Professional certifications are essential additions and enhancements to your resume. The right professional certifications can even help you qualify for higher-paying jobs or break into new industries, even if you don’t have a specific degree.
Whether you want to improve your current position or change careers, you need to be up to date with the most in-demand professional certifications to earn as soon as possible. Let’s take a closer look at that.
What are Professional Certifications?
Professional certifications are credentials you earn through short classes or programs, depending on the subject. Once you earn a certification, you can put it on your resume, join certain organizations, and qualify for various positions.
For example, you may need a vocational certificate to become a project manager in your current workplace. To become a certified professional, you take a certification program from an organization like Google.
Think of professional certifications as additional qualifying credentials on top of diplomas. In many cases, degrees are combined with certifications to demonstrate that an applicant has the skills and practical expertise to meet the requirements of a position.
It usually takes a few weeks to a few months to earn professional certifications (although it can take several years), and some require you to take a test without completing a program beforehand. A certification exam covers the fundamentals of the subject and allows you to demonstrate your proficiency. They are often required for certificates in information technology, healthcare, and business management.
Many professional certifications require several years of experience or a degree before you can apply for them. Taking online courses can also help you qualify for critical career path certificates. Organizations such as the Project Management Institute offer professional development and continuing education certification courses.
Related: Get CompTIA certified in your own time and start your IT career
Why do you need professional certifications?
You may need a professional certification for a variety of reasons, including:
- You want to progress in your career. Some high-quality and well-paying positions in your field may require you to have one or more certifications in addition to a degree and several years of experience.
- You want to enter a new field or industry. In some cases, a certification can be a degree if you already have a bachelor’s degree in another major. For example, if you have a bachelor’s degree in English but want to become a teacher, a teaching certification can qualify you for teaching positions.
- You want to maximize your salary potential and resume attractiveness. Simply put, if you want to earn a promotion or qualify for a higher pay grade, you may need professional certification so that management can justify the pay increase.
- You just want to learn more about your field or a specific topic. Since professional certification programs take less time to complete than degree programs, they are optimal opportunities to learn more about a particular subject without devoting a few years of your life to the process.
For these reasons and more, you may want to learn more about the most in-demand professional certifications to pursue. However, you’ll need to look at factors such as pricing, continuing education units, and more to find the right certification for your needs.
Related: Climb the career ladder with this certification training
Top 9 in-demand professional certifications
Good news: there are dozens of different professional certifications you can earn in the near future. However, it is wise to prioritize your professional certification training.
To that end, here are nine top professional certifications that should help you in a variety of industries and jobs.
1. Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
Project management is one of the most in-demand skills in business, finance, technology and more. If you want to become a supervisor or manager in any capacity, you need a certificate that proves you have the skills necessary to succeed.
That’s where the CAPM certificate comes in. This associate-level certification is perfect if you still need experience managing corporate projects. You need 1,500 hours of project experience or 23 hours of project management training. Then you must pass a 150-question exam and pay a fee of up to $300.
2. Project Management Professional (PMP)
Another good project management certificate to complete is it PMP certification. This advanced certification is perfect for professionals with project management experience. It marks you as a capable project management specialist and requires 7500 hours of project leadership experience. If you have a four-year course, you can reduce the hour requirement to 4500 hours.
You will also need 35 hours of teaching project management. Pass the 200 questions exam and pay the fee of up to $555, and you will receive the certificate in no time.
3. IIBA Agile Analysis Certification (IIBA-AAC)
Business analytics is a growing field, and it’s no surprise why. Companies need a lot of data to understand their customers, and those who can analyze that data are invaluable employees.
Consider pursuing the IIBA Agile Analysis certification to prove your data analysis skills. This standalone certification designates you as an adaptable, high-performing data analyst in changing and evolving environments. To earn this certificate, you must complete an 85-question exam in two hours, plus pay the exam fee of up to $525.
Specifically, you don’t need to meet any eligibility requirements other than two to five years of agile-related experience. To maintain this certification, you must pay for recertification every three years.
4. Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP)
Aspiring or current supply chain managers should consider the CSCP certification. This is a globally recognized supply chain certification that proves you are a credible, experienced supply chain management specialist.
Fortunately, many supply chain professionals will already meet most of the requirements to obtain this certificate. You need a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, at least three years of relevant business experience, and at least one other approved certification. Then all you have to do is pass the exam after paying a fee of up to $969.
5. CompTIA A+ technician certification
IT professionals can often benefit from pursuing certificates that prove specific skills. The CompTIA A+ Technician Certification is perfect for entry-level workers who want to get into the technology field without formal computer science degrees or training.
When you graduate from this certification program, you will be able to solve all kinds of technology. It’s a perfect certificate for pursuing positions as a support specialist or help desk technician, plus it qualifies you for further on-the-job training. You must pass the written exam and pay a small fee to obtain this certificate.
6. SHRM-CP certification
Every company needs a team of HR professionals. The SHRM-CP certification could qualify you for open HR positions, and there are other good reasons to pursue this human resources certification.
For example, HR professionals with this certification have more credibility than others, qualifying them for higher value positions. Once you have this certificate, you will probably also earn 14% to 15% more than your colleagues. In other words, it’s a fantastic progression certificate to pursue if you know you want to stay in HR.
To get this certificate, you must enroll in the program and study for three to four months before taking the exam. It takes about four hours to complete, but most candidates complete the exam and earn their certificates before the allotted time expires.
7. Google Digital Marketing and Ecommerce Professional Certification
Google also offers a handful of highly desirable certificates. One is the Digital Marketing and eCommerce Professional Certificate, which is split into seven courses with different focus areas. These help you develop new insights and knowledge in digital marketing and online commerce strategies for your brand.
It is a marketing certification choice for those who want to become digital marketers without marketing degrees. It takes about six months to complete with 10 hours of study per week, and you have to pay $39 per month for a Coursera subscription. Still, for most students, this works out to less than $300 over a six-month period.
8. Google Project Management Professional Certificate
Then there’s the Google Project Management Professional Certificate: another highly sought-after certificate for project management specialists and team leaders across industries. The certificate program includes 140 hours of instruction and many different hands-on assessments.
Upon completion of this certificate program, all students can apply for jobs at Google and many other employers in the US. It takes about six months to complete and again, you have to pay $39 per month for Coursera’s subscription.
You can take advantage of financial assistance from Google for this program. All in all, it’s a great certificate to pursue for mid-level managers looking to increase their skills and job responsibilities.
Don’t forget to check out Google’s other certificates in Google Analytics, Google Cloud Security and Machine Learning, and more.
9. IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
The IBM Data Science Professional Certificate is a great choice for future data scientists and IT professionals. It requires no prior knowledge of computer science or programming languages and includes a total of nine courses.
Completing this certificate program not only qualifies you for entry-level jobs in data science, but also earns you an IBM digital badge. You can add this to your portfolio and resume, which will increase your chances of getting hired. You can even earn up to 12 transferable credits as the classes are recommended by ACE.
To complete the program, you will need to study for approximately 11 months. You also need to subscribe to Coursera for $39 per month. Expect to pay a total of about $429 for 11 months of study.
Related: 4 Benefits of Earning a Certification in Your Field
Get the certification you need to propel your career
Ultimately, any professional certification could be just what your professional portfolio needs.
Some other excellent professional certifications that look great to potential employers include:
- SEO certification.
- AWS Basic Certification.
- Social media marketing certification.
- SFP (Sustainability Facility Professional) certification.
Consider getting one or more certifications in the near future and boost your career.
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