I am a firm believer that students should acquire as many skills as possible in the classroom. When searching for a job, students often struggle to articulate their skills effectively. This challenge has motivated me to study the hiring process closely in order to better prepare students for it.

Through my research, I have found that the concepts of signaling and screening are critical frameworks for understanding how hiring works. Signaling is the process a person uses to communicate their skills to hiring managers. Screening is the process employers use to determine whether a candidate has a particular skill and, if so, how well they have mastered it.

Another factor that impacts the hiring process today is the evolution of LinkedIn. It truly is the standard for signaling a person’s skills in the job market. While job seekers are still expected to maintain both a strong resume and an effective LinkedIn profile, the limitation of a traditional resume is the space necessary to signal skills. A resume is static and confined to a page or two, which restricts how much detail a candidate can provide about their skills and accomplishments.

In contrast, LinkedIn offers a more dynamic platform for signaling. It allows students to showcase their knowledge in multiple ways. They can do this through detailed descriptions of experiences, endorsements, recommendations, and shared content. Unlike a resume, which often reduces complex skills to a few bullet points, LinkedIn makes it possible to present a richer picture of what a candidate can do.

This is where digital badges enter the picture. Digital badges provide verified evidence of skills and competencies that can be embedded directly into a LinkedIn profile. They serve as micro-credentials that go beyond self-reported abilities, offering employers third-party validation that a student has mastered a particular skill. This makes them a powerful complement to both resumes and LinkedIn profiles, bridging the gap between what students claim they know and what employers want proof of.

By integrating digital badges into their profiles, students can strengthen both their signaling and their screening outcomes. A badge not only communicates that a skill has been learned, but also provides metadata about the credential, including who issued it, what was required to earn it, and when it was awarded. This transparency enhances credibility and gives employers a clearer sense of a student’s capabilities. In this way, digital badges are reshaping the signaling process and helping students compete more effectively in an increasingly skills-driven job market.

With all this in mind, I actively promote digital badges as part of my teaching. In the classroom, I offer students extra credit opportunities for pursuing badges, which creates an incentive without making them a requirement. Each badge is worth a few points. Because I allow students to earn multiple digital badges on the SIMnet platform, this approach keeps badges optional while still encouraging students to explore them.

Because the work is tied to extra credit, many students choose to pursue badges, and they often earn more than one. Over time, this builds a stronger portfolio of skills that can be showcased on LinkedIn or other professional platforms.

Doing this over several semesters has given me some statistical data to consider. More than 90% of my students pursue the badges and over 70% attain multiple badges. This indicates that the badges add an additional level of engagement to the classroom. And this is important because the extra credit system not only motivates students but also gives them tangible evidence of their abilities that can improve their signaling to potential employers. Ultimately, students benefit from greater engagement in the class, but they also earn some meaningful credentials that can make the difference when they begin looking for a job.

I intentionally promote the use of digital badges as part of my teaching practice. In my course, students can earn extra credit by pursuing badges and posting them to LinkedIn. While earning badges is not required, providing them as an option creates meaningful incentives that align with student motivation.

Many students actively seek opportunities to recover from missed assignments or strengthen lower grades, and digital badges offer a constructive pathway to do so. In this way, the pursuit of extra credit supports both academic progress and professional development by encouraging students to document and showcase their skills on LinkedIn, the largest employer-facing platform.