Credentials in the Occupation Ontology

The term “credential” is used to describe a variety of “status indicators”. For example, an occupational credential is a document providing evidence of an individual’s qualification or competence, as determined by a third party with relevant authority. Job seekers often leverage such credentials as evidence that desired qualifications are satisfied by their holders. Employers recognize the importance of credentials for hiring and understand the challenges of validating credentials. In this study, we identify and define occupation credential terms based on the Occupation Ontology (OccO), a BFO-based ontology. We provide a high-level hierarchy of credential classes and relations among them, developed in concert with the Alabama Talent Triad (ATT) program, which aims to connect learners, earners, employers and education/training providers through credentials and skills. Our work provides the first systematic ontological model of credentials, occupations, and intermediate entities, within the BFO ecosystem.