Digital badges are job-training certificates that let job seekers prove they have mastered specific skills. They are attached to online resumes or electronic job portfolios.

One new digital badge created by the Los Angeles Healthcare Competencies to Careers Consortium shows that an applicant has mastered a 7.5-unit Health Science Foundation Credential with medical terminology, infection control, customer service, conflict resolution and ethics components. Clicked on by a human resources manager, a digital badge opens and identifies how it was earned, who issued it, the date it was issued and the coursework it represents.

The courses behind the health care consortium’s digital badge are prerequisites to all health care programs offered in the Los Angeles Community College District. After completion of the courses, badges are awarded to students who score at least 80 percent on final exams.  

By the end of this year, area human resources managers are likely to see more job seekers attaching digital badges to applications, said Teri Hollingsworth, HASC’s Vice President of Human Resources Services.

HASC served as a collaborative partner on the project.

“Digital badges and ePortfolios are a way to help employers sift through job applications to decide who might be right for a particular job,” Hollingsworth said. “Of course, they do not replace the interview.”

For more information, contact Teri Hollingsworth at (213) 538-0763 or thollingsworth@hasc.org.