valued within it. Providing new methods and approaches at creating systems that remove bias creates opportunities for everyone to grow and succeed.
In the analog world, talent is distributed and opportunity is not. However, LER provides for the ability to shape the digital world to be much more equitable. One where a person’s race, creed, color, sex, or orientation does not factor into their future. A person’s grit, determination, and merit does. No longer will our zip code be one of the most predictive data point of an American citizen future. Our knowledge, skills and abilities, digital expressed and shared in a trusted way, will be the new foundation of learning and work.
a global affairs media network
A More Equitable Hiring System Through Interoperable Learning and Employment Records
August 13, 2020
Companies and technology leaders that embraced the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement before COVID-19 are now reaping the benefits of that investment. Embracing BYOD 2.0 is key to an equitable hiring system post-pandemic.
O
n January 27, 2010 Steve Jobs stood on stage at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco and introduced the world to the iPad. Along with the millions of others watching the ‘Stevenote,’ I was transfixed, not only by this magical device but by what I would be able to do with it in the context of my work. The promise of an internet connected, touch based device with a screen 4x larger than my iPhone, had my mind spinning with possibilities.
I felt that the cord had finally been cut, we would no longer be tied to our desktops. A device had emerged that provided us with similar capabilities of our computers, but with mobility. This allowed us to move from a command and control technology environment to one that empowered people and their devices. The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement was born. While our community embraced this movement, others shunned it. The fear, uncertainty, and doubt that accompanies any new technology permeated every sector struggling to grapple with the “consumerization of IT.” Looking back through the veil of the COVID-19 pandemic, those that choose to embrace the digital realm are now reaping the benefits of that investment as being socially distant has put a new premium on digital experiences.
BYOD 2.0
While the first version of BYOD created opportunities for technology leaders to embrace a person’s device, the next version will do the same with someone’s data.
In September of 2019 the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board explained its push for an to create a record and a standard method of transport that would empower the American worker while providing new methods for businesses, universities, and governmental agencies to interact with someone’s information. Removing data silos that service an entity and liberating the ‘personally valuable’ data by providing each user a way to store, curate, and share their information in a verifiable way. Though this work the Learning and Employment Record (LER) was conceived.
Right now, you may be asking yourself what differentiates this from LinkedIn. While there are similarities, there are some very important differences.
Verifiable
When employers look at someone’s LinkedIn profile, how do they know that it is trustworthy? How can they verify that the person has the skills and abilities they claim or how and where they were attained? Verifiable entries in someone’s LER are not created by the user, but by the issuing institution. For instance, an employee goes through skills-based trainings to build the required capacities to perform a new role within a company. As these skills are assessed and attained the information is encapsulated into a digital badge and offered to the user. The user accepts the badge and associated information that is cryptographically signed by the issuing institution, thus validating that this has attained these skills. The information is stored in the user’s digital wallet. Creating digital trust in the data while allowing it to be portable.
Immutable
LER can also insure that the information has not tampered with or embellished by the user. By using blockchain technology when these skills badges are written into the user’s wallet, it becomes impossible to tamper with the data due to the cryptography used to create the record.
Many data standards, one container
To make the LER work we need to adopt one container for data standards. Since data standards vary by industry and profession, the ability to accept many is imperative. The difference is the standardization of the transport method in the form of the user’s wallet. This standard provides a method to encrypt, share and verify data without the need for an intermediary.
The Promise of LER
With these new capabilities, and in light of a disrupted world due to COVID-19, the promise of this approach is to help improve the hiring process in any industry by removing the friction of credential verification. For example, in our proof of concept work with a large health care system, the goal is to decrease the cost of recruiting and onboarding a nurse by 10%. A very conservative goal. But when you factor in the size of the system this equates to over 100 million dollars in savings per year. Not to mention the speed in which current validation of certifications, degrees, and licensures take. By empowering the nurse with their profile, contained in their digital wallet, the process of validating becomes instantaneous, eliminating a majority of the onboarding cost and time. Another benefit of this approach is the ability to align talent and their skills with the needs of the business.
Change is hard. It becomes easier when you can help everyone see the future and how they can value and, more importantly, be valued within it. Providing new methods and approaches at creating systems that remove bias creates opportunities for everyone to grow and succeed.
In the analog world, talent is distributed and opportunity is not. However, LER provides for the ability to shape the digital world to be much more equitable. One where a person’s race, creed, color, sex, or orientation does not factor into their future. A person’s grit, determination, and merit does. No longer will our zip code be one of the most predictive data point of an American citizen future. Our knowledge, skills and abilities, digital expressed and shared in a trusted way, will be the new foundation of learning and work.
