In the past few years, there has been a proliferation of voluntary accreditation and skill certification programs within non-regulated professions across Canada. Certifications and formal designations are issued by numerous industry associations, training and professional development institutes and information technology vendors. They are granted to recognize people who have attained a standard level of proficiency in a set of skills, knowledge and abilities within a specific occupation.
Most people in HR are familiar with required designations such as the CA for accountants, but recruiters and HR departments are giving more credence to other certifications in their search for the ways to ensure they have a well-trained, highly skilled workforce. As post-secondary degrees and diplomas become more common place, certifications can serve as an additional screening tool in a firm’s recruiting process and overall human capital strategy.
The practice began several decades ago with trade associations developing programs to set best practices for unregulated industries, as well as professional societies and associations introducing individual certification programs. Not surprisingly, many early designations were in health-related fields.
However, this system caught on with other disciplines and in other industries. Public relations, tourism, hospitality and sales professionals now all have their own professional certifications. Of course, HR has the certified human resources professional (CHRP), as well as specialist certifications for payroll, recruiting, and training.
The problem for HR is figuring what the large and growing number of certifications mean and how valuable they are.
“One of the challenges is to distinguish between designations and their diverse requirements, which range from ‘showing up’ to a half-day workshop to stringent academic and experience prerequisites, combined with work sample evaluations and exams,” says Chris Roach, certified personnel consultant (CPC), and vice-president of the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services. “Although there is no central organization to monitor the myriad of certifications available in Canada, it’s prudent for recruiters to check out credentials by contacting the relevant association or training provider or consulting senior staff with pertinent expertise,” he adds.
The IT sector in particular has seen a dramatic increase in certifications.
Software firm Novell was one of the first to create a designation with its certified network engineer (CNE) in 1989. As the practice grew, others modelled designations to promote their technologies and ensure a skilled workforce to support them.
“Companies need IT professionals with the skills to manage growing systems, like Linux, and certifications help HR professionals identify job candidates with proven and tested skills,” says Evan Leibovitch, president of the Brampton, Ont.-based Linux Professional Institute, a vendor-neutral, international organization that develops accessible, internationally recognized certification programs for the Linux operating system.
Leibovitch cautions that “IT certification is part of a ‘balanced breakfast’ but should not be the only criteria considered or substituted for thorough screening.”
Paul Swinwood, of the Canadian Software Human Resources Council, also says finding certified candidates or sending employees for certification training is useful, but in some cases it only proves competence in a very narrow area. “It’s like a plumber having a certification from a company that makes wrenches.”
Many people have obtained a software certification only to find it has a limited application and doesn’t lead to as many opportunities as they had hoped. “We are having a lot of people get burned by the fact that they have an MCSE (one of many Microsoft certifications) but they don’t know anything about information technology,” says Swinwood. “They are bumping into not a glass ceiling but a silicone ceiling.”
He says that when the IT sector was hot employers were very interested in using certifications as a way to screen candidates.
Today, in a cooled-down market, employers are more interested in people with a broad range of competencies including presentation skills, a thorough understanding of the sector, business skills and so on.
The technology world will continue to change and transform at an incredible pace, says Swinwood. Employers will be more interested in people who can retrain themselves quickly to meet those changing demands than they will in the certifications behind an employee’s name.
In that respect, certifications can be viewed as an indication someone is committed to ongoing training and development, says Steve Ryan, vice-president, human resources, DWL Inc., a Toronto-based business services software firm. “We try not to be blinded by designations but find they often flag additional traits, such as motivation, dedication to lifelong learning and professional pride,” he says. “In some cases, candidates have financed the evaluation process themselves, which reflects an even stronger commitment.”
A less tangible but increasingly vital strength of professional certification is that it helps candidates understand what constitutes integrity within their profession and reinforces commitment to a code of ethics.
The Canadian Public Relations Society has had its APR (accredited, public relations) designation since the 1960s. “It forces candidates to dig beneath the surface to understand the roots, strategies and ethics behind public relations and why interactive communications must respect a multitude of rules regarding imperative relationships with multiple stakeholders in our technologically advanced global village,” explains Daniel Granger, APR national president, CPRS and general manager in the Montreal office of PR firm Edelman.
Although, ethics is not part of most IT designations today, they may be some day as corporate reputation moves to the forefront in this post-Enron era. “We are working on an initiative with another association that may involve candidates agreeing to a code of ethics in the future,” says Leibovitch.
Ryan, of DWL, suggests that “as professional certifications grow in prominence, they will play an essential role in helping managers, clients and the general business community to identify competent professionals who will deliver an exemplary product or service, in an ethical manner.”
Leslie Hetherington is a freelance writer and public relations practitioner with clients in the human resources sector. She can be reached at [email protected]. With files from David Brown.
Most people in HR are familiar with required designations such as the CA for accountants, but recruiters and HR departments are giving more credence to other certifications in their search for the ways to ensure they have a well-trained, highly skilled workforce. As post-secondary degrees and diplomas become more common place, certifications can serve as an additional screening tool in a firm’s recruiting process and overall human capital strategy.
The practice began several decades ago with trade associations developing programs to set best practices for unregulated industries, as well as professional societies and associations introducing individual certification programs. Not surprisingly, many early designations were in health-related fields.
However, this system caught on with other disciplines and in other industries. Public relations, tourism, hospitality and sales professionals now all have their own professional certifications. Of course, HR has the certified human resources professional (CHRP), as well as specialist certifications for payroll, recruiting, and training.
The problem for HR is figuring what the large and growing number of certifications mean and how valuable they are.
“One of the challenges is to distinguish between designations and their diverse requirements, which range from ‘showing up’ to a half-day workshop to stringent academic and experience prerequisites, combined with work sample evaluations and exams,” says Chris Roach, certified personnel consultant (CPC), and vice-president of the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services. “Although there is no central organization to monitor the myriad of certifications available in Canada, it’s prudent for recruiters to check out credentials by contacting the relevant association or training provider or consulting senior staff with pertinent expertise,” he adds.
The IT sector in particular has seen a dramatic increase in certifications.
Software firm Novell was one of the first to create a designation with its certified network engineer (CNE) in 1989. As the practice grew, others modelled designations to promote their technologies and ensure a skilled workforce to support them.
“Companies need IT professionals with the skills to manage growing systems, like Linux, and certifications help HR professionals identify job candidates with proven and tested skills,” says Evan Leibovitch, president of the Brampton, Ont.-based Linux Professional Institute, a vendor-neutral, international organization that develops accessible, internationally recognized certification programs for the Linux operating system.
Leibovitch cautions that “IT certification is part of a ‘balanced breakfast’ but should not be the only criteria considered or substituted for thorough screening.”
Paul Swinwood, of the Canadian Software Human Resources Council, also says finding certified candidates or sending employees for certification training is useful, but in some cases it only proves competence in a very narrow area. “It’s like a plumber having a certification from a company that makes wrenches.”
Many people have obtained a software certification only to find it has a limited application and doesn’t lead to as many opportunities as they had hoped. “We are having a lot of people get burned by the fact that they have an MCSE (one of many Microsoft certifications) but they don’t know anything about information technology,” says Swinwood. “They are bumping into not a glass ceiling but a silicone ceiling.”
He says that when the IT sector was hot employers were very interested in using certifications as a way to screen candidates.
Today, in a cooled-down market, employers are more interested in people with a broad range of competencies including presentation skills, a thorough understanding of the sector, business skills and so on.
The technology world will continue to change and transform at an incredible pace, says Swinwood. Employers will be more interested in people who can retrain themselves quickly to meet those changing demands than they will in the certifications behind an employee’s name.
In that respect, certifications can be viewed as an indication someone is committed to ongoing training and development, says Steve Ryan, vice-president, human resources, DWL Inc., a Toronto-based business services software firm. “We try not to be blinded by designations but find they often flag additional traits, such as motivation, dedication to lifelong learning and professional pride,” he says. “In some cases, candidates have financed the evaluation process themselves, which reflects an even stronger commitment.”
A less tangible but increasingly vital strength of professional certification is that it helps candidates understand what constitutes integrity within their profession and reinforces commitment to a code of ethics.
The Canadian Public Relations Society has had its APR (accredited, public relations) designation since the 1960s. “It forces candidates to dig beneath the surface to understand the roots, strategies and ethics behind public relations and why interactive communications must respect a multitude of rules regarding imperative relationships with multiple stakeholders in our technologically advanced global village,” explains Daniel Granger, APR national president, CPRS and general manager in the Montreal office of PR firm Edelman.
Although, ethics is not part of most IT designations today, they may be some day as corporate reputation moves to the forefront in this post-Enron era. “We are working on an initiative with another association that may involve candidates agreeing to a code of ethics in the future,” says Leibovitch.
Ryan, of DWL, suggests that “as professional certifications grow in prominence, they will play an essential role in helping managers, clients and the general business community to identify competent professionals who will deliver an exemplary product or service, in an ethical manner.”
Leslie Hetherington is a freelance writer and public relations practitioner with clients in the human resources sector. She can be reached at [email protected]. With files from David Brown.
