04-04-2025
‘Digital wallet' credentials could help immigrants shine in job applications and interviews
A new way of credentialing workers is gaining traction in the US, and it could make it easier for immigrants to get jobs.
Many immigrants experience obstacles to economic success stemming from highly nuanced work authorization issues, according to Tameshia Bridges Mansfield, vice president of the Workforce and Regional Economies practice at Jobs for the Future (JFF). This includes language barriers, challenges translating foreign credentials and lack of professional social capital.
JFF and the nonprofit aid organization the International Rescue Committee (IRC) conducted a 15-month pilot program to test learner employment records (LERs) as a possible solution. The program's goal was to help immigrant job seekers easily share their skills with employers by digitizing and storing their information in one place.
However, barriers like employer buy-in still stand in the way of widescale adoption.
'One hundred percent of the clients who participated in the LER pilot received jobs,' Kevin Davis, a technical advisor for workforce development programs at the IRC, told 'All of them at least tried to leverage the LER in the job application process, although I can say it varies to the degree on which the employer looked at, considered or valued that LER in the hiring process.'
A digital wallet of professional achievements
Davis oversaw the pilot initiative in Tucson, Arizona, and Des Moines, Iowa. There, the IRC's immigrants and refugee clients completed a job readiness program and were issued a digital, verifiable credential that they could share with employers via a digital wallet.
Like how a smartphone wallet holds an airplane ticket, LERs store digital credentials that verify a person's achievements, education and other skills that may be difficult to communicate in a traditional resume format. For example, LERs can contain data like employment authorization documents, academic transcripts and proof of language proficiency
The tech allows individuals to easily and directly share their information with employers, giving them full control over their valuable achievements. This contrasts with traditional academic transcripts, which are held and controlled by universities that often require a fee to access them.
'They're the sole proprietor of that [information],' Davis said. 'They own it and they have access to share what they want with whom they want, which is a very positive, empowering thing.'
While the exact structure and training offered in each job training program varied, IRC clients generally learned the basic features of being employed at a typical US workplace, Davis said. This included clocking in and out of work, how to ask for time off and how to work well with others. These skills were then translated into the clients' LERs.
With LERs, IRC clients could more easily communicate to employers that they were ready and able to maintain a job in the US, according to the study.
'Learner employment records technology can help level the playing field for immigrants and refugees,' Mansfield said, 'by recognizing their lived experiences, giving them ownership of their data and allowing them to control how it is shared.
A universal tech to evaluate job seeker skillsets
LER tech isn't just something immigrants or refugees can use to improve the hiring process. The tech could be a critical tool for making skills-based hiring a reality in the US, according to the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. A skills-based hiring approach focuses on a job seeker's abilities and learned skills over formal education or job experience. The practice is becoming more popular because it can help diversify workforces and fewer people are seeking college degrees.
A nationwide initiative launched in 2023 created an interactive map of the country's LER ecosystem. The map was designed to help workers and employers anywhere in the US find ways to access and adopt this new technology into the hiring process
Multiple states are moving to adopt LERs in some way.
California announced plans last year to create a program that would issue 'career passports,' a digital tool that would document academic transcripts and verified skills earned outside of the classroom. Alabama and Arkansas have also made plans to launch LER tech for state residents.
Tech with high potential but tough logistics
As the JFF and IRC pilot program found, major challenges still remain for LERs to go mainstream, including coordinating a number of stakeholders involved, according to Davis.
First, a technology partner needs to offer a digital platform or management tool that holds users' credentials. For the pilot program, a digital app was created by an independent organization. Attention to data privacy and security is paramount for this stakeholder.
A credible program then needs to offer job training and skill verification services. In the pilot, IRC offered the jobs training program, but a government agency, private business, educational institution or a network of nonprofits could play this role.
Now, it can go into the hands of workers and hiring managers. Job seekers need to have the digital literacy skills to understand LERs and use them effectively when looking for work.
Employer buy-in is also critical, Davis said. Currently, not every employer's hiring process can conveniently accept LERs — and, not every employer knows what LERs are.
'I think everyone sees the value in this in different and exciting new ways,' Davis said, 'but the logistics of it remain an open question to a lot of the different stakeholders in this space.'
