In a tough employment market, with youth unemployment in South Africa at an alarming 66 percent, job seekers need to use all the tools at their disposal to ensure that they have a chance at securing that dream job.

Now, a recent study on the South African job market by the World Bank Group suggests that supplementing your job application with a trusted reference letter can increase callbacks from prospective employers by more than 60 percent, with women more likely to benefit, thus closing the gender employment gap.

“Reference letters are effective because they provide valuable information about workers' skills that employers use to select applicants of higher ability. A second study, which encourages job seekers to obtain and use a reference letter, finds consistent results. In particular, employment rates for women encouraged to obtain a letter increase by 49 percent, closing the gender gap,” states the study.

In the past obtaining a reference letter from a former employer, trainer or mentor required the burden of labour to fall upon the referee or the previous employer, often resulting in delays. Certtin, a South African product for issuing and managing digital certificates and badges, has made it even easier for job seekers to obtain a reference letter using Certtin’s blockchain-backed certificate platform. The Reference Letter platform is easy to use, requires little effort on the part of the referee, has several templates that can be used quickly or edited as desired, and as an added trust incentive, issues a trusted blockchain-certified reference letter that cannot be faked.

Lee Chana, co-founder of Certtin says that obtaining a reference letter via their platform offers several benefits, including ease of use and access, as well as the added benefit of being instantly verifiable by 3rd parties and revocable by the referee: “From the study, we can see that adding a reference letter to your job application, brings enormous benefits, and our system not only makes it easier to obtain a Reference Letter but also makes it simple to issue on the part of the referee.”

Check out Certtin’s Reference Letter offering, as well as their blockchain certification offerings for qualifications at: https://reference.certtin.com/

Note to Editors:
This press release is suited around the themes of unemployment, jobseekers, access to the job market, and attendant themes related to drawing attention to the efforts of technology in ensuring greater access to the job market for all.