That said, this is entirely me spitballing,

Yep, I'm doing the same, so we're in the same boat.

The difficulty is going to be adoption of any system. It will have to be carrot or stick...or both. As it stands, the only way I see this occurring is with government mandates, which means engaging politicians to craft legislation (at the state level at least). Before the above happens its going to have to get a lot worse for both employers and employees. There just isn't enough positive or negative incentive yet to be adopted by society at-large so far.

One other possibility would be at the trade/professional association level. Perhaps say automotive mechanics and employers that hire mechanics. Like 90% of the ideas I think about someone's already done them, or at least thought about them and identified some shortcoming I haven't seen. Its entirely possible niche industries do this vetting and certifying of employer offered positions and employee candidates already.