Topic

Employer Credentialing & Training

Overview 

Many employers offer training to their employees throughout their job tenure. Employer-based training programs are used to introduce employees to their roles or to the industry, help them enhance their skill sets, and advance within the company (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). Most training programs include mentorship opportunities and pathways to strengthen employee abilities. They often foster stronger engagement and connection with the company or organization, help forge an inviting company culture, and boost retention rates.

Some employers go a step further than on-site training to offer employees or potential employees a pathway to a credential designed by the company. These companies are becoming learning providers by developing their own curricula, focusing on broadly applicable tech skill sets such as IT support, cloud computing, and digital marketing rather than niche skills only applicable within the company (Gallagher & Zanville, 2021).

Relationship to Ecosystem

Employers that award credentials tightly weave together the learn and work elements of the ecosystem. The credentials provide a direct pathway from learning to working in a field and for an employer with which they have become intimately familiar. Often, employer-provided credentials also prepare workers in a way that enables them to apply the knowledge gained through the credentialing process to other similar work environments. Employer training programs, even when not tied to a credential, also prepare workers for success in the labor market.

Relationship to Ecosystem

Alternative Terminology

Corporate credentialing

Corporate learning and development

Examples

Adobe offers an internship program for college students and an apprenticeship program for college graduates and career-switchers. The Adobe Digital Academy, an immersive apprenticeship program, provides the education and hands-on experience needed to work in user experience (UX) design, data science, or software engineering (Adobe, n.d.).

Honeywell offers an Early Career Engineer Rotational Program (ECERP), an opportunity for recent chemical and mechanical engineering graduates to learn across multiple businesses and functions within the company. ECERP participants rotate throughout many of Honeywell’s sites for up to 36 months. They learn about site operations and help design solutions to challenging problems through hands-on engineering experience in project-based assignments (Honeywell, n.d.).

Google partners with Coursera, a major provider of MOOCs (massive open online courses), to offer its Google Career Certificates program. The program offers flexible online training that leads to a credential showing that learners have gained job-ready skills in any of several high-growth career fields. The fields include data analytics, digital marketing and e-commerce, IT support, project management, and UX design. Each credential program takes approximately six months to complete (Grow with Google, n.d.).

Microsoft offers pathways to company-issued certifications for a variety of technical roles, such as specializations in Azure, Office 365, and as a Microsoft educator. Certificates are earned by passing a relevant certification exam, and learners have the option to prepare for exams for free online or by using instructor-led training, either virtually or in-person (Microsoft, n.d.).