{"id":15,"date":"2015-02-18T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proftesting.com\/blog\/?p=15"},"modified":"2016-01-29T14:26:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T14:26:19","slug":"2015213thinking-of-developing-a-certification-program-the-top-5-things-you-need-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/18\/2015213thinking-of-developing-a-certification-program-the-top-5-things-you-need-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking of Developing a Certification Program? The Top 5 Things You Need to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/contributors\/christine-niero\">Christine Niero, Ph.D.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Over the past few decades thousands of certification programs have proliferated, several in industries that didn\u2019t even exist, for example, cyber security.&nbsp; Certifications occupy a unique place in qualifying a workforce, career advancement and professional development.&nbsp; If started and sustained correctly, certifications can become a standard for an industry as well as a prominent piece of the intellectual property of the sponsoring organization.&nbsp; Before you start a program, consider the following.<\/p>\n<p><!--[if !supportLists]--><strong>1.&nbsp;Conduct a market analysis\u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>this will help you determine your potential market, understand its characteristics such as level of education, employment and earnings, and articulate the perceived value and benefits associated with the certification.&nbsp; Then you can create your value proposition.<\/p>\n<p><!--[if !supportLists]--><strong>2.&nbsp;Build in value and tangible benefits\u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>and start this early!&nbsp; Clearly articulate the purposes of the credential and develop a program that supports that purpose.&nbsp; For example, if certification leads to career advancement, involve employers in the process to give incentive to their employees to earn the credential.&nbsp; Build your messaging around value.<\/p>\n<p><!--[if !supportLists]--><strong>3.&nbsp;Calculate your ROI and expect to support the program\u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>expecting to break-even and earn a profit in a short period of time is often not a realistic expectation.&nbsp; Solid market research will enable you to determine when you should break-even and profit, thereby enabling you to plan accordingly and manage the expectations of anxious leadership.<\/p>\n<p><!--[if !supportLists]--><strong>4.&nbsp;Work with experts\u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>make sure you can stand behind the credential with a credible and viable program.&nbsp; What goes into developing a quality program is as important as the end product, so make sure your test measures what it\u2019s intended to; your policies are fair and comprehensive; and qualifying for and maintaining the certification focuses on competency requirements and nothing else.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Be customer focused\u2014<\/strong>understand the needs, preferences and wants of your certificants, and see how you can tailor your program to meet their needs.&nbsp; Make information such as candidate handbooks and applications easy to find on your website.&nbsp; Develop products such as study-guides and online practice exams, and consider the best method for testing\u2014computer-based, web-based, or paper\/pencil.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christine Niero, Ph.D. Over the past few decades thousands of certification programs have proliferated, several in industries that didn\u2019t even exist, for example, cyber security.&nbsp; Certifications occupy a unique place in qualifying a workforce, career advancement and professional development.&nbsp; If started and sustained correctly, certifications can become a standard for an industry as well as&#8230; <a class=\"view-article\" href=\"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/18\/2015213thinking-of-developing-a-certification-program-the-top-5-things-you-need-to-do\/\">View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proftesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}