Do manufacturing credentials matter in hiring?

Do manufacturing credentials matter in hiring? American manufacturing is flourishing, but at the same time, the chronic skills gap is holding back even more progress.

More and more company heads are telling TMA that credentials are crucial so they can know what to expect of those they hire. Without credentials, they say, it’s a guessing game. Those recognizing the discrepancies say they are planning to sign up more of their most promising team members for TMA’s gold standard training.

What TMA members are saying lines up with a new report that shows credentials have uneven use in the manufacturing industry and are not routinely required or used as a major factor in hiring or promotion decisions.

A new report, “Examining the Quality, Market Value, and Effectiveness of Manufacturing Credentials in the United States,” showed:

Credentials, increasingly recognized as valuable solutions to the skills mismatch, can vary from certificates and certifications to licenses, degrees, badges, and microcredentials. For the US manufacturing industry, increasing the quality of credentials can help increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and performance of the labor market—and improve the quality of the US workforce.

The report provides recommendations for credentialing and workforce stakeholders in the following areas:

• Improving understanding of the content, use, and value of credentials;
• Expanding the use of quality standards for credentials;
• Strengthening relationships between employers, education and training providers, and credentialing organizations;
• Adding an employability skills component to existing and new credentials;
• Creating credentials that focus on performance and address new roles; and
• Increasing the number of apprentices and expanding apprenticeships to more occupations.

More on the topic at Advanced Manufacturing.org.