How employers can use European Digital Credentials in hiring
In today’s fast-changing labour market, especially with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, employers need reliable tools to verify candidates’ skills and qualifications quickly and securely. European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC) are designed to support this need. Issued in standardised and structured digital format, these credentials support data transparency and portability. Unlike traditional paper certificates, EDCs are tamper-evident and can be verified instantly for their authenticity and origin, giving employers confidence that the information they see is accurate and issued by a trusted authority.
One of the many advantages of EDCs for employers is efficiency. Hiring processes often involve lengthy verification steps, especially for international qualifications. If a job applicant shares an EDC, employers can check the credential’s validity in seconds. The EDC Viewer also offers the following important features:
multilingual support: employers can consult the credential content in 29 languages, making verification and data interpretation accessible across borders;
accreditation check: that – where this is applicable – shows whether the credential was issued by an organisation authorised to grant the qualification according to specific (usually national) accreditation standards, adding an extra layer of trust.
EDC benefits go beyond the EDC Viewer itself. Because EDC data is machine-readable, it can be automatically processed and validated by systems, enabling large-scale, automated verification of credentials. This reduces the need for manual checks with institutions and the risk of fraudulent documents. Since EDCs are digitally signed statements that are made by learning providers about their learners, employers can trust that the skills and knowledge presented by candidates are valid and verified.
Beyond verification, EDCs can help employers identify specific skills more easily. Each credential includes structured data about learning achievements and acquired learning outcomes (skills, knowledge and competences), which can be linked to skills from the ESCO skills taxonomy or other frameworks such as DigComp or GreenComp. This level of detail supports better matching between job requirements and candidate profiles, making recruitment more efficient and informed.
As the adoption of EDC grows, a new dedicated page for employers will be available via the Europass website, providing guidance on how to integrate EDC into hiring processes.
We kindly invite employers to get involved in shaping the future of digital credentialing in Europe by sharing your general EDC-related comments and suggestions to EMPL-ELM-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu
Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you,
The European Learning Model Support Team
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