"Yes" or "No"...???
With a number of professional certifications in Supply Chain Management such as APICS CSCP, CPIM, PMP, CPM, CPSM, etc., a commonly asked question by many of the early and mid-level professionals relates to their usefulness in job-search. As a Director and co-Founder of a worldwide network that primarily helps people aspiring to get certified by offering them online practice tests, my honest answer to this question would be "Yes" and "No". The reason behind this dual stance can be explained in the nature of the question itself.
Firstly, I would say "Yes, a professional certification may help in getting a better job" because it basically authenticates your knowledge and skill level in that particular domain or subject. A professional certification is a sort of recognition that is provided to a person who has demonstrated a certain level of expertise and companies usually value such certifications.
Now coming to the second part, professional certifications maybe a "good to have" thing but not necessarily a passport to getting better job. Ultimately what count most are things like your basic degree, experience, soft skills, presentation, confidence and in many cases your overall personality. If you work hard on improving some of these things, then you probably do not need any additional certifications. But, unfortunately it is easier said than done. So in order to increase our chances of getting a better job, most of us find it easier to work towards getting a certification in our field than anything else.
In my opinion, nowadays several professional bodies provide certifications more on a commercial basis than anything else. They charge hundreds of dollars from candidates just for conducting the exam. Even the study material meant for preparation is exhorbitantly priced. In most of the cases, if the candidate fails the first time, he/she has to retake the exam by paying the fees again. In fact, there is a strong motivation for such persons to reappear by paying once again as they want to validate their own knowledge and skills.
When I took one such certification exam for Supply Chain Management, offered by a leading body, I ended up paying a huge amount for the preparation, exam fees and travel. That was when, I decided to form SCMZone network which can provide a low-cost alternative to people who are preparing for such certification exams. Those of you who are interested may visit my website to try out some free practice tests on Supply Chain Management and SAP. You are also welcome to contribute questions, feedback and suggestion. Thanks a lot!
Shad Masum (President and co-Founder)
www.scmzone.org
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