I received this message from HRCI.
Dear Lauren Ruettimann, SPHR,
This is a reminder that your current certification cycle ended on December 31, 2007. It’s still not too late. If you do not recertify your SPHR designation certification on or before January 31, 2009, you will lose your designation.
Dudes, I need your help. I have very few official HR credentials due to the fact that I’ve opted out of Corporate America. Do I recertify? In order to recertify my SPHR status — which I’ve had since 2001 — I need to take the test. It’s not a difficult test and any chimp can pass it, but the test comes at an expense.
So here’s the poll.
[polldaddy poll=1246376]
Also, the comments are open.
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Leaving the cert behind, relieves you of yet another vestige of Corporate America. Punk Rockers don’t go for Certs!!! If you feel the need you could always notate your liberation of the SPHR moniker after a 7 year long battle.
Seems that last attempt to leave comment went awry, so here goes….again.
No, do not renew. SPHR is a cert good only in some areas of the corporate world. I say embrace fully your inner Punk Rocker & let go this last vestige of corporate America.
If you feel the need, you can always make reference to your 7 year battle to free yourself of the SPHR moniker & that should achieve roughly the same effect with much more budget friendly cost….Zero.
I’m a hedge your bets kind of gal – I say recertify. Gives you credentials in case you want to freelance with someone to whom certifications ARE important and lends you an air of authority (even if it is a chimp test, most people won’t know that) to back up your punk HR lifestyle.
Renew your certs. The SPHR is especially valued, and is growing in value. IMHO, creds and certs carry that much more importance when being a “free agent”.
But then again, I’m a cert-whore myself. Although biased, I have personally found that my certs and creds “get me in the door”, and my work keeps me “in the house”.
Just my $0.02,
Alan E. Yue, PMP, CISSP, CBCP, etc.
Take the test, what better way to fight the establishment, but with the cred to do so….In the U.S. congress you get more cred if you are a lawyer and they don’t practice “law”.
In HR you get more respect with the 4 letters even if you are a punk rocker.
PS Ijust took and passed the GPHR (I keep my SPHR up to date, yes I am a corporate creep)just for the “fun” of it…and to test my own ability…don’t do it for us do it for yourself!!!
M
I did not think that the PHR/SPHR test was easy and I don’t believe that any chimp can pass it. With the pass/fail rates posted by HRCI at somewhere near 50%, I don’t think that it is that easy to pass.
Just so you know that I”m not some bitter person who didn’t pass it, I did pass. On the first try. But it was one of the hardest things I had ever done up to that point in my life.
Near as I can tell, SPHR is a money maker and not much else. I know some very competent HR pros without the cert, and I know some real buffoons with it.
Moreover, I think folks who “let you in the door” based solely on the letters after your name have abdicated their right to think critically and are precisely the kind of HRians decried by you, me, and everyone else who’s ever had to work through them to get a job done. You know, the people who wonder why they can’t get a seat at the table (“I have letters after my name, can’t you see that? What’s wrong with you people!”) and who take their bitterness out on others by being extra pencil-pushy. I don’t work with many of those folks… but then again, I have the luxury of being able to choose not to.
But, a cred is a cred, and sometimes, it’s really tough to determine who’s who without a little cred to help you navigate through the noise.
So what do I recommend? Nothing, I can’t live your life for you. If it were me, I would let it lapse. That would close some doors and open others. Or maybe I’d re-up. Recert’ing would open the some and close the others. I really don’t know.
What value has the degree brought you so far? Which way do you want to go?
First time poster, long time reader…(feels like a talk show!)
In a post a few months ago, you rejected the notion of joining SHRM committees to try and make a difference from the inside. If you don’t want to be a part of SHRM and change HR from the inside (I agree with you on your stance), why would you pay them money just for a certification?! You can’t have it both ways. Punk is about attitude, but also commitment. Don’t be “sort of” punk.
Also, In my experience, this certificate really denotes “more of the same” from HR, not thought leadership in the function. Yes, it shows a competency with HR practice as it exists today , but isn’t that what you’re fighting to change?
All good advice. Some history: I took the SPHR test in 2001, passed on my first try, & I took it again in 2005 to recertify & passed again. I’m a good test-taker and I would rather take the test than sit through an audio conference on “ADA issues in the Workforce” to earn the recertification credits.
This time? I’m skipping it all. The last comment really got to me — you can’t be sort of punk, and it does me no good to perpetuate the status quo when it’s the status quo that damages HR as a profession.
I am not recertifying and will lose my SPHR designation at the end of the month.
Thanks for the input.
Don’t re certify. Why do I say this, well, flame if you must, but I’m hourly and will be until my boss retires, which means I cannot get certified for my PHR or my SPHR. Oh, I’m willing to study my ass off and pay SHRM for study systems and tests, but I still can’t claim the certification even if I pony up the cash, take the test and pass, which SHRM is happy to let me do.
Am I biased about certification? Hell yeah, which is why I say don’t re certify. Rat bastards.
But then, that’s me, an uncertified HR professional.
For what it’s worth and aside from all that stuff above, I tend to agree that SHRM does nothing to make itself current or reflect the profession it represents, so why re-certify?
Jackbuilt
Hey L,
It’s fairly common for HR folks to let their certification lapse, but note on their resumes that they were certified 2005 or whatever. Many HR people that I know don’t recertify because of the inane process that goes with it.
That said, in the matter of full discloser, I plan on keeping mine up to date for now and am actually studying for the GPHR.
-B
Good for you in letting it lapse Laurie. I agree with the post that “got to you”. Somehow I don’t see you changing the world from the inside, and what better way to rage against the HR machine than to publicly declare the SPHR as no longer relevant to your world. In fact, you should consider presenting at conferences on “What I let my SPHR lapse” and add “former SPHR” to your title. Why quietly whisper when you can scream? Walking away from this cert is a step in the right direction.
Good luck!
Interesting position you find yourself in Laurie! I had a good feeling I knew what you were going to do before I read through the comments and was not surprised with your decision.
I think the PHR/SPHR decision is something that many HR pros, including my readers, grapple with frequently.
I’ve featured your post in my weekly Rainmaker ‘Fab Five’ blog picks of the week (found here: http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2009/01/the-rainmaker-f.html) to share your situation with my readers who might be facing the same dillema you are.
Be well!
-Chris
Good to see you made your decision–I’m not in HR, and extremely risk-averse, so I recently chose to renew my Professional Engineer license even though I’m not working right now and may not work in engineering again. I figured it’d be better to have it than not have it, and even though this isn’t the procedure, I don’t ever want to have to sit through that test again. But for someone who is actually visionary and passionate about changing things, I think you have made the right decision. (I say that from a general perspective, of course… I have no basis for arguing that you have made a good HR career decision.)
I’m a former SPHR (certified in 2000) and taught certification classes for 2 years after getting mine. I think certification is necessary to continue to advance HR as a profession. There needs to be a standard of practice that all HR professionals can be expected to follow, especially since there are still so few schools offering HR as a specialization.
I chose not to recertify because I had moved away from being an HR practitioner, and didn’t have time or energy to sit through more employment law courses, or retake the test. Looking back, it was the right call. I’m not in HR anymore, and not likely to return to the practice. But if asked, I can say that I was certified, and can speak to each of the disciplines of HR as needed.
You rock…if i didn’t need to have benefits i’d let my SPHR lapse too! I totally give you credit for having a super cool, creative, hip HR blog, and for being an HR wild child. I envy and admire u!
Wow, the advice covers an entire spectrum. I think this is a blog post in itself.
I find it fascinating that HRCI calls out “exempt level” experience as a requirement for certification, when many businesses are separating the overtime eligible/exempt distinction from actual job descriptions. And they’re doing that because of the whole problem of applying 1930s era FLSA standards to modern workplaces. (and, of course, there’s huge liability with misclassifying as exempt, but no liability to misclassify as non-exempt)
Since you noted I had not weighed in I will even though you have made you decision. Whether you are certified or not only matters to you if you don’t have a current postion that needs it. It doesn’t mean anything to you so why go through the effort?
Michael, the discussion is not complete unless you weigh in!
I said yes just because I’m not certain you won’t go back to the corporate world. Does that mean I don’t have faith in you?
@RachL Or does it mean you have too much faith in me & think I’ll finally come to my senses?