credentialsEveryone needs a little help. Hillary Clinton famously wrote that it takes a village. Steven Covey shared about interdependence. The American Counseling Association (ACA) set aside the month of April to celebrate Counseling Awareness and to encourage individuals to ask for help and support when they need it. ACA is targeting Career Counseling as an area where asking for help is key to long-term success.

Career Credentialing

When it comes to career credentialing, confusion reigns. Let’s say you are looking for help with your federal job search, who do you contact? Who offers the skills and services you are seeking? Here are some ideas on credentialing, and on ways to identify the career professional with the credentialing that best meets your needs.

There is no Overarching Career Credentialing Body

The National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) retired the National Certified Career Counselor credentialing in 1999, so it currently provides credentialing for all aspects of counseling services, none career-specific. The Center for Credentialing in Education (CCE), an NBCC affiliate, offers a number of career practitioner-related certifications, including the Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF). The National Career Development Association (NCDA) offers Master Career Counselor and Master Career Development Professional designations.

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) certifies Coaches, but, like NBCC, their approach is global, and based on performance improvement, not career decision-making. Résumé Writers have credentialing bodies such as the Certified Professional Résumé Writer (CPRW) and the Nationally Certified Résumé Writer (NCRW). However, their basic training is geared toward private sector résumés.

There are a number of bona fide career credentialing organizations owned and operated by individual career professionals. Such organizations have fine-tuned their certifications to meet the needs of the career practitioners they serve. If you are considering working with someone certified by such an organization, it’s important to make sure the organization is affiliated with one of the above credentialing bodies.

How Does this Affect You?

When reviewing credentials, it is wise to consider the practitioner’s education, training, affiliation with certifying bodies, and with professional development organizations. Is the professional a member of ACA, the National Career Development Association, the National Employment Counseling Association, CPRW, NCRW, ICF, or with a career credentialing organization affiliated with ICF?

After your credentialing research is complete, you will want to consider the services the federal job search professional offers. Be specific about the type of services you are seeking, and make sure the services provided are the ones you need.

Where Did The Professional Gain His Or Her Federal Expertise?

The most important thing to consider is how the person acquired his or her federal job search expertise. Was it from first-hand experience? Did a federal job search expert teach the person while they were working on the job in a federal organization? If not, is it the person certified by an organization affiliated with one of the above governing bodies?

How Do You Measure Success?

It has been said that the résumé gets you the interview; the interview gets you the job. The measure of how effective your federal job search has been is based on whether or not your application package is referred to the hiring manager. Being referred is huge, and if you are, you have done everything right. The federal hiring manager has the final say on who gets hired, so having the opportunity to pitch your skills in an interview is all-important in your federal job search process.

One Final Thought

There is no doubt that the federal job search is complicated, and that most people need help with it. ACA reminds us to ask for the help we need, with one important caveat: be sure your federal job search professional is appropriately credentialed.

Karol Taylor is a retired fed and Career Counselor who helps people get federal jobs. She is the coauthor of Find Your Federal Job Fit and Guide to America’s Federal Jobs, 4th ed. Karol can be reached at karol@tayloryourcareer.com 

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