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A group of Velocity Network members, including Oracle, Randstad, and SAP SE, participated in live demonstrations of verifiable career credentials using blockchain. One of Velocity’s primary purposes is to integrate with the many vendors that already provide technology solutions to educators, recruiters, and employers. The demonstrations involved a dozen different integrations.
So, if a college has a vendor managing the degree database, the vendor’s system can provide a credential. If another vendor performs background checks, they can use Velocity app credentials, and so on.
The Velocity Network consortium was founded in January by thirteen organizations and started by Velocity Career Labs. It has since expanded to more than 25 members. However, we have noticed that a couple of members seem to have dropped out, including the National Student Clearinghouse and the Upwork freelance website.
As people stay at work for shorter periods of time or adopt a concert job, the pace of professional mobility is accelerated. And so is the paperwork for employers. On the other hand, people want to keep control over their personal information, including career data and who they share it with. So self-sovereign identity is attractive.
“As work and skills become much more dynamic, organizations must move away from a top-down approach and focus on the needs of individuals,” said Meg Bear, SAP SVP. “The Velocity Network is creating a way for people to have their credentials throughout their career.”
Velocity Network’s initial demos covered three aspects of career credentials, including the most common, proof of education, training, and employment. Employment in some professions requires licensing, so the second area was licensing and compliance, with the third focused on labor mobility, both nationally and internationally. COVID highlighted some of the mobility issues in the United States with desperately needed healthcare workers not licensed to work across state borders.
Eventually an individual will have a portfolio of digital career credentials. The Velocity Network Foundation expects the platform to enable token-based career credentials that will allow individuals to own and share their career data with current or potential employers.
Velocity’s announcement read: “As a standards-based open source infrastructure, participants within the Velocity Network are actively releasing and exchanging verifiable career credentials, leveraging current and emerging standards and common schemes to ensure interoperability of data in the labor market, including: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers (DIDs), open badges, wrappers and portfolios LER (Learning and Employment Record), CTDL of the credentials engine and CLR (Comprehensive Learner Record), all common across the education market and verifiable credential space. “
The solution uses an authorized blockchain, which we think is Hyperledger Besu and there is a Velocity token which is used as a utility token and not exchanged externally.
Meanwhile, Blockchain-based credential solutions are becoming more and more important. The World Employment Confederation (WEC) began working on a project earlier this year with some of the largest staffing companies, including Adecco, Kelly Services, Manpower and Randstad, which is also part of the Velocity Network.
Etisalat Digital recently partnered with Smartworld for a blockchain credentials solution for educational institutions in the UAE.
