Success, in some cases, is a matter of “Buyer Beware”! This is especially important in the certification arena.
As of late, many companies and organizations have expressed their discontent with people that they hired claiming to possess certifications and their inability to meet performance expectations. Sadly, many of these employees are now “former employees” who, claim that they were misled by the providers of these so-called certifications and if they realized what they were really getting would not help. When asked why they chose specific certification providers, the responses were nearly the same. “It was the cheapest program available” was the most frequent response and “it was the shortest and least demanding of the courses available” was the second most frequent response. The closing statement was a variation on the theme that what I did was a total waste of time, but I got what I paid for!
You get what you pay for
Although this is a generalization, A student can not learn more than the instructor or more than the material that is presented. This especially holds true with courses that result in certification. Although there are numerous theories of learning and performance, the combination of knowledge enhancement and experience is what organizations and businesses are looking for, with the people that they hire.
I have yet to find a business that simply wants smart people. They want smart people who have a proven track record. I say this with one exception. Holding to the contention that knowledge alone is not what companies are looking to employ, I can conclude that they want a return on their investment. That one exception, that I will admit to, is that I worked with companies that did hire individuals without experience and groomed them for future roles. These instances were exceptions and not the proverbial rule.
Making the case for experience
Imagine yourself as being the hiring arm of a company looking to hire a certified welder or a certified architect. What do you think of a candidate who claims to have the certification by having read a book, or attended a course but never welded or never drew a blueprint? I would not continue interviewing that candidate.
Getting back to the initial premise, logic dictates that one cannot acquire more than what is presented, whether it is from written material, videos or from an instructor in a classroom setting. Moreover, psychology tells us that that which is retained by a student is only a portion of what they were taught and that it rapidly declines as time passes. Add to that the inadequacy of the exchange of information (communication gaps) between the sender and receiver and one can see that what an individual has learned is simply the starting point.
If a competency exam is included in their certification claim and that exam was conducted as part of the class, during the class, I would recall that the retained knowledge of the individual declines, week over week. Imagine interviewing a candidate that has a certification tied to an exam, that was taken a year prior, with no further study or experience. That individual is not a viable candidate in my book!
There is little need to belabor the point. Classes in many of the certifications sought after by companies and organizations must include ongoing experience, in addition to the knowledge lift from classes to provide what companies and organizations are needing and to be of value of value to the individual taking it. I am not contending that online training has no value, in fact, I am an advocate of the proper use of it. I am saying that it is, at best, a starting point from which true value begins. If an individual participates in an online venue, passes the requirements of the informational transference, and then puts it to use, in a fashion that can be additionally verified, then the claim of certification is valid. Anything less is just that…LESS!
To that end, the Cii makes a distinction between certificates of classroom participation and certifications in the areas that we teach. All Cii certifications require:
Participation in the specific classes
Performance in an exam that indicates that a specific level of knowledge competency has been achieved.
Specific projects or experiences
That must be documented by the individual seeking certification
The projects or experiences must be confirmed by 1 or more within our certification team, ensuring that they have met specific requirements
The participant stays active in the certification by continued experiences and or projects and continuing growth in knowledge
If you would like to find out more about our certification programs, check us out at www.thecii.com.