Can you verify everything on your resume? With digital passports, you will.

Despite all of the technological innovations in the job market, one thing is still missing: a simple way for job candidates — and employers — to verify all the degrees and licenses that appear on a resume.

A solution, currently known as digital passports, is on the way.

The challenge: proving candidates earned the credentials they list

A report in Forbes notes that there are 1 million confirmed credentials alone in the U.S., with millions more across the globe. It’s not uncommon for someone to hold multiple college degrees, several licenses, and even multiple apprenticeships. 

At the same time, employers and government agencies have never possessed a speedy, secure, and efficient tool that shines a light on professional credentials.

That’s where digital passports come in. They’re not getting a ton of ink — at least not yet — as vaccine passports dominate the headlines, but they exist.

“Digital passports come in many forms,” said Amy Trautman, head of business operations at Resourceful Compliance, a labor law compliance service firm in Malvern, Pennsylvania. “They help people store their skills and history in an easily accessible digital form that allows AI to better pick out applicants for jobs from a list.”

One of them is already backed by major corporate brands including Google, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Walmart. They’ve banded together to fund a digital-passport platform called Credential Engine, a cloud-based site that stores and provides private-access diplomas, apprenticeships, Ph.Ds, certificates, and licenses, among other credentials.

“We envision a future where millions of people worldwide have access to information about credentials that opens their eyes to the full range of opportunities for learning, advancement, and meaningful careers,” Credential Engine says on its website. 

The solution also tracks new achievements as they happen

Giving employers a genuine, constantly updated account of a job applicant’s pedigree helps on three fronts: First, a verified digital passport gives a true account rather than a potentially fabricated history on an applicant’s regular resume. Second, it’s good for tracking skills and life achievements earned from high school onward, with passport holders able to add credentials like scholarships, accredited courses, training modules, and business certification titles. Finally, they can include personal information like criminal records, credit scores, and updated driver’s licenses for employers to see.  

“Accuracy and authenticity have always been one of the major problems most companies are facing, especially when it comes to hiring,” said Israel Gaudette, founder of Link Tracker Pro, a Canada-based software-as-a-service (or SaaS) company. “Now that remote work is on the rise, the authenticity dilemma has risen to the next level. This is where a digital passport comes in. As an employer, I know that for better filtration of applicants, a digital passport is crucial.”

As an employer, Gaudette says filtering job seekers through a digital passport will make the hiring process much easier and much faster.

“Without asking the help of third-party background checkers, employers can now have the power of verifying any job hunter’s credentials,” Gaudette said. “I have a hard time verifying all the things written in a job seeker’s resume like work history, education, references, licenses and even their true identity. A digital passport can be an answer to all of these dilemmas. Not only will it fine-tune how job hunters show their true credentials, with less vetting, it will speed up the hiring process as well.”

What to store on a digital passport

Technology experts say that career-minded individuals can begin building their digital passport as early as high school. For instance, a teenager could log grades, Advancement Placement scores, volunteer work, titles like class president or captain of the hockey team, and part-time jobs on a digital passport. A digital passport also gives users an online cover letter they can expand on in college and throughout their professional careers.

All credentials are verified by the people already instrumental in a job seeker’s life, such as teachers and professors, employers and nonprofit professionals, coaches and mentors, government licensing agencies, and high schools and colleges.

A digital passport can also include COVID-19 vaccine credentials. 

“A vaccine passport enables privacy-preserved tracking of vaccinations and health records, allowing people and organizations to reliably present health-based proofs with ultimate confidentiality, which may be essential in jobs where frequent public contact is necessary,” said Ben Kiunisala, head of customer engagement at TrustGrid, a SaaS provider that enables government, enterprises, and organizations to create secure digital ecosystems anywhere in the world.

TrustGrid’s digital passport ecosystem enables individuals who receive the vaccine to opt into the company’s database after the vaccine is administered, receiving a QR code that is stored on their smartphone. That code is permanent proof the holder’s been vaccinated for COVID. 

Slow, inevitable growth, but nothing for consumers yet

Digital passports are just beginning to pop up across the globe but should pick up speed.

“There are already versions of digital passports like [in] Portugal that allow you to verify specific skills,” said Stephan Baldwin, founder of Assisted Living Center, a company providing information on and marketing services to over 19,000 senior communities across the U.S. 

However, digital passport companies will have to navigate challenges in rolling their products out, because passports need to be accessible to everyone for them to work. 

“Otherwise, it would be unfair, which could challenge the idea of equal employment,” Baldwin said. “However, from a human resources perspective, their implementation would expedite hiring or vetting processes with candidates, because background checks and such practices would become more straightforward.”