By Maureen Campbell

Change happens everywhere, every day, in every walk of life. Charles Kettering once said, “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” Further, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Life is a progress, and not a station.” Much the same, we are bearing witness to the evolution of the HR profession in Canada and the enrichment of the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation.

Experience Assessment a Key Change
It was recently announced that the criteria needed to attain one’s CHRP has changed. Most specifically, after two more sittings the National Professional Practice Assessment (NPPA) will be replaced by an experience assessment. The experience assessment has been introduced as a national standard and is a viable tool to verify the recently introduced experience requirement.

“The shift to an experience assessment of HR professionals is a logical step in development of the CHRP, we have built up a credible reputation as a profession that has been developed thru efforts of associations such as BC HRMA,” states Patrick Hartling, Chair of CCHRA.

Recent survey data indicated that 87.4 per cent of Ontario CHRPs believed that HR associations should introduce an experience requirement to attain one’s CHRP; 87.7 per cent felt that the introduction of an experience requirement would enhance the value of the CHRP designation1.

The time is right to make this shift by recognizing that the assessment is equally weighted and important in terms of HR functioning with knowledge and that we understand the need for HR professionals to be knowledgeable and able to demonstrate the application of that knowledge for the organizations and communities that they serve,” Hartling explains. “The experience assessment also allows us to look at consistent national standards so that we can continue to develop and sustain a model of national portability.”

Experience has always been a vital component in achieving one’s CHRP designation. The experience assessment simply asks HR practitioners to demonstrate their ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained from their formal education and professional experience to a workplace environment. HR practitioners need to demonstrate that they have worked in a position (or positions) that cultivated knowledge and a professional level of responsibility in HR for a minimum of three years. Additionally, this experience must have been gained within the last 10 years.

What Constitutes Professional Experience?
It is important to note that experience must be at the professional level. Professional does not necessarily mean supervisory or managerial.  It does not matter whether one is working in a specialist position or a generalist position. Nor does it matter whether one is working as an independent practitioner or as an employee of a company. Professional does not require that one has overall responsibility for the HR function.

In determining whether HR experience is at the professional level, the following factors are taken into consideration:

• Independence of actions — relates to the amount of planning, self-direction, decision-making and autonomy involved in the work experience;
• A depth of work requirements — relates to the extent to which work experience requires data-gathering, analysis and interpretation;
• Level of interaction — relates to the degree to which the individual interacts with a broad spectrum of contacts, including decision-makers; and
• Responsibility for work outcome — relates to accuracy and extent to which the individual is held accountable for his/her work and decisions.

Experience Assessments Already Setting Standards
The assessment itself is not a new process for the HR community—CIPD also offers an experience assessment. It isn’t new to the Canadian HR community either. Ontario’s HRPA has been using an assessment in lieu of the NPPA since 2009. Further, HRPA’s experience assessment has been so robust and successful that it has been accredited by the National Council for Credentialing Agencies (NCCA) for its experience assessment. This worldwide standard is no small feat, and is comparable to the nationwide standard that the provincial experience assessments will follow.

HR practitioners can work toward the experience requirement and assessment in any sector of the economy: industry, government, public practice, professional associations, education, healthcare, or not-for-profits—essentially anywhere that has a human resources management function.

What it Means to You
As much as can be said about the merits of the experience assessment, at the end of the day, this is really about you, the HR practitioner seeking the CHRP designation. The experience assessment provides you with a platform to really show off your expertise. This is your time to shine as the spotlight will be on you, and how your career as an HR professional has afforded you the real-world experience and know-how to achieve the CHRP designation.

As one HR professional said, “Experience assessment is fantastic because it fits around you… it’s uniquely focussed on you as an individual.”

For more information on the Experience Assessment, contact BC HRMA.

(PeopleTalk: Fall 2012)