Imagine this conversation\u2026<\/p>\n
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Sarah Carbuyer:\u00a0 \u201cWhat is the best vehicle available?\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny Expert:\u00a0 \u201cA Ford F-150.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Carbuyer:\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny Expert:\u00a0 \u201cMost people I know are familiar with the Ford F-150.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Carbuyer:\u00a0 \u201cOK, I\u2019ll go buy a Ford F-150.\u201d<\/p>\n
How does this make you feel about these two people?<\/p>\n
Is Johnny\u2019s recommendation a little short-sighted?<\/p>\n
Is Sarah a little too easily influenced?<\/p>\n
How about yes and yes!<\/p>\n
So, what would be the correct answer to Sarah\u2019s question?<\/p>\n
Is there one?<\/p>\n
Yes.\u00a0 The correct answer is:\u00a0 \u201cIt depends.\u201d<\/p>\n
The best vehicle for Sarah depends on her circumstances.<\/p>\n
Does she need to park in tight spaces?<\/p>\n
Does she need to drive around five kids?<\/p>\n
How much of a priority is fuel efficiency?<\/p>\n
And what if the number of people who are familiar with a vehicle model does matter to Sarah but she lives in Japan where Toyota is a more \u201crecognized\u201d name than Ford?<\/p>\n
How helpful is Johnny\u2019s advice now?<\/p>\n
See, there are a lot of things that Sarah needs to consider to find the best fit for her.\u00a0 But people like Johnny dole out advice based on one factor and one factor alone.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not always helpful.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of factors to consider.\u00a0 And there are a lot of great options available.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the same thing happens on social media with procurement certifications.\u00a0 Someone will ask for a recommendation on the best procurement certification\u00a0and someone else will chime in with one and only one recommendation based on his\/her situation, not the situation of the person asking.\u00a0 And while intentions are good, it\u2019s not necessarily as helpful as it could be for the person seeking advice.<\/p>\n
In the procurement profession, we are fortunate to have a choice of certifications.\u00a0 If one certification was right for everyone, there would be no need for any others.\u00a0 But different certifications have different advantages.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why just like multiple vehicle models exist, multiple procurement certifications exist.\u00a0 Heck, there are plenty of ambitious procurement professionals out there who have certifications from multiple providers.\u00a0 Procurement certifications are not mutually exclusive and it only helps a procurement professional to be more competitive in the job market if they achieve as many credentials as practical for him\/her.<\/p>\n
It is important for someone seeking a procurement certification to consider more than one factor when choosing a certification.\u00a0 If someone selects a certification just because it is one that they are familiar with before doing any research, what does that say about their procurement skills?\u00a0 After all, isn\u2019t it a core competency of procurement to thoroughly research a market and identify the option that is the best fit for the organization?\u00a0 Why should anyone apply a lesser standard to the selection of their own certification?\u00a0 After all, earning and maintaining a procurement certification requires a multi-year commitment and an investment of money.<\/p>\n
So, my advice for anyone asking a question like \u201cWhat is the best procurement certification available?\u201d is to look at multiple options to determine which is the best fit for your personal circumstances.<\/p>\n
Even though I am the founder of a procurement certification provider, I wanted to keep this post provider-agnostic so that the thought process could be applied to any certification.\u00a0 You can stop reading now and walk away with some good, objective insights if you have an allergy to the slightest bit of bias.<\/p>\n
However, if you do want to better understand 14 factors to consider when comparing procurement certification options, here is a link to a whitepaper that the NLPA published<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imagine this conversation\u2026 Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement & Supply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\n