What recruiters, HR teams, and hiring software can actually confirm, and what a profile can’t tell you at a glance.

The Button Everyone Trusts

Open any LinkedIn profile and scroll to Licenses and Certifications. You’ll see a logo, a credential name, dates and a button that says “Show credential.” It looks official. It looks like proof.

It isn’t always.

That button is only a link. When someone adds a credential, they type in the name, the issuer and a web address. LinkedIn turns that address into the button. It doesn’t check where the link goes. The logo appears because LinkedIn matched the issuer’s name to that organization’s company page, not because the organization confirmed anything.

I found this on my own profile. A securities principal license from early in my career shows the FINRA logo, a credential ID, and a “Show credential” button. The button opens a general FINRA page about its registration system. My name isn’t on it. The license isn’t on it. To anyone scanning my profile, it looks exactly like my MBAe™, which opens a page confirming my name, my credential, and its issue and expiration date and current status. It also verifies the skills I learned for that credential.

Two buttons, one design, two very different levels of proof.

What a Human Sees

A recruiter looking at a profile can’t tell the difference without clicking. And most don’t click. They’re reviewing hundreds of candidates, and the button itself sends the message “this has been checked.”

That’s the problem. When every credential gets the same button, the button stops meaning anything. It dilutes the value of the credentials that really are verifiable.

Experienced recruiters and HR teams don’t trust the button. They trust the issuer.

What Recruiters and Hiring Software Look For

The Credential Engine Registry publishes credentials in a common language called CTDL, short for Credential Transparency Description Language. It describes what a credential is, who issues it, what it requires and what skills it proves, in a format software can read. Anyone can search the registry for free at Credential Finder.

The gap is wide. Credential Engine counts more than 1.85 million credentials in the United States, and only about 7 percent are published in the registry. The rest exist as text on a website, a certificate on a wall or a line on a profile.

Hiring software works the same way. Software can’t judge a link. It can read structured data.

A credential registered in CTDL, or issued as a digitally signed badge under the Open Badges 3.0 standard, gives a system something it can check automatically. A typed-in name and a web address give it nothing but words.

That isn’t just a theory. HR leaders are asking for it. Accredible’s 2026 research found that 60 percent of employers want credentials connected to hiring platforms, yet only 34 percent of issuers provide structured data. Meanwhile, Equifax reports that 71 percent of HR professionals have run into misleading candidate information, and only 20 percent feel confident they can catch it.

How to Tell the Difference in 30 Seconds

1. Click the button. Does the page show the person’s name? If not, it isn’t verification.

2. Check the web address. Does it belong to the issuer or a known credential platform such as Credsverse, Credly or Accredible?

3. Look for a status. A real verification page shows whether the credential is active, expired or revoked.

4. Search the issuer on CredentialFinder.org. Registered credentials show exactly what was required to earn them.

What You Should Do With Your Own Profile

Click every “Show credential” button on your own profile. If one opens a general page, remove the link and keep the credential as plain text. An honest listing builds more trust than a button that can’t deliver.

Then look for the credentials that can deliver. Verified, registered credentials are the ones recruiters, HR teams and their software can confirm in seconds. That’s the difference between being listed and being found.

About Credential Watch

Credential Watch tracks the standards, data and tools shaping how credentials are verified in an AI-driven hiring market. Every MBA Standards Board™ credential is registered in the Credential Engine Registry.

Suggested tags Credential Watch, Verified Credentials, LinkedIn, Skills-Based Hiring, AI Hiring

Sources:

• How to Add a Certificate to LinkedIn: Credential ID and URL (TRUE)

• Credential fraud in 2026 (Sertifier, citing Equifax)

• Accredible Open Badges 3.0 and W3C Verifiable Credentials

• LinkedIn Certifications guide 2026 (ConnectSafely)

Your career experience and skills proof already exist. The question is whether anyone, or any ATS or AI software can see it.

Welcome to the first Credential Watch, our monthly look at the credentials, certifications, and short-term programs shaping who gets hired. We’re starting with the big picture, because the numbers tell a story most job seekers never hear.

The Credential Universe Is Bigger Than You Think

Credential Engine, a national nonprofit, tracks credentials offered in the United States. Its 2025 Counting Credentials report found 1,850,034 unique credentials, including degrees, licenses, certifications, certificates, apprenticeships, and digital badges.

That’s nearly two million ways to show what you know. And that’s precisely the problem!

When there are that many credentials, an employer can’t possibly know what each one means. So how does a hiring system tell a rigorous credential from a weekend badge?

Where the Credential Engine Registry Comes In

Credential Engine also runs a free public registry where organizations publish detailed descriptions of the credentials they offer. As of October 2026, the Credential Engine Registry describes more than 134,000 credentials from more than 33,800 organizations. Those credentials are connected to more than 231,000 competencies, 4,600 occupations, and 91,000 learning and training opportunities.

Those descriptions are written in a shared format called the Credential Transparency Description Language, or CTDL. Think of CTDL as a common language for credentials. It lays out what a credential requires, who issues it and which skills it proves, in a form that both people and software can read. That’s what makes a credential searchable, comparable, and readable by the AI systems now screening applicants.

Most credentials aren’t there yet.

In an Accredible survey, 60 percent of employers said they wanted credentials connected to their hiring platforms, but only 34 percent of credential issuers provided the structured data those systems need. A credential a person can read but a machine can’t is only half visible.

The Real Gap Isn’t Missing Credentials. It’s Where You Put Them.

Here’s what we see again and again. Many professionals list certifications at the bottom of page two of their resume, use abbreviations a screening system may not recognize, or never add them to the Licenses and Certifications section of their LinkedIn profile at all. Others list a credential with no way for an employer to confirm it. In an AI-heavy hiring market, that’s starting to look the same as not having one.

So the proof exists. It just isn’t visible when someone is screening your application or deciding whether to call.

Match Your Skills to Your Credentials

Most people never take this step, and it may matter most. Every strong credential is built on specific skills. When those same skills appear in your LinkedIn Skills section, recruiters searching for them can find you.

For example, each MBA Standards Board™ credential, the MBAe™, CMBA™, Certified MBA™ and Board Certified Director™, and our 21 short term, non college required specialization credentials lists ten in-demand skills on its digital certificate.

A credential holder who adds those ten skills to their LinkedIn profile shows up in searches for them. One who doesn’t, stays hidden, even with the same credential! This works the same way for any credential you hold, from any issuer.

Your Five-Minute Credential Check

1. Open each digital credential or certificate you’ve earned and click on it. Write down the skills it lists.

2. Compare that list to the Skills section of your LinkedIn profile. Add any that are missing.

3. Make sure each credential appears in LinkedIn’s Licenses and Certifications section, with the issuing organization’s full name and a link to its verification page.

4. On your resume, spell out each credential’s full name the first time, followed by its abbreviation, and move your strongest ones higher up.

5. Check whether each credential is listed in a public registry. You can search the free Credential Finder at credentialfinder.org.

If your credential isn’t clickable and doesn’t show any skills, it may not be readable by AI hiring tools or applicant tracking systems. That’s worth knowing before you invest your valuable time and money in any credential. Also before your next application.

Look It Up on Credential Finder

Credential Engine’s free Credential Finder lets anyone search the Registry. Go to credentialfinder.org and type the name of a credential you hold, or one you’re considering, into the search box.

A registered credential’s page shows who issues it, what it requires, what it costs and which skills it proves. If you’re comparing programs, check them here before you spend a dollar. A credential that isn’t listed isn’t necessarily a bad one, but not as well accepted. You’ll have to do more work to confirm what it really offers and confirm it meets current CDTL language to be readable by AI and employment software screening protocols common today.

Your Turn

Have you listed the skills from your credentials in your LinkedIn Skills section? Tell us in the comments. And if you hold a credential and aren’t sure whether employers can verify it, ask. We’ll answer in a future edition.

^{Sources are Credential Engine, Counting Credentials 2025 (December 2025), Credential Engine Registry and Credential Finder (accessed October 2026), and Accredible’s employer and issuer survey.}

The Credential Watch is published by Credential Edge: AI Advantage from the MBA Standards Board™, which defines competency standards for MBA-level business education and issues verified professional credentials. Cheryl Nunn is the CEO and author of the forthcoming book GET FOUND. GET HIRED.