Professional Qualifications
You need to stand out from the crowd
if you are to be noticed
There’s no doubt about it… you need to be noticed by the right people, and for the right reasons if you want to advance your career. Professional qualifications in your specific job role are not only enjoyable to attain, they’re extremely powerful when applied to your business, they set you apart from the crowd, and more than that, they’re necessary in a number of different scenarios:
Proving competence in your job role with an OEM, or franchise Securing your position with your current employer Upgrading your skills in your specific job role Promotion and career progression Winning new business deals Going to a new employer
The most important things to achieve are to prove, beyond any doubt, that your qualifications are relevant to your specific job role and genuine.
Relevance and Authenticity is crucial if you are to prove your competence in your specific job role. If your qualification cannot be properly authenticated, you can face difficulty in career progression, or indeed rejection from prospective companies with whom you wish to conduct business, and of course, the doors of opportunity may not even open to you for future career and job opportunities.
We’re often asked by our graduates if they can independently verify, or attest, the professional qualifications they’ve gained with us and validate the letters they use after their name. The Answer is YES! This is because we have a structured examination process for each job role, which means that we have taught you the essential knowledge and the core skills necessary for your job role and your competence in those areas has been properly assessed.
Authentication, Verification and Attestation are all methods of determining if a document is genuine. Neither method determines if a qualification is the correct qualification for your intended purpose, that is for you to determine with your demandant. Therefore it’s import that you obtain the correct information for your intended purpose. Let’s define what each of these 3 terms mean, and how we help you to advance your career.
What is the purpose, and the differences between
Authentication, Verification, and Attestation?
Firstly, let’s deal with relevance and importance. There are many very good education programmes available and some take place without awarding you with a certificate, some provide you with a Certificate of Attendance, some provide an “Officially Certified Award”, whilst others go the extra mile to provide you with a “Professional Qualification” with letters after your name. The type of certification provided makes a huge difference to the relevance, importance and portability of the award you receive.
Certificate of Attendance
Not all educational programmes need to be officially certified with an examination because it takes significant investment in both time, and money by the educational organisation, which has an impact upon the prices they must charge for the training to recover their investment. There is a need for education with differing levels of complexity, for example, a company might require a one-day training course for all sales personnel, after which they receive a certificate. While this certificate has limited portability within the industry, it is the most simple and cost effective to develop. The certificate of attendance is awarded to delegates for proof of attendance in these cases. The certification means that the named delegate has “attended” an event, no exit examination has been taken place, and any competence gained must therefore be assumed.
These essential education programmes pave the way for lower prices on education, which are invaluable because not everyone can afford the investment in formal qualifications, and they’re not always necessary for all training needs. These certificates of attendance are therefore very important to your history. You should include a listing of this type of certification on your personal portfolio together with the details of the events to demonstrate your appetite for knowledge, and to show that you have a desire improve yourself.
It is also important to include details such as the subject matter, the educational organisation, and the specific person who conducted the event because they might be held in extremely high esteem with in the industry. In these instances, you will no doubt benefit from the association with the education provider, and of course their valuable teachings. These are important points because not all training providers are equal.
Officially Certified Awards
This type of certification is awarded from a single event where a formal exit examination has been conducted. The results of the examination will carry a recognised grade to validate your competence in the prescribed area. The certificate itself might show your achieved grade, or alternatively, it will be accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity which states your grade, and therefore confirming the level of competence you achieved from the examination.
As you can understand, the officially certified event is obviously more expensive to attend because of the investment made by the educational organisation in the examination process, but it does, without any doubt whatsoever, add much more power, and relevance to your personal portfolio.
Important: To achieve proper authentication, the Official Certificate and the Letter of Authenticity must be retained and shown together because they will both include your name, dates, signatures of examiners, official seals and watermarks or the educational organisation.
Professional Qualifications
This is the highest level of official certification within a job role, and the highest level of portability within an industry. The elite qualifications provide you with letters after your name to illustrate your achievements, your knowledge and your competence in your job role. Professional qualifications are vocational courses that train you on a specific career path within an industry. There are some courses you can take directly after finishing your university education, and others that require you to have practical experience in a job role. Their main purpose is for career advancement.
The Professional Qualification consists of multiple educational events for a career path covering the specialist knowledge and core skills required within a specific job role. They are spread over a period of 1 to 5 years, each event will be followed by an examination, and each examination will be graded.
Ideally, following each examination, you will be provided with an official certificate together with a letter of authenticity stating the grade you have achieved for that exam.
The professional qualification will be awarded upon the successful completion of all the events within the educational programme. You will be awarded with an official certificate stating your completed qualification, together with a letter of authenticity. Once again, the elite education organisations will award you with letters after your name, and the very best will award you with a special trophy at a graduation ceremony to celebrate your success. In these cases you will have authentic documents, and photographic evidence of your achievements.
According to The Guide to National Professional Certification Programs (1997) by Phillip Barnhart, “Professional Qualifications and professional certifications are portable, since they do not depend on one company’s definition of a certain job” and they provide potential employers with “an impartial, third-party endorsement of an individual’s professional knowledge and experience”
The Difference Between An Academic Degree and
a Professional Qualification
An academic degree is awarded by a university after a specific time studying the theoretical aspects of a particular field, which are applicable to a wide range of industries. By contrast, professional qualifications are awarded by educational organisations who work within a specific industry, and they provide a warrant of competence and expertise for your accomplishments on a specific job role. A professional qualification certifies that, having completed the training, the graduate has successfully demonstrated gaining and applying the prescribed essential knowledge and core skills necessary to perform the required duties of his/her profession.
The 3 options for validation are
Authentication, Verification and Attestation.
AUTHENTICATION
Authentication is used in many different areas of life and it is there to prove if an item is “authentic” and to substantiate whether the claim of achievement is true. Anyone can say they have certain qualifications, but are they in possession of the authentic documentation to prove it?
When you are issued with our qualifications, you receive several items of authentication. Firstly, an official certificate on parchment paper at each stage detailing your name and accomplishments. Each certificate contains an embossed seal of authenticity and signatures by 2 Trustees from the Executive Board of Education. These certificates are designed to be framed to hang on your wall. In addition to this, you receive an accompanying “Official letter of Authenticity” after each examination you take, which details your qualification. This official letter bears our official watermark and contains the details of your qualification and the grade you have achieved. (Pass, Merit or Distinction), which is signed by our President.
Our Embossed Seal of Authenticity
Is Emblazoned On Every Certificate Awarded To You
All Certificates Are Signed In Ink
By Two Trustees From The Executive Board of Education
You are also presented with the relevant lapel pin, conveying the letters after your name, which you can wear with pride to show your accomplishments.
Lapel Pins with the letters after your name
In addition to this, your photograph is taken with Jeff Smith, or one of the Trustees from our Executive Board of Education when you are presented with your certificate and lapel pin.
Not to mention the glorious trophies and medallions you receive in your specific job role at the graduation ceremonies
at each major milestone on your qualification journey
You also have the digital montage photograph to showcase your awards. We supply you with a high resolution image file so you can print and frame it to hang on your office wall, we also provide you with a digitally framed image file (as shown below) to share on your social media so you really stand out from the crowd.
These highly prestigious awards and accolades should be more than enough to provide sufficient authenticity for your qualifications with us because they impress all visitors who enter your office. They create respect and trust which places you in high esteem with all your connections across you social media, and they’ll elevate your status help to put you at the top of the list for career progression.
Whilst they do look totally amazing when they adorn your office and your social media, you might not have the opportunity for them to be seen in the places you might need them to be seen. It could be that you’re trying to win business from a major work provider and your proposal needs to be strengthened to show how you are different and therefore eliminate the competition, you might be applying for a promotion and you want a competitive advantage over all other applicants, or you might be dealing with people from afar who do not know you or your competencies. In these cases you will need to authenticate your qualifications in another way to prove them to be genuine; that’s where professional verification comes into play.
PROFESSIONAL VERIFICATION
This is the independent confirmation of the authenticity of your professional qualifications, certifications, and achievements. When you’re in pursuit of winning new clients, or you’re in line for career advancement, your credibility is the key to success. Professional Verification enhances your credibility, and the verification of your professional qualifications can significantly impact upon the trajectory of your success. It provides you with an unparalleled level of trustworthiness and reliability, which in turn gives potential clients, and employers the confidence they need to engage your services.
This type of verification might also be requested if you wish to take on a new management position, and the Board of Directors, HR, an OEM or a franchise requires proof of your competence in that job role. In these cases, Professional Verification is often necessary and may well be the deciding factor in your career path.
People who demand professional verification will most likely not accept self-authentication directly from you, and will require independent verification from the awarding body who awarded you with your professional qualification. In cases such as these, we are here to support you in every way we can.
We provide the necessary Professional Verification on your behalf, and with your prior permission, to a demandant upon request. We supply an official letter with our embossed seal, together with an ink signature from one of our Trustees to prove that your qualifications have genuinely been attained with us. We professionally verify that you have demonstrated the prescribed specialist knowledge and core skills necessary for your specific job role.
we provide professional Verification for you,
at the times you need it most.
ATTESTATION
Legal Verification
Attestation of a certificate, or document, is a process performed by a Notary Lawyer that determines if the said certificate, or document is a genuine article. Please note that the process of attestation does not conclude whether or not your declared certificate, or document is applicable, or suitable for your intended purpose. For example, you must ascertain yourself, if your chosen certificate, or document is the correct information required by the demandant. The process of attestation simply determines whether your chosen certificate, or document is a genuine article.
Attestation is a legal term that deals with the lawfulness of a certificate or document. It is a formality by the law to help with the legitimacy of the material. In some cases, self-attestation, such as authentication and verification as explained above is enough, while for other needs, some certificates and documents need to be attested by a Notary Lawyer to assist with the legitimacy of the certificate.
Attesting documents for a visa, authorized departments that comprise the process are the Notary, State, Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of the respective country. However, document certification for UAE attestation, and other Gulf countries mandates an additional verification from the country of destination called Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) attestation. This is to be conducted in the country that is to be visited.
Legal attestation is required for a variety of reasons. It could be required for judicial purposes like submission of important evidence, or non-judicial reasons like opening a bank account, obtaining a visa, or performing business overseas. There are visas of all sorts like employment visa, student visa, residential visa, and others that require legalisation of documents of different types.
Attestation of a certificate, or document, is a process performed by a Notary Lawyer that determines if the said certificate, or document is a genuine article. Please note that the process of attestation does not conclude whether or not your declared certificate, or document is applicable, or suitable for your intended purpose. For example, you must ascertain yourself, if your chosen certificate, or document is the correct information required by the demandant. The process of attestation simply determines whether your chosen certificate, or document is a genuine article.
Attestation is a legal term that deals with the lawfulness of a certificate or document. It is a formality by the law to help with the legitimacy of the material. In some cases, self-attestation, such as authentication and verification as explained above is enough, while for other needs, some certificates and documents need to be attested by a Notary Lawyer to assist with the legitimacy of the certificate.
Attesting documents for a visa, authorized departments that comprise the process are the Notary, State, Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of the respective country. However, document certification for UAE attestation, and other Gulf countries mandates an additional verification from the country of destination called Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) attestation. This is to be conducted in the country that is to be visited.
Legal attestation is required for a variety of reasons. It could be required for judicial purposes like submission of important evidence, or non-judicial reasons like opening a bank account, obtaining a visa, or performing business overseas. There are visas of all sorts like employment visa, student visa, residential visa, and others that require legalisation of documents of different types.
The portability of a certificate or qualification refers to the extent to which it can be recognized and accepted by different institutions, organizations, or countries. It measures the transferability and validity of a certification or educational qualification in various contexts. A highly portable certificate or qualification is one that is widely recognized and accepted, allowing individuals to use it for employment, further education, or other purposes across different regions or industries.
Factors that influence the portability of a certificate or qualification include:
Accreditation: Certificates and qualifications from accredited institutions or programs are generally more portable since they meet specific standards and are recognized by educational authorities.
International Recognition: Some certificates and qualifications have global recognition, making them easily transferable across borders and accepted by employers or educational institutions worldwide.
Industry Standards: In certain industries, specific certifications or qualifications are considered standard or required for certain roles. Possessing these recognized credentials enhances portability within that industry.
Mutual Recognition Agreements: Some countries or organizations may have agreements in place to mutually recognize certain qualifications, making them easily portable between the participating entities.
Reputation and Prestige: Certificates and qualifications from reputable and prestigious institutions are more likely to be recognized and valued universally.
Transferability of Credits: In an academic context, the ability to transfer credits earned in one institution to another contributes to the portability of a qualification.
Language and Documentation: Translations and clear documentation of the certificate or qualification can aid in its recognition and portability, especially in international settings.
It’s important for individuals to research and understand the portability of their certificates or qualifications before pursuing them, particularly if they plan to use them in different countries or industries. Seeking accreditation from recognized bodies or institutions can significantly improve the portability and value of certifications and qualifications.