What is shrm in hr. Certification in the field of personnel management (CHRM) - L5. Why study practices that are not currently represented in my company

To begin with, I propose to define the terms, since many personnel management specialists replace one concept with another. So, "certification" is regulated in our country by the Federal Law of December 27, 2002 N 184-FZ "On Technical Regulation", in accordance with Art. 2 of which "certification is a form of confirmation of compliance of objects with the requirements of technical regulations, the provisions of standards, codes of practice or the terms of contracts, carried out by the certification body." Certification is mandatory when such requirements are established by law (as a rule, this is certification of certain products and services), and voluntary.

If we are talking about certification of specialists for compliance with some professional competencies, then this is only a voluntary passage of the procedure in the organization (body) that implements it. There is no statutory certification in our field of "HR Management" and it is not required by law. However, many HR specialists voluntarily passed such certification. The most common now is probably the certification that was carried out by the National Union of Personnel Officers. What gave such a certificate to a specialist in the field of personnel management? Confirmation of the qualifications of an employee by the National Union of Personnel Officer.

Whether this certificate says that a person is competent in a certain area - I don’t know, for this you need to understand the procedure for how such certification was carried out. Perhaps there are other certificates in the field of HR, but we are not talking about that now. Our task is to analyze how such a voluntary “certification” differs from the “voluntary qualification assessment” being built in our country, which our President has been talking about since 2012.

Now prepared for the first readings and approved by the National Council under the President of the Russian Federation for professional qualifications project federal law"O independent evaluation qualifications". According to this draft law, a qualifications assessment system will be built in the country, which is based on the developed professional standards, allocated qualifications and passing the assessment procedure, which will be determined by the industry council.

To clarify this plain language, we need to make a number of explanations here.

First, professional standards have been developed in our country since 2013. I think that this is already known to all HR specialists. The definition of the term "professional standards" is contained in Art. 195.1. Labor Code Russian Federation, and the register of all adopted standards is maintained by the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation on the website: http://profstandart.rosmintrud.ru/

The body that oversees work on professional standards and independent assessment of qualifications is the National Council for Professional Qualifications under the President of the Russian Federation (their website is http://nspkrf.ru). Branch councils are created in the National Council, which supervise this work by branches. Now there are 23 such councils, one of which is the Council for Professional Qualifications in the field of personnel management. A complete list of all industry councils can be found here: http://nspkrf.ru/soveti.html

What do industry councils do in terms of qualification assessment? They supervise the development of industry professional standards, allocate qualifications, develop assessment tools, and it is the industry councils that will develop the procedure for assessing qualifications and give accreditation to centers for assessing qualifications (QA).

The speech of the Minister of Labor Topilin on the issue of professional standards, qualification assessment centers and the draft of this law can be viewed here: http://regnum.ru/news/economy/2104647.html, and also: http://www.rosmintrud.ru/labour /15/10.

A quote from the March (March 24, 2016 - link to the source is given above) speech of the Minister: “The task is to ensure that both employers and employees can constantly assess knowledge and skills of employees in a voluntary format. For now, this will be a voluntary regime, because this system still needs to be created and worked out.”

So what will change in the work of HR specialists with the introduction of an independent qualification assessment system?

First: Applicants who have passed an independent assessment at the Qualification Assessment Center (CSC) and present a certificate of qualification during the interview can come to the company to get a job. Does this mean that the employer is obliged to take exactly the candidate who will have such a certificate? Of course not. But in case of refusal to hire such a candidate, the employer will need to justify his refusal, and it will simply be more difficult, given that the refusal due to the fact that the qualifications of the employee do not meet the requirements of the position (profession) that the applicant is applying for can be challenged precisely on the grounds that he had already confirmed his qualifications at the CSC.

Second: if the employer conducts internal certification, and the employee does not agree with the conclusion of the certification commission, then the employee himself can apply to the CSC, undergo an independent qualification assessment there and, on this basis, enter into conflict with the employer to challenge the decision of the internal qualification commission.

Also, employees are likely to contact the CSC and in the event of various conflict situations with the employer, in which the determination of qualifications was mandatory for the procedure, for example, downsizing or staffing (definition of preemptive rights), for offering transfers to vacant positions (in cases established by law), etc.

What benefits can an employer get from the introduction of an independent qualification assessment system?

First of all, of course, understanding the qualifications of the employee and the absence of the need to evaluate it within the company during employment.

It may also be an advantage that external companies will appear, to which the employer himself will be able to turn to assess not candidates, but already working employees, because it is almost impossible to create an objective assessment system within each company, at least due to the lack of experts in all areas professional activity.

Third, for example, realizing that in some cases conflicts with employees cannot be avoided, conditionally, with a reduction and in the presence of one vacant position for several candidates, it would be better for the employer to send the laid-off workers to independent qualification assessment centers, so as not to make a decision on their own, which obviously creates the risk of a litigation conflict. It is clear that, since the system will be voluntary, employees may also refuse to undergo such an assessment, but this is also with certain side characterizes the worker. The main thing is to document such a refusal.

Passage of such an assessment will be carried out on a paid basis, where the payer will be the one in whose interests the assessment is carried out. At the same time, together with the draft law on independent qualification assessment, it is planned to amend the Tax Code of the Russian Federation so that the employer can further attribute the costs of such an assessment to the cost price.

But will this independent assessment become another profanity? When can you get any certificate for money?

The assessment procedure in the country will be the same in all CSCs and will depend on what qualification (what professional standard / standards is being assessed. That is, the Qualification Assessment Center itself does not develop the assessment procedure, but it receives it from the Industry Council for Professional Qualifications. Therefore such an assessment procedure for a specific qualification will be the same for all CSCs, and their work will be built under the control of the Council.The Council for Professional Qualifications will accredit CSCs, control their work and, in cases of violation of the assessment procedure, revoke accreditation.

And how this system will work, we will find out this year. Now at least two industry councils are launching work on independent qualification assessment, by the end of 2016 there will be many more of them.

There are currently two main international organizations those involved in certification programs in the field of HR management: the British CIPD and the American PHR. Let's dwell on them in more detail.

CIPD is a British certification model in HR management

This model is represented by Europe's largest professional association of HR professionals - the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The Association has more than 135 thousand members from different countries. The Institute was founded in 1913 and received its current name in 2000. The word Chartered in its name confirms that the institute was created on the basis of a royal charter. 10 UK Universities have the right to conduct training under this program. The CIPD awarded them the Center of Excellence certification, which indicates that they are honored to have the highest qualifications in the field of education. One of these Universities is Kingston University, which has been teaching under the CIPD program since 1985. In 2011, the first group was recruited with the participation of Russian students. This is how CIPD became available to Russian HR specialists.

There are three global certification levels in CIPD:

• Foundation qualifications (level 3) - entry level;
• Intermediate qualifications (level 5) – average level;
• Advanced qualifications (level 7) - advanced practical level.

In addition to training on certification programs, CIPD provides an opportunity to join a professional membership (Professional memebrship), which is also ranked by levels:

• Associate member - membership assumes that a specialist of this level supports one or more HR functions at a tactical level.
• Chartered Member - membership implies that specialists create and implement policies in all HR areas in accordance with the company's strategy.
• Chartered Fellow - membership assumes that the specialist has professional skills, knowledge and experience that determine the development and strategies of HR, plans and policies to promote and achieve the success of the company.

While studying in the relevant programs, students also receive membership:

• Student member - student membership implies that the specialist is in the process of learning.
• Affiliate member - membership with access to CIPD services without the mandatory confirmation of one's level by passing exams.
• Graduate member - a professional level of membership, confirmed by certification.

The institute provides opportunities to complete global levels of study with midterm exams and block certifications or by participating in an assessment center, confirming compliance with the standards.

At the moment, in Russia you can become an applicant for CIPD Advanced Level Diploma certification and CIPD professional membership. First, the participant becomes a Student member, then a Graduate member, and at the end of the program, he can choose one of the Professional memebrship levels, get access to CIPD resources, keep abreast of current events, conduct research, development, participate in educational projects, conferences, etc.

Those who wish to undergo such training become students of two educational institutions: Presidential Academy RANGHiGS (Moscow) and Kingston University, London. To apply, you must:

• submit CV in English;
• submit a motivation letter in English;
• fill out a questionnaire with questions about education and professional experience;
• pass two interviews with the Program Directors from the Russian and English sides.

Minimum requirements for applicants - availability higher education, experience in the field of HR at least 4 years, knowledge of English.

Training is conducted in Moscow, the duration of the program is 2 years.

The program includes 8 thematic modules. They are held once every 2 months. The duration of each module is 5 days, of which 2 days off and 3 working days. Mode - from 10.00 to 19.00. Sometimes additional evening classes are possible (for example, solving a case, etc.).

4 days of the program are led by specialists from the UK: Kingston University professors, CIPD consultants, trainers and practitioners. The fifth day is the day of the Russian specification. It is run by HR directors and consultants. They consider topical issues specifically for Russia, conduct business games, trainings, and simulations.

Each module includes a visit by a professor from Kingston University (guest lecture). The subject of the module provides concepts about strategy, change management, marketing and HR brand, etc. Also, each module includes a group case solution.

Written exams are taken after completing the HRM in Context module and the Leading, Managing and Developing People module. Based on the results of the Personal development module, a personal development plan is developed. It allows you to identify development areas and plan specific steps in the right direction. At the end of the Management report module, a management report is compiled for top managers of the company where the HR student works.

After completing the Resourcing & Talent Management, International and Comparative Employment Law, International HRM and Reward Management modules, students also take written works according to the theme of the module. To receive the Master of Science in IHRM degree, it is necessary to write a dissertation (60 pages of thematic professional research) on a topic that the student chooses and which will be interesting for him in terms of professional development.

The cost of the program is 700,000 rubles, payment by semesters is possible.

PHR - American Certification ModelHR- specialists

Since 1948, the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) has existed in the United States, which brings together specialists from the HR field. At the moment, it consists of more than 250 thousand HR-specialists around the world. In 1976, the independent Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) appeared in the United States, which developed standards for certifying HR specialists. To date, about 125 thousand specialists have successfully passed certification exams at the institute.

The Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) offers a portfolio of professional certifications for HR professionals around the world:

• Professional in Human Resources (PHR®) is the lowest certification level for HR. It is assumed that professionals applying for this certification have experience in this area from 2 to 4 years and are subordinate to the head of the department, and specialize in the implementation of HR policies at the tactical level;
• Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR®) - the next step after PHR, which involves more extensive experience in the field of HR from 6 to 8 years, orientation in all areas of personnel management and business processes of the company in general, as well as responsibility for the implementation of HR - policy at the company level;
• Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR®) is an international certification of a more serious level than SPHR, as it implies knowledge and the ability to apply all aspects of HR both at the company level in terms of its strategy and tactical implementation, and at a more global level that goes beyond framework of national boundaries;
• California Certification (PHR-CA® and SPHR-CA®) - knowledge specific certification distinctive features legal regulation in the state of California.
• Human Resource Business Professional (HRBP℠) - a certificate confirming compliance with the professional level of HR knowledge and skills at the tactical level of applying generally accepted HR methods and principles;
• Human Resource Management Professional (HRMP℠) is a certificate of conformity that confirms the level of knowledge and skills in HR management at a strategic level.

Examinations for certification at the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRСI) are held twice a year: May-June and December-January.

In Russia, you can prepare for the exam to obtain the international certificate Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR®) on a specialized training program at CBSD/Thunderbird Russia. The minimum requirements for admission are at least 3 years of practical experience in the HR field in international projects, the level of proficiency English language– Upper Intermediate.

The program is based on the original and completely updated training materials of the international SHRM Association with the provision of special online resources for participants to prepare.

The program is designed to study 5 large blocks:

• Strategic HR management 26%;
• Talent acquisition and mobility 22%;
• International system of compensation and benefits 18%;
• Organizational efficiency and employee development 22%;
• International Employee Relations Regulations and Risk Management 12% .

The percentages shown show the extent to which each area is covered in the GRHR certification exam itself.

The program consists of six weekly one-day sessions, which are led by senior trainer-consultant Anastasia Mizitova, certified GPHR, GRP, ATT.

The GPHR certification exam is administered by the HRCI Institute. The cost of the exam ranges from $525 to $600 depending on the registration period. Registration for the GPHR exam is done by candidates themselves.

Over the past 5 years this program chose HR directors (about 85-90% of all students), HR consultants and HR specialists (15% of all students) to prepare for the GRHR certification exam and improve their skills in the field of international HR. The percentage of those who passed successfully varies slightly from year to year and averages about 44.3%.

Russian society and business in their development are moving to a qualitatively new stage. A modern HR manager needs to understand the ongoing changes in order to build a successful career. Changes affect the requirements and expectations of employers and customers of HR services.

Society is getting used to guarantees and demands them. Successful projects in the past, potential and knowledge of standards in their field can be a guarantee of competence.

So, get to know the industry. In this review, we decided to take a closer look at the issues of education and professional qualifications HR consultants. If you aspire to build a long-term career in this field, then sooner or later these questions will arise in front of you, so it is better to get some idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthey in advance.

Let's make a reservation right away: for a consultant, the main value is not diplomas and certificates, but projects in the portfolio, and you will get the bulk of the knowledge and skills not during your studies, but on projects and through everyday tasks. Moreover, all the luggage of your skills should be divided into three large parts: subject areas, business processes and consulting procedures.

A modern HR consultant, as a rule, operates at the intersection of two subject areas: personnel management and some second specialization, which can be, for example, marketing, finance, law, strategy, and so on. If you are doing HR branding consulting, you need to know, on the one hand, what branding and image development tools are, and on the other hand, you must be able to adapt these tools to HR processes and practices.

The required level of mastery of related disciplines depends on the company in which you are building your career. In a large consulting company, the task of combining knowledge is solved through the formation of a project team, which employs specialists from different industries. If you are going to work in small company or as a freelance consultant, then most likely you will need to combine all these specialists in yourself. Which path to choose depends on your personal preferences and plans. If you tightly control your career, then it is advisable to decide as early as possible in order to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in advance, or vice versa not to waste time on “excessive” training. If you do not know which company you will have to work for, then proceed from the realities of your current employer.

Which area of ​​HR consulting to choose?

This question may not be in front of you if you go into HR consulting having already received education or work experience in some other area (for example, marketing for a branding specialist) that has a direct application in consulting projects. But if you are an economist, a technical specialist (but do not want to work in IT), a philologist, and so on, then you will face such a question. In most sectors of HR consulting, you will not be required to have special knowledge at the initial position, you can acquire it in the process or in parallel with work.

According to the subject classification, the following types of consulting services in the field of work with personnel can be distinguished (according to the classification of the European Directory of Management Consultants):

1. Professional movement and downsizing;
2. Corporate culture;
3. equal opportunities;
4. Personnel search;
5. Personnel selection;
6. Health and Safety;
7. Incentive programs;
8. Internal communications;
9. Evaluation of works;
10. Labor agreements and employment;
11. Management training;
12. Workforce planning;
13. Motivation;
14. Pensions;
15. functional analysis;
16. Psychological assessment;
17. Reward;
18. Raising the qualifications of employees;
19. Conflict resolution;
20. Trainings.

The choice of sector depends on your personal preferences and the situation on the labor market. In iGraduate HR Consulting you will find (or have already read) more detailed information about the relevance for the Russian market of some market segments and career prospects. After the choice is made, the direction for advanced training will be determined.

Business processes

No matter what direction you choose and what company you work for, in any case, you need a great understanding of how your client's business works and functions. Without this, you will not be able to give advice that will be effectively applied in practice. The biggest problem with HR and HR consulting in particular is the isolation of programs and actions from the realities and needs of the business.

Recently, many companies have restructured the structure of HR departments, highlighting people who work directly with business units (HR partners). But most companies haven't adopted the practice yet, or haven't been able to get the most out of it because HR managers haven't had time to adjust.

The modern HR consultant cannot afford not to be able to understand the client's business. We recommend that you start your education or self-education in this area. In principle, it is not so difficult and it is not necessary to obtain a master's degree in management, but it is worth working through several textbooks and key books. Your main task is to learn to understand the cause-and-effect relationships of this field of activity, to be able to decompose the process into components and analyze it.

The counseling process

It is quite difficult to clearly define the daily responsibilities of HR consultants, as they can change depending on the specific project that is being worked on. However, the methods used by consultants do not fundamentally change from project to project. Therefore, many of the responsibilities of HR consultants are similar to those performed by consultants from other fields.

AT general view the consulting project looks like this:

1. Setting the task, determining the results of the project;
2. Collection and processing of information within the client's company;
3. Collection and processing of information about the market and environment client;
4. Data analysis;
5. Development of recommendations;
6. Presentation of the report;
7. Implementation of recommendations;
8. Control and debriefing.

In some cases, consultants are not involved in the implementation and implementation of recommendations; these actions can be carried out both by the client himself and by another external supplier.

From the above list, it is clear that a key competency for a consultant is the collection and analysis of data. From the review of HR consulting in iGraduate magazine, you could understand that employers do not give preference to those who have received a relevant education, but to those who are excellent at working with data and information arrays. As your career progresses, you will process less "raw" material, but analysis will be present in your official duties always. If you feel that you have a gap in this area, then the main efforts to improve your skills should be directed to solving this problem.

Tatyana Ivanova, HR consultant at Business Systems Development, gives the following project example:

“In the project for diagnosing the current state of the personnel management system, at the first stage, the HR consultant collects the necessary information: requests regulatory documents, personnel statistics, conducts interviews with the customer's experts. This information is then processed and analyzed.

HR consultants carefully examine the structure of the company's personnel: indicators of personnel movement, distribution of personnel by age, education, consider the staffing of the company by employees in all departments, personnel costs, etc. All these indicators help to assess how the current practice of personnel management corresponds to the tasks facing the company .

The documents personnel service are considered from the point of view of the intended purpose, completeness of the description of personnel management technologies, relevance (compliance with the practice of their application), distribution of functions, powers and areas of responsibility in the process of making decisions on personnel management. The content of personnel management documents is correlated with the information obtained by HR consultants in interviews with experts.

At the final stage of diagnostics, HR consultants draw up a report. It includes: analysis of quantitative and qualitative indicators of the effectiveness of the use of human resources, conclusions and recommendations on ways to improve personnel management activities.

Tatyana also noted that “besides the content and methodological aspects, a project has a lot of technical and organizational work: arrange a meeting with representatives of the customer, make copies of documents, find background information, combine the data into a table and process it. After agreeing with the experts, make changes to the text, check documents for the customer for errors, etc. This work is of great importance for the quality end result project, because there are very few trifles in the activity of a consultant.

Pay attention to the final paragraph of our expert's quote. There are two aspects here. First, the higher you climb the career ladder, the more direct interaction with the client is in your tasks in order to sell new services. Secondly, a beautifully and well-designed product is expected from a consulting company. No matter how genius you are, you must be able to convey the results of your work to any client and inspire him. Do not be surprised that in consulting companies you will be required to master all types of presentation and communication to perfection, and the requirements for paperwork will be an order of magnitude stricter than those of the clients you will work for. In your development plan, all these skills should be given a separate place.

Education

There is no unequivocal answer about the need for specialized education of consultants. Most of today's Russian HR consultants did not manage to get a specialized education at one time and accumulated knowledge while working, and then received additional education and constantly engaged in self-education.

We asked Anna Savelyeva, director of public relations, member of the Management Board of ECOPSY Consulting, a question about the importance of specialized education.

“We do not hire people without higher education. From the point of view of specialization, we rather have no preferences. Today, ECOPSY employs people with psychological, economic, engineering, pedagogical, medical and other education. Many of our consultants have advanced degrees or MBAs. There are no requirements for candidates to have a special “consulting” education in our company. The only way to become an HR consultant is by doing real projects for real clients.”

At the moment, there are no universities in Russia that would be recognized as the best in the field of training HR specialists. Therefore, when choosing a university, one should generally focus on the quality of education that it provides. Some of the universities that train in the specialty "Personnel Management" are listed below:

• State University - Higher School of Economics
• State University of Management. Institute of Sociology and Personnel Management
• Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov. Faculty of Public Administration. Faculty of Economics (Department of Labor Economics and Personnel Management).
• Russian Economic Academy. G.V. Plekhanov. Faculty of Management (Department of Human Resource Management)
• Russian State University for the Humanities. Management department
• Russian State Social University. Faculty of Social Management
• All-Russian State Tax Academy. Faculty of Personnel Management
• Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics. Management Institute.

Professional Certification

Which certifications to get depends on your profession. For example, many consultants receive certifications related to finance or accounting and auditing (ACCA or CPA) because their work is related to finance and accounting (calculation wages, pension programs, taxes, work of foreign citizens, and so on).

If we talk about certificates in the field of HR, then first of all these are Certification Human Resources Institute (, American version) and The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development ( CIPD, English version).

The Association of HR Managers of the United States has developed a model of professional standards in the field of personnel management. The Association founded its own Human Resource Management Certification Institute (CHRI), which, in turn, created a test center, where the standards for the activities of HR specialists were developed:

• (Professional in Human Resources) and ( Senior Professional in Human Resources) differ only in the depth of knowledge necessary for a specialist;
• (The Global Professional in Human Resources) certificate designed for professionals who develop and implement global HR strategies, manage HR departments in other countries, supervise international projects and have at least two years of experience in the relevant field.

You can take tests for obtaining certificates online, from anywhere in the world. In Russia, CBSD offers preparatory courses for certification exams.

In the UK, the main institution that unites all HR professionals is the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development ( CIPD), which (like an institute in the United States) has developed its own standard for specialists in this field. This certification takes longer to obtain than the US model. The certificate has three levels:

• Support Level (elementary level);
• Practice Level (practical level);
• Advanced Practice Level (advanced practice level).

In Russia, in 2003, the National Institute of Certified Management Consultants () was established, which has the right to certify according to the Dutch standard ICMCI(The International Council of Management Consulting Institutes).

Despite the fact that there are certificates that can confirm the level of training and competence of a specialist in the field of personnel management, the requirements for candidates to have these certificates are extremely rare and are advisory in nature. More often you can meet the requirement for an MBA degree. The question “Is it worth getting an MBA to work in HR consulting?” remains open for us, and the choice of school raises even more questions. This topic deserves a separate article.

As a final note, you may also consider becoming a professional consultant (eg CMI) or project manager (PMI) certification. Certifications like these help you advance career ladder and when moving from one consulting company to another.

About the program

CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) is the world famous and largest professional organization for professionals in the field of HR and training and development. It has over 135,000 members. The goal of CIPD is to ensure the sustainability of the organization through its people, as well as the formation of strategic thinking and best practices in the HR profession.

CIPD not only provides courses for the HR director, but also promotes new methods of personnel management and shows what an HR professional should look like, know, do and deliver to the business.

CIPD provides HR and L&D managers with professional competence and worldwide recognition, provides enhanced career prospects and access to the rich experience of colleagues from the global HR community.

Each year, over 13,000 students attend CIPD programs to expand their knowledge of the latest best practices and research on HR best practices.

Program structure

Why PwC Academy

• PwC - network consulting companies providing HR services for businesses. Our training is also business oriented. Unlike educational institutions with an academic approach, we know exactly what businesses need today and what they will need tomorrow. As the official representative of CIPD in Russia, the PwC Academy includes in its program the most up-to-date practical tools tested by PwC specialists on HR projects in Russian and foreign companies.
• The Academy annually trains more than 4,000 specialists in different directions, including personnel management. Our tutors are leading HR consultants with hands-on experience, CIPD-certified and hands-on teaching and interpersonal skills.

The target audience

HR Directors, HR Business Partners, HR Managers, Compensation and Benefits Specialists, Recruitment Specialists, HR Administration Specialists, Talent Management Managers, Training and Development Managers, Heads of Corporate Universities, Academies and Training Centers, Business -coaches

What listeners get

Value for the employer
More and more companies are integrating into the international environment, where HR technologies operate that are not familiar to many Russian companies. You can be sure that the CIPD qualification will raise your professional status in the eyes of the employer, as it will allow you to solve HR tasks that involve entire teams of consultants.

Value for you
You will learn to look at the work of HR with the eyes of a strategic partner, you will be able to talk with CEO, shareholders and top managers in the same language, influence company decision-making, confidently defend your position with business arguments, and transform from a cost center into a strategic partner and advisor to management and employees.

• Access to unique knowledge
  Today, over 135,000 HR and L&D professionals are members of the CIPD. A unique database of cases from program participants around the world, a large number of materials, studies, articles that you get access to by becoming a member of CIPD will allow you to be “at the forefront” of knowledge, quickly find the answer to any question, and keep abreast of the latest HR trends.

Status
The CIPD diploma is recognized all over the world. Even if you decide to work in another country, CIPD will always be a mark of quality that sets you apart from the HR community and provides you with status. The signature "Associate CIPD" after the last name will add respect and recognition in the eyes of partners and colleagues.

The Russian professional community has become interested in the issue of international HR certification relatively recently. There are several of its models, which are quite different from each other.

Perhaps, for the first time, HR certification was systematically discussed in 2000 at the annual international conference held by the Professional Personnel League. At that time, at the request of the League members, representatives of two globally recognized certification systems for personnel specialists made presentations: the British Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD) and the American Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Speakers, having talked about the features of certification models, announced their imminent appearance at Russian market. The British system, unfortunately, has not yet come to Russia, although the program they offer would certainly be interesting and useful to our HR managers.

So, what are the different models of international certification? I would like to clarify that in this article we do not consider the issues of obtaining membership in the above organizations, which is not always directly related to obtaining international certification.
In the UK, this is the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD), an organization that brings together all professionals in the field of personnel management and has 116,000 members from England and Ireland and a small number of foreign representatives.

Let's start with the fact that training according to the British model, as a rule, takes much more time than according to the American one. In the UK, national qualification exams are taken very seriously, so the most common way to get certification is through long-term study at several levels with passing the corresponding exams.

There are three levels of HR training at CIPD:

Support Level (elementary level)

• Practice Level (practical level)

  • Advanced Practice Level (Advanced Practice Level)

For each level, a national standard is clearly defined for the number of certificates that a specialist needs to receive. (Entire volumes are devoted to the description of national standards, and British HR managers take them as seriously as possible) For the service level, it is enough to obtain three certificates, for practitioners and advanced practitioners - four. Training programs at all levels are quite complex and time-consuming.

However, if the applicant for the certificate has five years of experience in the field of HR, and in the position of a manager or top manager, then he can be admitted after a special interview to the national certification exam. It should be noted that only specialists with at least two years of experience in HR can even study at the first level.

National exams are held in Britain twice a year: in May and November. For them, applicants fill out a large number of tests according to prescribed training standards. One exam lasts 2-3 hours. At the same time, not only knowledge is evaluated, but also the ability to solve practical tasks(cases). It will be difficult for a person who does not have practical experience in HR to pass such tests.

It is worth noting that the British national HR standards are not only compiled in great detail, but also have a serious scientific basis. (As you know, the British Psychological Society is one of the leading and recognized institutions in the world, setting the tone in the HR community.) Obtaining CIPD certification is also difficult because only a small number of educational institutions have been licensed to teach and issue certificates to date. However, in the last year, there has been an increase in the number of such licenses.

Let us now turn to the American certification model, which was created by the famous SHRM association. The Society for Human Resources Management is an association of HR managers that originated in the United States, then became international and today has about 300 thousand members, including a significant number of foreign ones. SHRM has significant financial resources, conducts an active publishing activity and organizes large-scale events for HR specialists. This allowed SHRM to create its own institute - the Certification Human Resources Institute (CHRI), which, in turn, organized a test center where standards for the professional activities of HR managers were developed. Unlike CIPD, these standards focus more on practical experience. SHRM also produced six excellent teaching aids which are constantly being improved. As in CIPD, the American model involves participation in the training of HR specialists with at least three years of experience in the field of human resource management at two levels of certification:

Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR)

• Professional in Human Resources (PHR)

How to get international certification under CHRI? In 2001, the CBSD company, having fulfilled its promises, organized a six-month distance course (Preparation Course) in Russia with small face-to-face sessions conducted by American teachers. The interest of our HR managers in this course has slowly but steadily increased.

It is obvious that successful education was possible only on condition of fluency in English. The curriculum is the same for both certification levels.

Development educational material It was not easy, also because the manuals contained a lot of information about the specifics of US and Canadian labor law.
This was a rather strict requirement of the American experts. In no country in the world do they make concessions on this issue and do not consider local labor laws. (By the way, CIPD also includes British labor law). Despite the differences labor law Russia and America, the knowledge gained was very useful and made it possible to compare the practice of resolving labor disputes and conflicts.

Upon completion of training, CHRI invites students to its licensed educational establishments to take the exam. Just like in CIPD, these exams are held twice a year: in May and December. The duration of the exam is 4 hours. During this time, you need to answer 225 test questions! The specificity of the tests lies in the fact that even if the question takes no more than two lines, it is formulated as a mini-case that needs to be solved. At the same time, none of the proposed four alternative answers is the ultimate truth. That's why hands-on work experience is prerequisite admission to these training programs. As for the two levels of certification, the tests for each of them are different, while for the highest level the emphasis is on questions strategic management personnel, for a professional - on personnel technology.

How useful is it for a Russian HR manager to undergo such training and receive a SHRM certificate? To date, the presence of an international certificate in the field of HR, whether it is an American or British model, for a Russian specialist in human resources has nothing to do with instant career growth, as it might seem at first glance. Even some Western companies that are knowledgeable in the field of HR have not heard of such certification. More interest in this issue was shown, rather, by the first persons of large Russian structures, which is probably due to the entry of our companies into the global market and the attraction of strategic investors. In my opinion, an international certificate in the field of HR, as well as an MBA degree, will cause conflicting feelings among top managers for some period. Probably, it will take some time for the situation on the market to stabilize. One thing is certain - the passage of this training systematizes and structures the existing knowledge and skills in the field of HR, and, in addition, enriches you as a professional with experience the best companies(best practices) that you will use for the rest of your life.