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.

Add to:

My Ashford University Experience : certificatetificate

The Professional Certificate: Part III of III