Tag Archives: HR Certification

PHR Study Group-Your Secret Weapon

Using a PHR study group (or PHR online study group)

online phr study groupThe other day I talked about how “hard” the PHR exam is. I discussed motivation as a key component for test preparation, and I think it’s often overlooked when developing a testing strategy. If you think back to Psychology 101, there are two basic forms of motivation-internal and external. Internal motivation is all about setting goals, prioritizing them, and getting satisfaction from your accomplishments. It also requires quite a bit of mental energy, which is often in short supply with the abundance of responsibilities on your plate (work, spouse, kids, church, friends, volunteer activities, etc.). External motivators, however, can be extremely effective when you’re looking for ways to boost your internal motivation. Enter the PHR study group.

How a PHR study group works

The PHR study group can be online or in person, but the key here is having a support system of people to encourage you and help you stay on track with your studies. Continue reading →

How to Save Money on HR Certification Credits (Free Webinar)

In my third and final PHR/SPHR webinar with the fine folks at Dovetail Software, I wanted to offer something to help the 100k+ HR pros who are already certified. I, and many others, often talk about how to pass the HR certification exams. However, the people that already have don’t have any use for that content, so I wanted to create something just for them.

25+ recertification ideas - Click here to sign up for the free webinar on Thursday, August 23rd at 12:30 Central.

The premise

If you have the time and money to pay for dozens of recertification credits for the duration of your career, more power to you. However, I did a little quick math, and the numbers surprised me at the long term cost of recertification.

What does recertification cost?

  • Average cost of one general credit (in my locality): $25
  • Average cost to recertify with 60 credits: $1500/three-year cycle
  • Average cost over a 30 year career: $15,000

What if you could get through one (or more) of those recertification periods without spending a penny (other than the HRCI fees, of course)? That’s what I’m focusing on with this week’s webinar. Let’s look at some of the traditional and not-so-traditional ways of getting credits, including how to use the recertification opportunities to grow in your career.

Join us! It will be a fun finale to a great series of helpful webinars.

A new guide

I’ve been working on a guide for this very topic for a few weeks now, and it’s finally ready to be released. I’ll be covering some of the material in the webinar, but if you are impatient (or you want additional bonus materials that the webinar participants won’t get), feel free to check it out. It’s very inexpensive (though the price will go up soon) and it could potentially save you thousands of dollars throughout the life of your career.

How Much Money Can You Make with an HR Certification?

The value of a PHR or SPHR certification is often discussed heatedly. Some believe it’s worth the time and money invested, but others think it’s just a waste. PayScale.com has sifted through their salary data and come up with some solid answers for everyone.

By the way, if you want to see your own potential salary we have created an HR certification salary calculator.

Interested in taking the exam? Check out what HR certification materials I would recommend. If you’re already certified, have you seen the HR Recertification guide for how to get free recert credits?

Worth It? The Value of the PHR and SPHR

HR Recertification-How Do You Do It?

I’m working on a new HR recertification guide to provide some unique ideas for how to get HRCI recert credits to renew your PHR, SPHR, or GPHR certification. One thing I wanted to do was ask you guys for some help.

HRCI allows professionals to use a range of activities to count toward recertification credits, including continuing education, webinars, on the job work experience, training sessions, and more. I’m looking for ideas that fit into these categories that you have used to get credits on a previous recertification application. The more unique/interesting, the better!

While you can use things like webcasts and local SHRM chapter meetings to get the bulk of your HRCI credits, most of us would like to break out of that repetitive cycle and do something new and fresh. Let’s make the recertification process more fun and valuable! The growth and continuous development aspect of certification is what makes it more valuable than even a college degree in some cases, so let’s make the most of it.

If you have taken the exam and have had to recertify previously, I would love to use some of your ideas in the new guide. Please click here and respond to this one-question survey on HR recertification (update: the survey is now closed, and the HR recertification guide is now available!). Thanks!

If you have not had to recertify yet, I think you will find this tool valuable!

PHR-SPHR Exam Topics (Free Webinar)

Ever wonder what sort of topics are on the PHR or SPHR exams? Look no further! 

It’s that time again, and I’m getting geared up to work with Dovetail Software on our second webinar to help those who are thinking about taking the HR certification exams.

What we’ll cover

The first webinar focused on the overall body of knowledge and a few solid tips from those who have taken, and passed, the exams. This time we’ll break down each area of the exam, look at how to target each one, and go over some practice questions to help you get a feel for what the exam will cover. It’s a great opportunity to start preparing yourself for the exam!

Register now

Click here to register for the webinar on Thursday, July 19th 12:30-1:00pm Central

If you can’t make the event, please register anyway, because you can get the recording for free after the webinar is archived on the Dovetail site.

Cool prizes

We’re giving away over $300 in study preparation tools from our friends at HRCP to a lucky winner, so please join us and you could win!

Free PHR-SPHR Webinar

Because I talk fairly often about the PHR and SPHR exams, my friends over at Dovetail Software decided to ask if I would work with them on a series of webinars to help people get their feet wet when it comes to the HR certification arena. Naturally I jumped at the chance!

What to expect

There will be three 30-minute webinars, spaced out from this week until August. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Thursday, June 21st, 12:30-1:00pm Central-Session 1: Preparing for the SPHR/PHR Exam 101 – For this session we’ll establish a foundation and help you determine if, and how, you can take on the exam.
  • Thursday, July 19th, 12:30-1:00pm Central-Session 2: PHR/SPHR Study Guide Cliff Notes – In this webinar we’ll look at some of the content areas and I’ll give you some tips on what areas to focus on with a little more fervor.
  • Thursday, August 23rd, 12:30-1:00pm Central-Session 3: 25 Recertification Ideas – This session is going to help those who are already certified, because it will provide 25+ ideas for getting your PHR/SPHR recertification.

For now, let’s focus on getting started, shall we? The first piece is going to help get you up to speed on the latest changes from the HR Certification Institute. This 30-minute session will cover the difference between each certification, FAQs, and tips and techniques for preparing for and passing the certification exam. It\’s everything you could spend hours reading but don\’t want to… and it\’s FREE.

I am excited to be working with the fine folks at Dovetail Software, and I hope you guys can join the webinar this week and get some tips and tricks for passing the exams!

Wanna Join the Rock the PHR Email List?

If you’re interested in getting certified with your PHR or SPHR (or heck, even your GPHR, we don’t discriminate over here at upstartHR headquarters!), then I have a tool you might not be aware of. For the past year, I’ve been writing a monthly email newsletter and sending it to HR pros who are prepping for their certification exams.

The emails usually go out on the first day of the month, but February’s shortened calendar always screws with me, so this one will be a day or two late. :-)

As a bonus, there’s an exclusive 3 part video series I put together on why I help people get certified, how to get your employer to pay for your materials, and what to do with it once you have the certification.

If you’re one of those great (great!) people who purchases the Rock the PHR study guide, you get access to the entire archive of the newsletters back through January 2010. I consistently hear back from people who pass the exam telling me they really appreciate this tool keeping them motivated and on top of their studies.

Now, I know that certification isn’t for everyone, but if you would like to get on the list, here’s a snapshot of a recent email newsletter. If you’d like to sign up, just click the image! Did I mention it’s free?