What Is Professional Certification?
A type of designation that’s earned by a professional which gives assurance that he or she is qualified to do a certain job or task can be anything from professional certifications, professional designation or trade certification which are simply called as qualification or certification. Keep in mind that not all certifications that are using post nominal letters are acknowledgement of educational achievement or perhaps an agency appointed to protect public interests.
Whether you believe it or not, certification programs are offered by 3rd party that serves attestation of the proficiency or level of knowledge of a person in certain profession or industry. These certifications can only be granted by authorities in such field similar to universities and professional societies or perhaps, by private certificate granting agencies. Majority of the certifications are actually time limited and some may expire after a set period of time while others could be renewed indefinitely so long as the requirements are met.
The renewal typically requires ongoing education in order to stay updated on advancements in field, continuing education units or evidenced by earning specified number of continuing education credits from approved professional development programs.
There are lots of certificate programs that have connection in trade organizations, professional associations or private vendors interested to raise standards of the industry they are in. Certificate programs are typically endorsed or created by professional associations but they are often completely independent membership organizations. Certifications are crucial most especially with regards to the field of construction, aviation, environment, technology as well as other sectors like business, finance, real estate and healthcare.
Whether you believe it or not, there are 3 types of certifications these days that are offered like corporate, product specific and profession wide.
Corporate or internal certifications – these are made by low stakes organizations or corporation for internal purposes. To give you an example, a corporation may require a 1 day training course for their sales personnel after which they get the certificate. It’s the most basic to develop while the certificates come with limited probability to other corporations.
Product specific certifications – these are intended and more involved on product across various applications. The truth is, this approach is more common in the field of Information Technology to which personnel are certified on the version of hardware or software. This certification is actually portable across locations but not on products. If you’re interested to have such, you can apply for online certifications.
Profession wide certifications – these are offered to medical profession to obtain specific set of specialties. However, it will be crucial to pass a professional exam in an effort to apply professional standards, protect the public and increase the level of practice and ultimately, establish the certification.