CHRP candidates will need three years of professional HR experience
Ontario’s HR association is replacing the national exam that assesses HR experience with a three-year HR experience requirement to better align the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) with other professional designations, said the CEO of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA).
Professionals such as accountants, lawyers and engineers must all complete a certain amount of work experience, in the form of articling or internships, before receiving their designations, said Bill Greenhalgh.
“Our members have said a number of times that there’s nothing like practical experience. As far as HR goes, like most professions, having practical experience as part of a designation is really important,” he said.
To replace the National Professional Practice Assessment (NPPA) exam, HRPA has resurrected the same experience requirement that was in place prior to the national CHRP exams being introduced in 2003.
The HRPA’s certification committee will assess CHRP candidates’ professional HR experience, which it defines as “work where an individual exercises direct responsibility and accountability for the strategy, design, implementation or co-ordination of one or more HR functional areas for an extended period of time with limited or minimal supervision.”
The association has been examining the idea of re-introducing the experience requirement for more than a year, said Greenhalgh, but a recent survey that found overwhelming support for such a requirement pushed the association forward.
“It reflects what our members want. It measures and assess experience directly,” he said.
The survey, conducted by Canadian HR Reporter and HRPA, found 77.7 per cent of 3,165 respondents supported the idea of HR associations introducing an experience requirement as part of the CHRP.
However, the survey didn’t ask whether associations should do away with the NPPA or if one association, such as HRPA, should decide to implement such a requirement without the support of the other provincial associations, said Ian Turnbull, president of the HRPA York Region chapter and a 30-year HR veteran.
At the very least, there should have been more consultations done with HRPA members and other provincial associations before HRPA struck out on its own with the new requirement, said Turnbull, who only found out about the change when HRPA made the official announcement in May.
“The process was terrible. It was dictatorial. It goes contrary to the goals of a national standard,” he said.
While not opposed to the idea of an experience requirement, HRPA’s decision to unilaterally impose it, when the CHRP is a national designation, was inappropriate, said Turnbull.
“I’m very concerned the decision seriously hurts the national aspect of this designation,” he said.
Ontario’s changes shouldn’t hurt the designation because the whole point of the NPPA is to assess experience, said Greenhalgh.
“Instead of using the NPPA to assess the experience, we’re going direct to measuring the experience,” he said.
The assessment costs $500 — the same as the NPPA — and Ontario CHRP candidates will have to fill out an application form with supporting documents such as a resumé, job description and references, said Greenhalgh.
While this requirement takes effect immediately, CHRP candidates who have passed either the Comprehensive Provincial Exam (CPE) or the National Knowledge Exam, which replaced the CPE in 2003, can still choose to write the NPPA in October 2009 or May 2010.
At press time, the other provincial associations hadn’t decided whether or not to support Ontario’s new process and recognize future CHRP holders who don’t write the NPPA.
“Our provincial associations are looking at the implications from their point of view,” said Lynn Palmer, CEO of the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA). “Each province needs to look at the change and make sure that they support that from their provincial association perspective.”
CCHRA is responsible for maintaining the national standards of the designation and developing the required professional capabilities that are then translated into the exams. The other associations will want to ensure Ontario’s new requirement still meets those standards before they decide whether or not to support it, said Palmer.
“There’s no doubt that people expect that CHRPs will have a certain level of experience when they get their designation. The NPPA has been used as a proxy for experience,” said Palmer.
CCHRA has looked at, and is still considering, requiring CHRP candidates to work in HR for three years before being allowed to write the NPPA, but surveys also show more than two-thirds of those who write the exam have more than three years of experience, said Palmer.
But Ontario won’t be the only province that awards the CHRP without the NPPA. The Ordre des Conseillers en Ressources Humaines Agréés, Quebec’s HR association, is prohibited by provincial legislation from requiring CHRP candidates to take the NPPA.
Not everyone thinks the CHRP needs an experience component — no matter which method is used to assess it.
“I always saw the CHRP as an entry-level designation. It certified that you had a basic knowledge base and from there you went on to get experience,” said Monica Belcourt, director of York University’s School of Human Resources Management in Toronto.
“If I had my way, what I would like to do is have students receive the CHRP upon passing the knowledge exam and then get a different designation for somebody who has moved ahead in the field and demonstrated very solid experience and become something like a senior HR practitioner.”
Over the years, the provincial associations have been working to raise the profile of the CHRP within the business community, encouraging employers to look for CHRP holders to fill HR roles, said Turnbull.
If more of these roles only go to CHRP holders, then it will become increasingly difficult for Ontario CHRP candidates to get the experience they need to get the full designation, he said.
“They’re potentially shutting the door to anybody ever getting the CHRP,” he said.
