Robert Rahni ⋅ White Plains, NY Fordham University ⋅ 13 years experience

Hi Jarad,

Given you interest in the business field, particularly completing your Bachelors in Economics and aspirations of pursuing an MBA, the following two Certifications immediately come to mind:

CSM® - Certified Scrum Master
MOS - Microsoft Office Specialist (emphasis on Excel)

Hope this helps!
Rob

Henry ("Dr. Hank") Stevens ⋅ Fort Lauderdale, FL Human Resources Quality Assurance, LLC (Now Retired) ⋅ 50 years experience

Quick and dirty . . . . sounds like you have not identified your TALENTS and are playing to your EXPERIENCE and EDUCATIONAL achievements. That's great BUT . . . . to me, as a well seasoned H-R professional, those are not very valuable assets as it is TALENT that trumps education and experience every time.

Give some SERIOUS thought to the TALENTS necessary to do any job or career field you are considering. Sure, everyone wants to know about your education and experience; but throughout my career, it was the people who had the TALENT that brought success to the department and our employer - and NOT the education or experience they brought to the table.

EDUCATION is fine, but to me, it means that someone CAN learn and has demonstrated that they HAVE learned. EXPERIENCE is also fine, but that means the person has some exposure to the problems at hand - someone elses' problems. Not very valuable to me or my employer. As an HRD, I can readily expose the new employee to MY/MY EMPLOYER'S problems which will require a different set of experiences to solve.

All of which, baits three questions: 1 - What are the TALENTS necessary to do the job you are contemplating filing, and 2 - Just what are YOUR talents? 3 - Is there a correlation between the two?

But for one simple example: Would you hire an introvert (talent) for a customer-facing receptionist position? I think not. Can you EDUCATE someone to be an extrovert - I think not. With EXPERIENCE, can you change someone from being an introvert to being an extrovert? Not!

IF you are not clear about what YOUR talents are, there is a great assessment tool (free) that will help guide you (below). They also have an on-site interpretation of the results that may help point you in a good vocational direction too. If you have some difficulty interpreting the results and would like my off-channel assessment (also free), please provide me with the 4 letters and the percentage of each [should look something like I-42, N-8, T-45, J-50] to my e-mail address hlstevens42@gmail.com.

The web site for the assessment address is: http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality

Regards, Dr. Hank

Maggie DeShazor ⋅ Washington, DC Deloitte ⋅ 8 years experience

Hi Jarad -

The certifications that would be beneficial really depend on the field you are looking to go into. There are a number of financial and technical certifications that could apply to various positions. One tip I would give is to start looking at job postings now and see what required or preferred certifications or skills, especially with particular programs, are listed on there. There are a number of position descriptions posted on the Jobs tab that will give you a start to the research. For example, under the Valuation Modeling and Financial Advisory Consultant post, there is a list of preferred certifications and skills (copied below). Looking at those preferred skills and certifications will give you a leg up when you apply for a position in the field you want to enter.

Hope this helps! Thank you for your service and your question!

In addition, an ideal candidate will also possess one or more of the following:
• DAU Cost Analysis or ICEAA Certifications
• Advanced Excel skills
• Prior business case analysis, cost estimation, and/or portfolio management experience
• Department of Defense acquisition program management experience