In each Skill Builder, you can claim a Skill Badge when you believe you have the skill, as it's defined. A Skill Badge is a digital representation of a skill backed by evidence you provide. It's not a reward for "completing" something, nor is it a "credential" issued by a third-party - it's a representation of a specific skill you believe you have, backed by evidence you provide.

Claiming a Skill Badge not only means you think you have the skill; it means you also want your skill to be recognized by others. Whether the skills you feel you have are recognized by others depends entirely on how well you prove your claimed skill with evidence. Signs you have strong evidence are when others endorse you and rate your evidence highly when giving you feedback which results in skill star ratings.  

Steps to Access and claim a Skill Badge:

1. Sign in to CareerPrepped
2. Click "Skill Builders" in the main navigation
3. Click on any skill category drop down menu to reveal the Skill Builders available
4. Click a Skill Builder
5. Click "Claim Badge"
6. Complete all required actions
Result: After you complete all required actions, your Skill Badge will be in your "Claimed Skills" page.

What You'll Need to Be Prepared to Do

1. You’ll need to attest that you have the abilities that define the skill represented by the badge (Required)

2. You'll need to be prepared to submit responses to two questions. The first asks you to explain how you apply the skill (your behaviors, techniques, strategies or methods). The second asks you to share a specific example of how you’ve demonstrated your skill. (Required)

3. You can then link portfolio files to your Skill Badges as evidence to support your claimed skill and collect endorsements and testimonials (Optional).

Once you feel you've strongly proven your claimed skill, you can seek feedback on your skill evidence to see if others feel your skill is well proven or not and learn what to do about it. Feedback helps you improve how you signal your skills to other people to ensure your skills are recognized by others besides yourself.

This authentic process of claiming a Skill Badge is designed to empower you to do the following:

  1. Assert what you think you can do (Identify your skills)
  2. Explain why you think you can do it (Articulate your skills)
  3. Show the evidence of what you assert you can do (Prove skills with evidence)

How Do Claiming Skill Badges Relate to My Career Development?