The working environment of the 21st century has become challenging, and the value of qualification, certifications, and experience is increasing more than it used to be before. These days, the technology is dominating every area of professional world and candidates who want to thrive in their career no longer require an associate degree without any specialization or certification. Nowadays, every department – including marketing, IT, supply chain and HR – needs professionals with professional certifications. Let us see what is the real value of certifications in the professional field. How is it worth spending the time and money to get a certification?

There are a lot of professional certifications available these days for the fresh graduates and experienced professionals who want to acquire advanced knowledge and expertise in their specific area or industry. The certification is mostly paid and requires students and professionals to pay the fee. Several reputable institutions offer cutting edge certifications which add value to the resume of an individual. For advancing in any job or business, the certifications provide a great deal of confidence and recognition to individuals. For example, a Human Resource Professional can get an HRM Certification that provides him skills to do his job more productively. Similarly, an IT professional can get a certification in web development, database or networking to perform his duties competently. Certifications add value to the basic education and provide exposure to latest technology to individuals.

The certifications provide a framework by which technical people can gain new level of proficiency and learn more about their practical field. Secondly, they provide them with the credential which certifies him to possess a great deal of knowledge in a specific area. A certification is not easy to earn, for example, a network manager who earns a CCNP or CCIE certification works endless days and night to gain the level of competence of obtaining that certification. They need to pass the exams from Cisco to get a certificate which ensures their success as network managers. The global certifications provided by the world renowned companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, CompTIA, Harvard University and MIT become a brand for the individual who provides him success.

If you are a certified professional, chances are you will get a better reception and employment opportunity from the HR personnel in a professional organization. Earning and obtaining a certification means that a person cares about his competency level and career. Certifications are a sign that individual has done enough effort to boost their career and become an asset for a dynamic organization. It also proves that the selected candidate is a self-starter and professionally sounds in his work. Certifications provide a better chance of getting hired by the technical and HR managers. The hiring managers can make their selection easily by certifications possessed by the individual.

There are some great certifications in the field of IT and Human Resources that bring value to the individuals based on their current knowledge.

• PMP certification is the best for project managers or students who want to pursue a career in project management.
• ITIL is a great certification for those want to boost their career in Information Technology Infrastructure Library.
• Learning Six Sigma certification is best suitable for the statistics professionals.
• Cisco CCNA and CCNP are best suited for the network engineers and I.T managers who manage and build scalable networks.
• MCP, MCSE or MCITP are the world renowned Microsoft certifications for the I.T professionals who want to gain expertise on Windows Servers and network infrastructure.
• OCP is the Oracle certification for the database professionals
• MCDBA SQL Server certification is for database professionals who install, configure and deploy SQL servers.
• LINUX certifications are for Linux professionals who want to manage wide area networks on Linux.
• HRM Certifications are for Human Resource Managers employed in different organizations.

There are some certifications available for tourism professionals, hotel management, catering, marketing, coaching and career counseling, medical professionals and nursing, etc.

The above mentioned certifications are paid certification and require a fee to be paid for the training and examination to earn a certification from the world’s best organizations. It depends on the willingness of a professional to pay and invest in their career to obtain a higher certification. These certifications provide a standard of competence that a hirer can judge about the knowledge of a candidate. They also provide a proof of professionalism and can reduce errors in your work.

Professional certifications provide a knowledge base and common language and help the certified professionals solve problems more easily. They provide a framework for critical thinking through rigorous examination and quizzes; the real time problems can be solved more competently by the certified professionals as compared to a non-certified professional.

Getting a professional certification is a great achievement, and it provides immense value to one’s career. But there is no guarantee that the person will be able to achieve his career goals with the certification in his hands because having a certification does not mean someone can do the job well. Managers are looking for individuals who are tech savvy and more diligent hands on. Therefore passing a certification exam and obtaining a certificate is no guarantee of having a spectacular career, it requires dedication and commitment on a job. Despite achieving a high score in the certification, a technical manager might not be able to troubleshoot or debug competently.

Certifications do provide a baseline and framework to enhance the competency level and knowledge for a specific area of work for the certified professionals, but they do not guarantee their career success in the practical field. The professional certifications provide latest industry knowledge and technical know-how to excel at jobs. Hiring managers prefer those individuals who acquire professional certifications from the world renowned organization to better implement their technology in the information technology department. But passing a certification does not guarantee that an individual will also perform outstandingly in the job. ~ Original post by Elizabeth Harville

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