An article in French published by transfer.vet highlights, through the Swiss case, a key dynamic in today’s labour market: skills gained through experience, practical work and informal contexts play a decisive role in employability.

Yet these competences often remain invisible, hard to articulate, and rarely recognised by certification systems. This paradox is all the more striking given that employers are increasingly interested in precisely these kinds of practical, experience-based skills, especially in a context marked by labour shortages and rapid occupational transformation.

This is precisely where DACUM proves its full relevance.

As an inductive methodology grounded in real job analysis, DACUM makes it possible to make professional competences visible, shareable, and assessable, including those that fall outside of formal training systems. It acts as a methodological bridge between what is actually done in the workplace and what can be formalised for recognition, training, or certification.

The key messages from the Swiss article (“look beyond formal certification,” “document informal performance,” “coordinate HR processes”) clearly resonate with the strategic directions currently guiding DACUM modernisation within the ACFP-CVA.

Toward an ‘Augmented DACUM’ – Meeting Today’s Challenges

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and permeability to certification
DACUM must become a core tool in mechanisms for validating non-formal learning, by offering a competency structure rooted in field observation. This would enable better articulation between informal learning and modular certifications or micro-qualifications.

Micro-certifications and modularisation
DACUM charts are naturally structured into competency blocks. They can be directly used as a foundation for micro-certification, aligned with CEDEFOP or France Compétences standards.

Digital credentials and blockchain-based badges
DACUM offers a solid framework for issuing verifiable digital badges, usable on platforms such as Europass or possibly LinkedIn Learning. Recognition of these credentials within employment markets and national qualification frameworks must now be pursued.

Support for HR and talent management
DACUM’s scope can also be expanded to support enterprise-level competency management tools, aligned with HR processes in recruitment, onboarding, and staff development.

Application in emerging economies and low-resource settings
DACUM is particularly well-suited to contexts where formal systems are limited: occupational analysis, training design, and internal company recognition can all be rapidly implemented at relatively low cost.

Conclusion

The Swiss article concludes by calling for better HR coordination, clearer documentation of informal competences, and greater involvement of individuals in their own skill development. This is exactly what DACUM can provide, if it is positioned as a strategic tool at the heart of transformations in training, skills recognition, and workforce development.

Tomorrow’s DACUM will continue to describe occupations. It must also connect lived experience to qualifications, HR to strategic competence planning, and individuals to the recognition of their full potential.

For more information on DACUM, please contact
Bruno Chauvel CVA Vice-President chauvel@cva-acfp.org

May 2026