The Professional Certificate: Part III of III

Cajun — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 18:35:00 GMT

We have already discussed the differences between academic certificates, professional certificates and professional certificates for licensure at http://community.elearners.com/blogs/ashford_university_blog/archive/2007/10/24/what-is-the-difference-between-various-certificates-academic-vs-professional-vs-licensure.aspx.

On this post we will discuss the professional and professional licensure certificates in a little more detail. As stated previously a professional certificate can be:

1.) A license or "certification" necessary to work within a given profession, like a Certified Public Accountant.
2.) A certification which while not necessary to work within a given profession, it may be required by some employers and at the least will demonstrate a certain level of skill within a specific area. Like the Project Management Institute's "PMP" certification.
3.) A certificate which will prepare one for a professional certification like the PMP or other standardized test by meeting a required amount of "clock hours" of training. This particular kind of certificate has more in common with academic certificates than with certifications per se, but since a transcript is not generally supplied denoting semester hours, I lump it into the professional certificate area. A good example is Rutgers University http://onlinetraining.rutgers.edu/ various online management certificates.

These types of certificates and certifications will occasionally have a minimum educational requirement, such as a requirement by a Board of Public Accountancy requiring a Bachelor of Science with a minimum of 30 upper division credit hours to even sit for the CPA exam. At other times there is no minimum education requirement, even though it may be advised by the testing agency, such as CompTIA. At other times the education requirements may even be another certificate or certification such as Cisco Systems requiring a CCNA before you sit for the CCIE exam. Honestly there are as many differing types of requirements or lack thereof that I couldn't even begin to cover them all. Just be aware that frequently a certification will have some prerequisites which must be met prior to sitting for the exam.

Generally a professional certificate is to be used to augment a degree and in my opinion is not a substitute for a degree in any way. For example, if I were to earn a CPA and had a BS in Accounting I would list both but I would list the CPA under "professional licenses" on my resume like thus:

Education:

Boston University (2006)

Bachelor of Science

Major in Accounting

Professional Licenses:

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Licensed in the State of Texas in 1996 valid through January 2008

Frequently the license will have a "valid through" date. I would disclose this on my resume but I wouldn't say it's a requirement unless called for by a potential employer. They will see the valid through dates once proof of licensure is sought anyways.

Some certificates will require continuing education certificates which I generally never list on my resume unless they are substantially pertinent to the job for which I am applying. For example, I was required to go to a 1 month on campus training at the School of Police Supervision in order to gain my promotion, but since this is neither a license nor academic certificate I generally leave it out of my resume unless I were to apply for a police supervision position at another agency. In this case I would probably list it under "Professional Certificates and Certifications" where I would also list my peace officer license and valid through dates. As thus:

Education:

Northcentral University (2002)

Bachelor of Science

Major in Psychology

Professional Certificates and Licenses:

TCLEOSE Certified Texas Peace Officer (2002)

International Law Enforcement Administration (2004)

Graduate of the Police School of Supervision

Class number 90

As far as non-licensure certificates, like the Rutgers University certificates above I would list these either under certificates and licenses if I had a professional license as well or other professional certificates, otherwise I'd just stick it at the bottom of my education column. For example:

Education:

Columbia University (1998)

Bachelor of Science

Major in Project Management

Professional Certificates and Licenses:

Project Management Institute (2004)

Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)

Rutgers University (2003)

Certificate in Project Management

Or if you have no other professional licenses or certificates you can list it under education as thus:

Education:

Columbia University (1998)

Bachelor of Science

Major in Business Administration

Rutgers University (2003)

Certificate in Project Management

Although this sort of implies that this is an academic certificate but at least it allows for a nice tidy resume.

Generally non-licensure certificates are great to both gain skills in a given area of study and to demonstrate to current and/or potential employers that you have these skills rapidly. They are at times much quicker to earn than an academic certificate and allow for you to develop and represent these skills in only a fraction of the time. The problem is that these types of certificates will generally not be nearly as in depth as an academic certificate and many recruiters will know this. If transcripts are required it will become immediately evident that this is not an academic certificate and as such there are of course limitations. They are almost never designed to be taken in lieu of a degree but rather to augment or prepare one for a degree. Take for example Tulane University's Master Certificate in Business Management http://www.elearners.com/college/uatu/ which is a first rate MBA preparation, but not a substitution by any means.

Well I suppose that about wraps it up. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of professional certificates and certifications.

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What is the difference between various certificates? Academic vs. Professional vs. Licensure?

Cajun — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:10:00 GMT

I believe that a certificate program can be broken down into three categories. It is worth noting that these categories are not necessarily exclusive to one another but at times may overlap. It is also worth noting that these are my personal observations, there may be programs which do not fit neatly into my little categorization scheme as listed here.

The certificates, as I see them, are:

A.) Academic Certificates
B.) Professional Licensure Certificates or "Certifications"
C.) Professional Certificates or "Certifications" (non-licensure)

First there is the Certificate of Completion, the Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies, Graduate Certificates, or Certificate in (name the discipline). Generally, these are for credit certificates which are based upon the completion of actual classroom work where semester credit hours are awarded per class and a transcript will be provided. Often times, these certificates are an abbreviation of a particular degree plans "major" coursework requirement.

A good example of this type of certificate can be found at Louisiana State University (http://www.is.lsu.edu/CreditCertificateProg.asp?nid=103&Level=CO&Online=1 or http://www.is.lsu.edu/ACCTCertificateProg.asp?nid=103&Level=CO&Online=1) and as a graduate certificate, Northcentral University
(http://www.ncu.edu/academics/cags/cags.aspx).

Second, there are professional certificates, commonly called "certifications" required for licensure, such as the Certified Public Accountant (which in Texas is) http://www.tsbpa.state.tx.us/ or the American Bar Association's "Bar Certified" attorneys http://www.texasbar.com/. Both of these certifications are perfect examples of professional certifications and are generally required for license to practice a given profession overseen by the state in which that professional works.

For example in Texas, you have to pass the Texas Certified Public Accountancy exam in order to be a CPA. You have to have a CPA in order to be a licensed Public Accountant. The same can be said for the Texas Bar Association. For example, in Texas in order to be licensed as an attorney, you must pass the Bar Exam and to qualify for the Bar Exam you have to have attended a school which is accredited by the American Bar Association.

Third, not all professional certificates or certifications are required for working in a profession within a given field, however. For example, you are not required to be a CompTIA A+ Certified Technician http://certification.comptia.org/ in order to fix a computer (sadly), but it does help you in the job search and provide a potential customer and/or employer with evidence that you have reached a certain level of competency in the field.

Another example can be seen at Rutgers University http://onlinetraining.rutgers.edu/, which offers professionals the ability to:

A.) obtain the minimum (clock) hours of education required for a certain exam to be "certified" such as the PMP (Project Management Professional) from http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Our-Credentials.aspx which requires a set of clock hours to obtain which can be found at http://imed.rutgers.edu/Certificate-in-Project-Management-2007.htm and which will prepare you for the PMP exam. (This is one of many, many examples).
B.) Additionally these type of (clock) hour certificates can be recorded as continuing education to meet various licensure and certification requirements.

Conclusion
The basic premise of any certificate or certification is that it will display a given level of competency to a third party of your respective skills. Often times a certificate will require a certain degree or level of education in order to obtain the certificate, such as the Texas Bar Association's requirement of a Juris Doctorate Degree in order to sit for the State of Texas Bar Exam.

Some certificates are a way of proving a competency through merely testing and demonstrating those skills with no prerequisite for education, such as the CompTIA, A+ Certificate.

Some certificates are simply an educational supplement such as LSU's offerings.

Hope this helps define a certificate.

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My Ashford University Experience : CAGS

The Professional Certificate: Part III of III

What is the difference between various certificates? Academic vs. Professional vs. Licensure?