Admin-specific certifications are essential to advancing your career. But did you know that there are other options outside the administrative field that are equally valuable?
Specialty certifications – from project management to event planning to travel planning – can also do wonders to improve your skills, enrich your career, and open up new professional doors. And oftentimes, it’s a lot faster, easier, and cheaper to get a certification that it is to go back to school and get a degree.
With a certification, you immediately have something valuable to add to your resume to make you stand out from the masses. It also demonstrates that you’re actively engaged in your current role and advancing your knowledge base, which can make you stand out for raises and promotions.
If you have a specific area of interest that you want to expand your expertise in, then it’s worth looking into one (or more!) of these specialty certifications.
- Certified Associate in Project Management – Distinguish yourself from the rest of the field by earning your CAPM®. This certification requires a secondary degree and 23 hours of project management experience before you sit the exam, and you are required to recertify every five years.
- American Marketing Association’s Professional Certified Marketer – Show your interest and dedication to help better market your company. This certificate requires a four-year degree and some marketing experience, but it’s a great option for admins who want to advance their marketing abilities.
- Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment Instrument – Learn to better understand your own personality, as well as those of your executive and colleagues, by becoming certified in the MBTI instrument. There are several options for obtaining this certification, including online, in person or through a certified administrator.
- The Travel Institute’s Certifications – Become a better travel planner and learn how to coordinate travel arrangements more efficiently and effectively. The Travel Institute has several travel-planning certifications available depending on your level of expertise – Certified Travel Associate, Certified Travel Counselor, and Certified Travel Executive.
- Advanced Social Media Strategy Certificate – Hootsuite and the Newhouse School (part of Syracuse University) have paired up to offer a social media certificate that will improve your understanding of social media at a strategic level and boost your overall marketing and communications skills.
A professional certification – whether it’s in the admin field or not – is as much about your personal enrichment as it is for your professional career. So you’re never too experienced, old, or busy to get certified. Start exploring these specialty certifications and find one that compliments your admin career!
HOW TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR WEBSITE
Want to use this article in your newsletter, ezine or website? You can — just as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Julie Perrine, CAP-OM, is the founder and CEO of All Things Admin, providing training, mentoring and resources for administrative professionals worldwide. Julie applies her administrative expertise and passion for lifelong learning to serving as an enthusiastic mentor, speaker and author who educates admins around the world on how to be more effective every day. Learn more about Julie’s books — The Innovative Admin: Unleash the Power of Innovation in Your Administrative Career and The Organized Admin: Leverage Your Unique Organizing Style to Create Systems, Reduce Overwhelm, and Increase Productivity, and Become a Procedures Pro: The Admin’s Guide to Developing Effective Office Systems and Procedures.
