Acquiring professional certifications has numerous pros and almost no cons. It stems from the combination of gaining education, experience and knowledge. According to the saying “learning never ends”, no matter the position or status you have gotten to in your life and career; there is always room for improvement in knowledge especially in the form of professional certifications.

Professional certification according to the International Institute of Business Analysis; is a designation earned by employees that identifies they have demonstrated a standard level of skills, experience and expertise within their fields.

These certifications are issued to individuals by a professional society that has a certifying body. Investing time, money and energy to gain these certifications; in the long run would help you tremendously.

The Benefits Of Professional Certifications Are Countless, But I Will Outline Just Five (5) Of them:

1.It gives you a competitive advantage.When you are professionally certified, you become one or more steps higher than persons in your field of profession. You become more advantaged than your competitors because it shows that you are committed to improving yourself and excelling in your profession. It also sets you apart as you are able to stay on top of trends.

2. It increases your business’ ROI. Gaining the knowledge you get from taking professional courses avails you the opportunity to transfer your knowledge to your colleagues. A situation whereby the employees of an organization are on the same knowledge par with you would boost productivity and results gotten; thereby increasing the overall return on investment in the company.

3. Professional certification increases your income earning. It has been gathered from research that gaining an online professional certification increases your income by 20% to 40%. Employers are willing and ready to pay their employees fat salaries; that have the required skills, knowledge and are professionally certified at that. This too has been proven times without number; especially as there are some professions you cannot be a practitioner in without some professional certifications. For instance, gaining a certificate in ICAN helps you become a chartered accountant in Nigeria.

4. Improves your knowledge and skills base. Instead of complaining of how things are changing so fast and how much you are lagging behind in trends happening in your industry, get professional certifications and update your skills. Those skills that have been causing inefficiencies and bad quality output; you can hone them by learning new things and improving competency. This gives you the leverage to implement a more sophisticated knowledge for your business growth.

5. Finally, it enlarges your network. Both with the bodies issuing your certificates and fellow colleagues that undergo the process of getting the professional certificates, you are able to build and expand your network and in extension your company’s. It also increases the prestige of your company in the eyes of competitors and partners alike.

“Action comes about if and only if we find a discrepancy between what we are experiencing and what we want to experience.”
—Philip J. Runkel

With these points outlined above, you would agree with me that the benefits are priceless and cannot be overemphasize