‘Education passport’ may help employers spot fake CVs

Under a NSW government plan, faking qualifications on your resume is about to get much more difficult. Here is why.

Faking qualifications on a CV will become much more difficult with the NSW government proposing to establish a digital “education passport” for applicants to show employers.

Modelled on the digital driver’s licence, the passport will include verified qualifications from education institutions such as universities and TAFEs to give employers confidence in listed credentials.

And in a benefit to job-hunters, the passport will also enable employment agencies such as SEEK to immediately give applicants advice on what qualifications they may be missing and courses they can do to meet the advertised requirements.

The passport – which forms part of Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello’s “digital revolution” – is being driven by Education Minister Sarah Mitchell and Skills and Tertiary Education Minister Geoff Lee.

Recruiters and employers are fighting back against job applicants presenting faked credentials.

Ms Mitchell said she believed the new passport would make it easier for students to showcase their achievements.

“I am really hopeful this sort of innovation will make landing a job for younger people easier,” she said.

Mr Lee said the move to digitise qualifications would have lasting benefits for students including keeping course certificates in one place to ­access anytime, anywhere throughout a person’s career.

He said the passport would be first trialled with TAFE trades courses before being rolled out more broadly.

Mr Dominello said the digital passport would help people find their next job.

“In the last century you might only have had one or two jobs, today you might have 10 or 20 (over your career),” he said. “Digitising the process will make it easier to match your skills with increasing opportunities … This will make it easier for people to move between jobs and to get better jobs more suited to their changing skill set and market demand.”