SPHR Strategic Courses
Raymond SPHR
22 Posts
Hello everyone:
This question is posed to those of you that have to re-certify for the SPHR. My certification is up in June 07.
What I am asking is can you recommend any seminars you have taken or heard of that satisfy the 15 hours "strategic" requirements of HRCI? Sadly enough HRCI doesn't respond to my inquiries.
I know of some but not sure the real value of them.
Any help or opinions appreciated.
Raymond, SPHR
This question is posed to those of you that have to re-certify for the SPHR. My certification is up in June 07.
What I am asking is can you recommend any seminars you have taken or heard of that satisfy the 15 hours "strategic" requirements of HRCI? Sadly enough HRCI doesn't respond to my inquiries.
I know of some but not sure the real value of them.
Any help or opinions appreciated.
Raymond, SPHR
Comments
Go to [url]www.elearning.shrm.org[/url] and good luck.
Thank you for your prompt response. May I inquire if you took the courses and did you think they were worth the money?
I no longer belong to SHRM (dropped it this year after being a member for 26 years) because I just don't think that organization understands the real issues of HR nor do I think it worthwhile to belong. So I guess I am skeptical of anything they publish, to be honest.
But that is just me-my opinions-and certainly not intended to take anything away from your recommendation.
Raymond, SPHR
I have not tried these courses yet and probably won't until after the first of the year. I don't recertify until 2008. I find the strategic requirement ridiculous and am putting it off as long as possible.
As to your SHRM comments, I tend to agree. They seem to lean more towards the executive level and away from the manager level. Generalists might as well look elsewhere.
Thanks for the lead on the CE courses -- I'm a December 07 re-up and I don't want to take the exam again. Oh, and I agree with your comment on this new strategic management requirement as I also have been putting off picking up my credits. The whole thing has clearly become a racket IMO.
Geno, SHPR
VS
I am constantly amazed at the number of people who point out the shortcomings of SHRM/HRCI and its related products, services. The major emphasis of SHRM became more about revenue & less about what it could offer to the HR profession overall. Why people still belong is beyond me! Simply put, SHRM has little, if anything much at all, to offer to well seasoned HR professionals who understand HR is really about meshing people/talent with the business needs for growth and profitability- nothing else! If that means you have a so called "seat at the table" then I reckon you have arrived in HR. Those in HR who already know this understand completely.
Frankly, SHRM's leadership ought to be ashamed and those who followed it over the years know exactly what I am saying. It is doing anything but leading the profession and certainly not something that helps HR executives who operate in the real world of business!
Why their own recent "strategic" focus group, formed to address this, could not define what "strategic HR" really is. But if you want to keep your SPHR then you have to have X amount of "strategic" credits...which is all fine and dandy to SHRM/HRCI because it comes back to, once again, the revenue aspect of it all.
So much for that. They created a situation and a solution for it. Go figure! Marketing at its finest....And that is just one example there are many others as well.
As I said before I belonged to that organization for 26 years before not renewing my membership this year. Hence, I found this site, plus several other sites, to interact with HR professionals.
I too have to renew by June 07.
Thanks, Carole
I renew in June of 07 as well.
Presently I am taking one college course (45 hours credit). I will be attending the state HR conference this year-that is about 20 hours of credit. I already have degrees, just taking the college course in Spanish to deal with so many Latinos in area. HRCI said it would count as being business connected. Well, I would think so!
I will attend an AMA or HR Hero Strategic conference next spring to get the full 15 "strategic" hours credit just in case HRCI or SHRM gives me some BS over what is or is not "strategic". Most of these conferences are outstanding and more than enough time in for the 15 hours credit.
On top of that I already have attended 4 in-depth labor law conferences that absolutely had a lot of strategic material in them. That is something like 45 hours total as well.
Finally, I have sent manuscripts to be published-awaiting final acceptance of them in a couple of HR magazines-NOT SHRM's. I did get published in "Letters to the Editor" of Work Force Magazine but I don't think that counts
I think I will end up with something like over 100 hours of credible time. I am only keeping my SPHR for now because it is all that is out there.
Raymond
The chapter has a lot of SPHR members, and works hard at bringing certification type courses to us. Sometimes we only get an afternoon class, and sometimes they have a 3 day marathon. (Last year we had a 3-day and got all of our required 'strategic' hours.) The afternoon classes usually cost $25, but the 3 day marathon was $500.
This year we host the state conference (later this month). I have volunteered and have been able to witness the group working hard at finding just the right speakers to help our members keep their certifications. They also continually try to keep in mind what our members are looking for and what they need to see. Every meeting or class always has a survey which asks how we did and what we can do better. There is also lots of room for suggestions for possible classes or meeting subjects.
Maybe national is not the problem. Maybe it is your local chapters. Did you go to many of the meetings?
Nae
On this subject, I have a question. The owner of our company has decided he will pay for me to get certified. I have been researching the SHRM program. I'm in my 5th year of HR work...2.5 years a HR Mgr. My question-is this the best program or does anyone know of another certification program?
Any pointers? I will appreciate any input!
Thanks,
Marla
If the owner of your company will pay for you to get certified it probably is a good idea to go for it. However I will offer the following as food for thought and contemplation, for whatever it is worth.
PHR and SPHR certification, at one time, was well respected in the business world and it had prestige.
This is no longer true because SHRM/HRCI, in all “its infinite wisdom”, has so diluted the entrance requirements that almost anyone can take the exams. Additionally, they are even now going to institute a certification for California HR people, something many of us “old timers” opposed to the max. Next thing that will happen will be certifications by state and a person could be John Doe, SPHR, CASPHR, AZSPHR, NEWYORK, SPHR, and, well you get the picture.
Also, SHRM and HRCI are spending a ton of money and time trying to get programs in place in India and China for certifications! This amounts to no more than a revenue generating operation and you don’t have to have a rocket scientist mentality to figure it out. India and China are the most densely populated countries in Asia..so go figure. We can’t even get PHR and SPHR acceptance in our our country by the overall masses as being something prized and worthwhile! Why SHRM/HRCI is so intent on doing this overseas is beyond me other than the revenue generating aspect of it all, pure and simple.
I say all that to say this. Unless your company owner is adamant on your getting PHR/SPHR certified you will do much better professionally and business-wise to enroll in a good MBA class, even going part time. HR is going to be more and more about how to help management run the business and less and less about being a so-called “employee advocate.” A Master’s in Organizational Development/Management is also quite good.
Yes, there are several other HR related courses out there with certifications besides what SHRM/HRCI offers. One of the best is “The Certification In Employee Relations Law Seminar” sponsored by The Institute For Applied Management & Law, Inc. Their web site is [url]www.IAML.com[/url]. This course is a full week of outstanding HR materials. They have been doing this seminar for over 26 years now. There are others if you would like to know of them as well. Their phone number is 949-760-1700.
In closing, let me say I have been certified for almost 10 years now. I was once proud to be so. To be honest, it doesn’t mean as much to me as it once did nor does it with most of the business people I interact with all the time, both large and small companies/organizations.
Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom in this area. This is exactly the kind of information I needed. The owner here did say he would pay for night classes. He didn't really specify how or where. I wonder how I will find space for this extra "HAT". I appreciate your time!
Marla