Are you an HR professional looking to elevate your career through certification? Dive with us into the real value of HR certification, understand the certification process, tackle the challenges, and discover practical tools to succeed. Continue on learn about the certification experiences of two HR professionals in Virginia.
Featuring Courtney J. Valladares, SHRM-CP and Valerie Lee: Courtney and Valerie shared their certification journeys, including their career paths and what led them to their SHRM certification. They shared their experiences with the preparations and exams, and their advice for anyone who is considering pursuit of the SHRM certifications. Watch a recording of this session, hosted by HR Virginia Certification Director, Anastasia Mizitova, here.
Courtney shared her perspective about her discovery of HR as a career and the experience of obtaining her SHRM certification. She previously taught at the collegiate level, and after moving to Charlottesville, she connected with someone who had an open position in training & development. That position opened the door to other areas of human resources, and so began Courtney’s career in HR. She views her HR career as an opportunity to use skills she has with more of a purpose and opportunity to progress and continue learning new things. Courtney shared that her HR work is fresh, new, ever-changing, and exciting – you never know what you’re going to get when you wake up in the morning!
She remembered seeing the little ribbons for badges at the National and State conference; she said it felt like a special club and she wanted to get a ribbon of her own. Courtney decided to pursue her SHRM certification, and she signed up for a six week online course every Saturday for four hours. With many other demands on her time, she admittedly did not study as well as she should have, and she did not pass the exam on her first attempt. However, she took it again and passed a couple months later. Courtney’s advice to others is to give yourself grace. “It’s a lot of information, and for a lot of HR professionals, we’re focused on one or two areas but this is a whole body of knowledge. Remember this test doesn’t define you or how intellingent you are or how competent you are in the HR field. Don’t quit, don’t stop trying.”
Valerie said her first certification was the PHR certification. She drove an hour twice a week for six weeks to a training class. She later earned her SPHR certification, and then when SHRM came out with their certification, she knew she needed to have it. Valerie said she didn’t get all the questions right on the SHRM-CP test, even with all her experience. She believes certifications are here to stay; it shows competency in the career field.
Valerie’s advice to others is to take the study course, find an instructor who really knows HR. Take the text exams over and over. The key was, the study tests would reveal the answer if she got it wrong so she was still able to apply learning to the process. “And,” she says, “even when you get your certification, that’s not the end. You have to continue to grow.”
