Is it Time to Certify?

Let’s be honest. Many certifications in many professions are nothing but bunk and not worth the paper they’re printed on. They exist for the sole purpose of helping the organization or private enterprise that offers them a quick buck for little or no effort. (This is especially true in the technology profession where many of the technologies you can get certified in are bunk to begin with.)

But some of the certifications, especially those offered by reputable organizations or enterprises, are not that bad … and some of them can considerably fatten your pay check. Consider recent findings from both Next Level Purchasing (NLP) and Purchasing Magazine that found that those who possess the SPSM (from NLP) or the CPSM (from the ISM) can earn up to 14% more annually than their peers. In addition, if you’re out of work, it might even considerably shorten your job search. As noted in this recent Certification Update article on Supply & Demand Chain Executive, a recent random sampling of over 100 purchasing manager jobs posted on Monster.com revealed that 20% of those jobs listed certification as a mandatory or desirable qualification. When you consider that only about 10% of professionals in the workforce possess a certification, which also includes the expired APP, CPP, and CPM in addition to the CSCP, SCMP, PPP, SPC, and a few others, a certification does help you stand out from the crowd.

And when you consider that some certifications, like the SPSM can be obtained for as little as $1149, and, if you’re out of work, completed in a few weeks, maybe it’s time to bite the bullet. After all, if it gets you a job faster, and helps you earn as much as 12K more than you might have otherwise, you might as well bite the bullet and get it.

(To be brutally honest, if you aren’t able to earn the basic SPSM, you probably shouldn’t be in Supply Management anyway. It’s not that hard. And if you really want to excel at your job, even the SPSM2 isn’t enough. You’ll need custom courses from industry leaders like Greybeard Advisors or the MPower Group.)

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