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But its wider impact has been to transform the way we validate transactions across all kinds of important applications, and a whole range of industries from finance and insurance to the Internet of Things (IoT), smart appliances and healthcare.
That list also includes Human Capital Management (HCM), with blockchain-enabled solutions already seen in practice. An early example appeared in 2016, when Blockcerts arrived as an ‘open standard for blockchain credentials’, allowing any school to issue and verify blockchain-based educational credentials. When educational powerhouse MIT piloted a digital diploma in 2017, real momentum had arrived.
The Internet of Careers
There remains a wider need to address the growing concern over data privacy and fraud across various employment disciplines. There is also a broad recognition that in the future, career credentials will become one of the most sought after and valuable assets for workers, enabling them to navigate through the jobs market.
In particular, individuals and businesses alike are seeking ways to both verify and control personal career records as a better alternative to digital identities that are vulnerable to hacks and misuse, replacing them with a system that is secure, immutable, and gives control to the users. Blockchain is again offering a method for building a system that can be trusted by employers and employees alike, that is free from the control of a monopoly provider or the public sector.
This system can be more usefully described as the ‘Internet of Careers’, and is a concept that allows individuals to oversee what and where their personal data is stored, who has access to which elements of the data and for how long, and where and how the data is used. And since blockchain technology is decentralised, no one party is ever in control, with consensus across the ecosystem required before new transactions can be recorded. After that point, those items cannot be altered, ensuring safe and secure transactions.
From principle to practice
By reinventing how career records are shared across the global labour market, the industry is making important progress in delivering on the Internet of Careers concept. This includes looking at how the same principles can be applied to other career records such as job roles, certifications, promotions, skills and salaries.
In practical terms, these developments have recently seen 14 industry leaders from the HCM and education markets join together to form the Velocity Network Foundation. This is a vendor-neutral, nonprofit organisation that aims to define, deploy and champion the Velocity Network – a globally accessible, open-source, blockchain-powered incarnation of the Internet of Careers.
The Velocity Network will make it possible for people to claim and manage their career credentials. This will include verified education, projects, work history, skills and talent assessments, with their owner choosing with whom to share this information and how others use this data. At the same time, employers and educational institutions can rely on trusted, immutable applicant, candidate, student and employee information, seamlessly and effectively. Through this, they can hope to achieve significant reductions in the time and costs associated with talent processes, while reducing risk through decisions based on reliable data and supporting compliance in today’s global jobs market.
Combined confidence
The scope for establishing the Internet of Careers is already significant, with the Velocity Network Foundation’s initial membership already having career-related data for more than 700 million individuals in their combined systems. This also includes billions of professional and student credentials and assessments, together with employment and contract work records across job information, pay histories, competencies and more. As the network grows, so will the effectiveness of a system described by one of the founders as a “true public utility layer.”
This is undoubtedly a ‘win-win’ for employers and employees alike, with the system geared towards building proof, confidence and formality into an ecosystem that has remained stubbornly resistant to verifiable authenticity. As the industry comes together under a common and independent banner, we are more likely to see the emergence of an employment market that balances the need for transparency and truth with security, privacy and the rights of individuals to control their own data.
