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HR Certification

    August 19, 2015

    HR certification is a career-long commitment that demonstrates dedication, credibility, and a mastery of the principles of Human Resources to your employer and professional peers.  It also shows that you have made an investment in your HR career and it holds a recognized place in the profession.  Certification will provide you will many benefits in advancing your career.  Perhaps one of the most important benefits of obtaining HR Certification is the personal satisfaction you receive from successfully challenging yourself to undertake a very difficult endeavor.

    Certifying requires a true commitment from you.  Studying and attending a study group means sacrificing most of your personal time for about 3 months.  AVHRA study groups have been extremely successful in the past and this is due to commitment that the individuals have made to the process.  Some even traveled from out of town to attend the study groups.

    There are now two certifications available to HR professionals.  The first is the new SHRM certifications, SHRM-CP and SHRM- SCP.  The first testing window for this new certification just passed and we should know how well things went in the near future.  To date the only materials available to study for the exam is the SHRM Learning System.  More information about this certification can be found at SHRM.org.

    The second and original certifications are the HRCI PHR and SPHR.  There are multiple study materials for these certifications available.  Details regarding these certifications can be found at HRCI.org

    Each type of certification has different requirements and costs associated with it.  If you are interested in taking the exam, it will be important that you research which certification you wish to attempt so that you can determine if you meet the requirements.

    AVHRA will be facilitating a study group for HRCI certification beginning in September for the December/January testing window.  If you are interested in joining the group, please contact me, Annie Horey, at ahorey@cashmerevalleybank.com.  Details will be announced as the plans are firmed up so look for more announcements on the AVHRA website.