LET'S GET BUSY! By: Michelle Domes, SPHR

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Are you new to the HR field? Or is it old hat? Either way, keeping up with all the changes in human resources is a day to day challenge for even the most seasoned professionals. Do you have your certification yet? If so, good for you! Getting certified is a great way to stay current on all the changes in our field so you are on the right track, for your current position AND your future positions! If not, why not?? Did you know that about 60% of all HR job postings list PHR/SPHR certifications as either required or preferred for that position? So it’s a big plus to have your certification! And you are in the right place if you are looking for help in getting there or staying there.

Here is some basic current information that may help you, your chapter members or your HR team in your efforts to getting certified, staying certified and getting programs approved for certification credits. Offering certification credits for your SHRM affiliated luncheons, conferences and other events is a sure fire way to increase attendance and boost your membership so make sure you are trying to get that done with every event your chapter sponsors.

1. 2013 Certification Handbook – This covers the eligibility requirements and all the ins/outs of sitting for one of our credentials.

2. 2013 Recertification Handbook – This covers all the ins/outs of recertifying your credential.  

The main policy changes for 2013 include:

1. Page 7 of the Handbook – College and University Courses; On the recertification side ONLY, anyone self reporting a college course they attended will follow the IACET guidelines for a college course. IACET defines a CEU as being equivalent to 10 classroom hours. If someone takes a 3 credit CEU university course, they would be eligible for 30 credit hours. If the college course was not awarded credit via the standard CEU system, we will award credit on an hour for hour basis.

2. Page 10 of the Handbook – Professional Membership; Now any national professional membership is eligible for 3 credit hours per year (in the past this was only for SHRM national members).

3. Throughout the Handbook – You will see that the HRBP and HRMP certifications have been incorporated into the handbook. Should someone have questions on the recertification requirements for those credentials, they can be directed to the handbook (the specific breakdown is on page 7 for the HRMP).

4. Page 17 of the Handbook – When requesting Emeritus status, please note there is now a 100 USD fee for this process (the fee can be paid using the payment form on page 18).

5. Page 21 of the Handbook (Appendix C) – We have added HRCI’s Code of Ethical and Professional Responsibility as a reference in the Appendix section.

PHR/SPHR Body of Knowledge – The PHR/SPHR Body of Knowledge is the content covered in the PHR and SPHR exam. In addition, this is a great guide for chapters submitting programs to determine if their program is eligible for business management and strategy credit (all the content falling only in domain or if the content is eligible for general credit (where the content falls in the other domains).  

GPHR Body of Knowledge – The GPHR Body of Knowledge is the content covered in the GPHR exam. In addition, this is a great guide for chapters submitting programs to determine if their program is eligible for international credit (their content would fall anywhere in this body of knowledge).  

Here is the link to the statistics area for the HR Certification Institute. You can view information of people who are certified (through total figures) and see breakdowns of the number of individuals certified by credential. This information is updated quarterly, so make sure you check back throughout the year. This area also provides passing rates for the exams, depending on the exam window – this information is also updated after each testing window.

a. http://www.hrci.org/HRCertification.aspx?id=2147483768  This will be updated this month to reflect 2013 numbers!)

b. To see your specific state breakdown, in the paragraph after the first grid, click on the word, "Download," for states.

6. Please remind anyone who is certified to visit the HRCI website to view a listing of our upcoming chats and webcasts, talking specifically about recertification. We cover everything and we hold several each quarter!

If anyone has questions on recertification, please encourage them to email us at recertification@hrci.org.