Hello and Happy New Year to everyone-
I just completed my B.A. in Liberal Arts from Fairfield University and am thinking about pursuing a career in HR. Does anyone know of a reputable certificate program and is this sufficient for entry into this field? Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. My background is 20+ years in full-service restaurant management. I am looking for a change.
|
||||
Human Resources Certificate?1 comment to Human Resources Certificate? |
|
|||
|
Copyright © 2012 Director HR Jobs - All Rights Reserved |
||||
The best resource for you to find the nearest (and/or “best” although I’ll discuss what that means in a second) is your local Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org) state council. From there, you need to find your regional or local chapter. To save you the time, here’s the web site you’ll need: http://www.ctshrm.org/default.asp?page=3
No, you don’t necessarily need your certificate to enter as a HRM specialist or generalist, but the best way to gauge the actual answer is to surf your local papers, Monster.com, and CareerBuilder.com and look at the job ads. If the HR jobs in your area state that certification is desired or a must, you’ll know that you should get it, if you want to be competitive. HR professionals like myself are very loyal to our profession, so certification is important regardless. Because any and all job applications you complete will be going through HR in some way or form, stating you are a PHR is like speaking our language to us. It’s a good “foot-in-the-door” if nothing else but it’s actually so much more.
There are three levels of certification. As a newly graduated student, you can only apply for your Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certificate but you wouldn’t be allowed to use the designation until after you’ve completed two years of exempt level HR work. Refer to this web site for more information: http://www.hrci.org/Certification/RECENT/
HRCI is THE governing body that administers the tests and oversees recertification credits.
There is no such thing as “best” program but the most important question, if you have several different course options is to ask the program what their pass rate was from the previous three or four sessions was. If they don’t know that, I’d be weary. If you are disciplined enough to go the self-study, SHRM has the most effective learning system. Go to this web site to learn more: http://www.shrm.org/learning/
I hope this helps.
Warmest Regards,
John Kincaid, SPHR
Vice President, Programs Committee
San Antonio Human Resource Management Association
http://www.SAHRMA.org