A Skeptic's Guide to HR Certification: Part 1

After about a year of debating about if we should get an HR certification, we decided to do it, but not because we had learned that it was necessary and important. Rather, we wanted to learn if it was necessary and important.

In January 2024, when we applied for the test, we were definitely skeptics. (Spoiler alert: we still are.) But we decided that For Science, we’d take the SPHR (Senior Professional of Human Resources) exam through HRCI so we could know for sure.

Throughout the application, study, and test taking process, we took notes on our experience so at the end of this chaotic adventure, we could write the resource we wish we had when we started. And this blog series is that resource!

We have 2 goals:

• Share our takeaways from the study + test experience to help other HR professionals decide if they also want to take this journey.

• De-mystify the application, study, and exam process for anyone who decides to pursue a certification.

TLDR on the whole series:

(Though we do hope you read all of it, because there’s more nuance than we can summarize here!)

We passed the SPHR exam and can now put those letters after our names (when we want to). Even after passing, we don’t think an HR Certification is necessary for HR professionals. We were surprised that we enjoyed some aspects of the process. There are also parts we found frustrating. HRCI doesn’t provide the clearest instructions for the process.

What to expect from this series

We’ve broken up our experience into 4 sections (not including this one!):

• A Skeptic’s Guide to HR Certification: Why we did this - our motivations and certification selection (6/11/2024)

• A Skeptic’s Guide to HR Certification: How we prepared - resources that were most (and least) helpful (6/18/2024)

• A Skeptic’s Guide to HR Certification: Accommodations and exam day - how to request accommodations and what to expect on exam day (6/25/2024)

• A Skeptic’s Guide to HR Certification: Was it worth it - our takeaways about the process including our overall recommendation about taking the test (7/2/2024)

We wrote this series for:

• HR professionals with any level of experience who are considering pursuing a certification

• HR professionals who decide to pursue an HRCI certification

• Teams who are hiring HR professionals and want to know what it means to acquire an HR certification

HR is a team sport

We prepared for this test and wrote these posts as a team. We encourage you all to do the same! And we don’t want to be the only voices sharing our experience. Please comment on the blogs,on our Linkedin posts, or reach out to us directly through our websites. We’re all about community and we want to learn from y’all as well!

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Coauthored with Krista Lane (Headwaters HR) (cross posted here)