At 11:16 08/19/1998 -0500, Tony Furnivall wrote (after a lot of clipping):
>Subject:      Certification: A request for input

>There's been a lot of discussion recently, and over the past few months,
>about certification for MPE people. I'd like to get a sense of what people
>are looking for in a certified person, and what they might think would be
>the benefits if they went and got themselves branded.

I'd like to suggest there may be two flavors of "certification".  First is
the type you're referring to - something which stirs the soul in the same
way as CDP or CPA or . . . you get the idea.  It's going to take a long
time to put something like that together - it's no small task to get that
kind of consensus.

Another flavor could be the "completed the course satisfactorily" kind -
would that be "certificated?"  It would be used to indicate that the person
has completed a course of study satisfactorily.

Imagine filling a position for an Operator.  Of the 10 candidates you
scrape up, wouldn't it be nice to know if a candidate had completed the HP
Operator's course satisfactorily?  You would still want to check
references, verify experience, etc - but you'd have a much clearer set of
expectations.

The HP training course could be used as a carrot as well for a new-hire:
"after two months we'll send you to HP school if you agree to stay a
further six months" (change the numbers to suit).  Note that the candidate
has received a marketable asset (training) for a one-time expense (instead
of a raise).

We seem to be close to that goal today.  The renewed interest in training
shown by HP would almost suffice as is - all we need is a final exam that
shows completion of the course.

There are cases where the manager may only be able to hire a person with
training - there may not be a need or budget to support a "Certified"
professional.  Knowing that an individual has completed a standardized
course of study could be very helpful to the hiring authority.

On a sidenote: this is my first post with new mail software.  If anything
comes out goofy on your end, could you please let me know off-list?  For
the curious, Eudora Pro 4.0.1 / Win95 8-]
--
Regards  --  Tony B. Shepherd  --  [log in to unmask]

This opinion is worth what you paid for it, and if it proves to be wrong,
all monies paid will be cheerfully refunded upon presentation of receipt.