The Case for Technical Certification in Content Creation and Delivery

How do creatives validate their skill set?

How does the creative/ marketing/ communications professional maintain their skill set? Do their employers assist them? Should the employer invest in them or is it incumbent upon them to invest in themselves? A survey of employers on this last point would be enlightening.

Freelancers and small business owners among you are already used to bootstrapping your way thru this situation. After all, an investment in your skill set stays with you or walks with you. An employer doesn’t benefit from that education if you leave them hence many are leery of the investment, particularly if they already experience high turnover.

Success and early adoption of technology

However, time and again we witness success by companies who are early adopters of technology. How do you adopt early when you don’t know how? How do you gain the upper hand when you can’t leverage your distribution options?

For example: say your company wants to move toward personalized marketing. Your company is going to break down the demographics of their customers and profile their buying habits as well as their preferences for receiving information about your product/service. You will customize your communications to your existing customers as well as your potential customers by leveraging these different distribution methodologies. But there’s a problem — no one has the skill set to even intelligently outsource these options let alone execute these strategies in-house. But their competion does.

Success stories have some common threads. They create cutting edge cultures, encourage technical growth, and maybe even require skill improvement of their employees as part of their annual performance review. Perhaps they share the investment?

What’s in it for me, my boss, my clients…

Clients of creative firms may have a difficult time wrestling with the subjectivity of the design process. There’s nothing subjective about a certification — particularly a technical certification. It’s kind of reassuring to know the staff or agency I’ve hired is technically competent don’t you think?

It is the combination of your talent and your skill set along with your contributions to the company’s bottom line that establishes your value (a future article, for sure) — this is your “portfolio.” How valuable do you want to be to your current/future employer?

A certification would benchmark an individual’s ability to use technology and manage accepted standard applications, to understand the requirements of distribution, and to interface easily with vendors as well as each other. What a boon for the employer ‚ no guessing whether or not the resume is misleading or whether Johnny can lead the team on a new project.

With skill sets current and reliable, wouldn’t this free up the creative to be creative? the producer to produce? the communicator to communicate or the marketer to market? fully armed with all the technical know-how to do their job!?!?! In this case, the workflow benefits becausse quality control is enhanced. Competent skills mean less errors, greater efficiencies, and speedier delivery.

After all, how much time is wasted stumbling around a new application or upgrade rather than thinking about ways to take advantage of that new feature or upgrade? searching for ways to reach the audience as effectively as possible?

What a boon for the employee — not only would a certification demonstrate their expertise but it has a quantifiable value on the open market.

Where do we find certification in graphic arts?

The National Council for Skill Standards in Graphic Communications, http://www.ncssgc.org, has developed certifications for prepress, press and bindery personnel.

According to Ed Kelley, Executive Director of the NCSSGC, “Because of changing technologies the print industry has moved to a model of continual education and training as a base for continual employment (at least the profitable companies have.) One of the best markers to check if the knowledge is being absorbed is certification. The certification belongs to the individual; it is their RN, CPA, etc. With most companies the employees are putting in the effort and time and the companies offer support by offering study material and paying for the exam.”

What do content creators have by comparison? Unlike print, where certification addresses all aspects of the job, to my knowledge, only software developers have championed technical certifications for content creators. Adobe sets a reasonable example of this approach — their ACE certification series, which are product specific, act as testimonial to the test taker’s understanding of the product. Visit the Adobe website, http://www.adobe.com for more information about the Adobe Certified Expert program.

No matter how close you are to the subject matter, it’s a win-win.

• The 10ft. view — attracting qualified talent
• The 100 ft. view — developing talent
• The 1000 ft. view — retaining talent
• The 10,000 ft. view — leveraging that talent
• The 100,000 ft. view — growing the bottom line

If I’m an employer, a candidate with a certification coupled with experience is a no-brainer. If I’m an employee, a certification on my resume gives me a leg up on the competition. Any way you look at it, it’s a competitive advantage and you need all the advantages you can get in today’s global economy.