Certifications and Renewal Requirements

This is an update to a post I wrote in February 2017. 

Real certifications have, or should have, some type of renewal or continuing education requirement. The CDIA exam I took in 2001 has almost zero relevance to the technology and process environment of 2021. And in fact this is one of the key benefits of a formal certification as compared to, say, a certificate or even a full degree program - once you complete a degree or certificate, that's it. As soon as you're done it starts getting stale. 

Certifications are designed to allow candidates to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in certain areas - but they are also markers of dedication to continuing professional development. Someone who has maintained a certification for 20 years has had to make at least some effort to keep up with changes in the industry and technologies.

There are two basic ways to renew a certification. First, many organizations will allow or require certificants to retake the then-current exam. Assuming the exam is updated regularly, this is probably the most efficient for both parties. But certificants really, REALLY don't like to do this - it tends to be more expensive, you have to deal with the in-person or online exam registration and delivery process, many certificants have test anxiety, etc. 

The alternative generally involves having certificants earn continuing education units (CEUs) and paying a fee, typically lower than the original exam/assessment fees. Every program determines what types of activities are appropriate for earning CEUs and how many are required; the typical figures are around a 3-5 year recertification cycle and 10-20 CEUs per year of the cycle, with CEUs awarded at the rate of 1 CEU per hour of educational activity. 

Certifying organizations have to balance the desire to have certificants maintain their credential - and the revenue that comes from them - with the need to ensure certificants really are doing what is expected. If it's too hard, people drop the certification; if it's too easy, it devalues the value of it. 

CEUs and Third Party Events

One way in which certifying organizations try to balance these needs is to offer preapproval to third party event producers/trainers. This provides a number of benefits depending on your point of view:

• The certifying organization shows its relevance and that of its designation, as event producers include its name, designation name, and logo in their marketing materials.
• Event producers have a ready way to demonstrate their commitment to the specific certifying organization and the broader community/industry as they market.
• Individual certificants can attend events secure in the knowledge that they are educational in nature and of some level of quality.
• Candidates can also attend those events and for largely the same reasons; in addition, some credentials require some amount of education to even sit for the exam, and these events can meet some or all of that need.

Every once in a while a certifying body considers this question and determines that it will only accept its events - that makes it more money, or leads, and why should it go to the trouble of accepting, or even promoting, competitive events? This is a terrible idea for several reasons: 

• Most non-technical certifications are designed to demonstrate industry-accepted knowledge and expertise, not that of a single organization or product. 
• Individuals won't limit themselves to consuming a single product or service - rather, they will assume that the certification isn't a "real" one since it doesn't accept their otherwise educational activities. 
• Certifying bodies are themselves part of a community. If AIIM only accepted AIIM events for CIP CEUs, it would only be logical for ARMA, the ICRM, etc. to only accept theirs or at least refuse AIIM events for credit. This results in everyone cutting off their own noses to spite their faces. 
• Education should be evaluated based on its value and content, not whose name or logo is on the cover. 

Frankly, CEUs provide a way for associations to work more closely together. We compete in many ways and on many things - but ultimately we're all in the business of providing value to the members of our communities, and I view all of our various communities as part of the same, larger, information management community. 

No Renewal Requirement, No Certification

It’s also important to understand that the value of a certification, and its prestige, are directly related to the perception of difficulty. As Global Knowledge noted in a recent story, “The 10 IT Certifications Employers Look For”, 

What differentiates these certifications is not only their depth of content, but also their breadth. If they were easy to obtain, would they be so highly sought after and command a high salary?

Organizations should not look at CEUs or renewal requirements as creating friction or raising unnecessary hurdles for their certificants. Rather, they are a way for certificants to demonstrate to themselves and their organizations their commitment to ongoing professional growth and development.

If you offer a certification that does NOT require regular renewal, what you have is not a certification. It's a certificate. Certificates are valuable in and of their own right, but anyone interested in paying for a certification knows the difference. 

Here's a great post that compares and contrasts certificates and certifications: https://www.thehlayer.com/news/differences-between-certificate-certification-programs/