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This post extends the 2025 LER Ecosystem SmartReport and our Top LER Trends of 2025 blog post. We interviewed thirty-six experts from the LER ecosystem to understand trends across the ecosystem. Here we predict three that are poised to be included in next year’s report.

Our LER Ecosystem SmartReport is an exhaustive examination of the current state and growth of an emerging ecosystem. We are now in the third year of collecting this information which allows us to identify how the ecosystem is evolving.

A career exploration and networking strategy to pair with a world-class resume tool.

Is AI the modern foil here to destroy common hiring practices? This interview explores the impact of AI on student job applications for a team at Arizona State University (ASU). Dr. Megan Workmon Larsen, Director of Learning Experience Design at ASU Enterprise Technology, discusses the surge in AI-generated resumes and cover letters during Tech Hub recruitment, which led to a 300% increase in applications. The uniformity of these AI-generated materials posed challenges in assessing candidate skills, prompting her team to revamp their hiring processes to emphasize lived experiences, skills, and personal storytelling. The article also features insights from Ian Davidson of iDatafy on maintaining trust in the hiring process through verifiable credentials, highlighting the need for innovative and inclusive strategies to prepare learners for future careers, in line with ASU’s mission to foster curiosity, growth, and community through transformative educational experiences.

There is no putting the genie back in this bottle. Job seekers hate making resumes and feel like the odds are stacked against them by employers using AI for their own advantage. Employers are getting overwhelmed with too many perfect looking resumes and don’t know who they should interview first. I believe this development will be the forcing function that finally brings employers to the table in terms of wanting to see more Learning and Employment Records and with that move, we will see more LER adoption by job seekers and their education institutions. The stage is set for innovative companies, industry groups and education institutions to create a new path forward.

Your SmartResume has gotten you in the door. Now you need to prepare for your interview. Here's where to start.

As employers strive to adopt skills based hiring practices, job seekers must be equipped with a new type of resume.

Who doesn’t like a good Top 10 list in January? To build the SmartReport I needed to dig deeply into every corner of the LER ecosystem. And I had the good fortune to interview some of the smartest people in the business. The big takeaway is that the future is bright, momentum is building, and there is a dizzying amount of innovation happening. Here are the top ten trends that my research revealed.

This SmartReport consists of two infographics that show the way data flows through the Learning and Employment Record Ecosystem. It outlines the organizations and companies that are involved in the issuance, sharing, and consumption of specific verifiable credential data standards in the United States in 2024. The report also consists of a thorough explanation of the methodology used to create these infographics, ecosystem trends, definitions, and the thirty-eight generous contributors whose expertise was leveraged to assemble this information.

In the fast-paced world of job hunting, you've got a mere 6 to 7 seconds to snag an employer's attention. We've got 3 ways your will SmartResume stand out.

Canvas Credentials, RANDA Solutions, and Learning Economy Foundation are the first partners to support credential interoperability and make it easy for their users to create a SmartResume of their own