Compromised Certifications Continued
| In my last post, I alerted you to the widespread abuse of project management certification tests, some of which can be found - with answers - at "study guide" web sites days after they are used for the first time.
If you don't feel that you can trust a candidate's certification, then consider creating your own test connected with the job, and deliver it under your controlled circumstances. ("See how you do on this one sucker!")
It does not have to be that difficult, though. A better way may be to add "scenario" questions to the interview, like the best interviews in the first place. Scenario questions are phrased as in these examples:
That way you can better see if a candidate can perform what you need them to perform.
I should say that not all certifications were compromised. The Project Management Institute certification seems to have come through this smelling like a rose. |
Posted on: November 10, 2008 08:46 PM
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Compromised Certifications Abound
| Today you hear discussions center around which certifications are best, but any certification exam is rendered obsolete if test takers get the questions in advance. And that is just what several web sites offer. Their pitch is that they offer study guides, but their names are a slight giveaway:
and my favorite master of subtlety Cheat Test
Just because these sites are out there doesn't mean that the actual certification exams are compromised, however. Is there really a problem with the certification companies' management of the exams? The Association of Test Publishers (and, yes, there is really such a group) recently surveyed 101 IT vendors and certification test centers:
You need qualified people, so what do you do? Which certification comes out uncompromised? Answers in my next post. |
Posted on: November 07, 2008 07:13 AM
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An Experience You Don't Want to Duplicate
| Jim Clemmer, training consultant, recently wrote about how he didn't like experiential learning like wilderness experiences. While there are many workers that project managers would like to abandon in the woods, I have to agree. And this is not the only type of training that can be a waste of time and money. His two points are critical: The content must be useful and immediately applicable.
It's strange that these two points have been known to training departments for decades, but they have not driven improvements in training as much as you would think. If so, we would have very small training "chunks" online and much more organized coaching for workers while in projects or for special problem-solving efforts.
In your training plan, fight for the development and delivery of immediately useful content. Bring gloves, your opponents may have already planned long boring lectures. Or a rafting trip. |
Posted on: November 03, 2008 08:58 PM
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Stay Employed During Restructuring
| Companies that have a plan to weather an economic downturn usually prefer "restructuring." That's the word you've been hearing in the news. What does this mean? It means rearranging leadership deck chairs and laying off large amounts of workers. If your organization has not been restructured yet, it will pay for you to be ready. Projects will be abandoned rather than reduced or delayed!
If your division/department has not been doing well financially and your project is not solving that problem within a couple of months, then prepare for project cancellation as part of a restructuring action. While everyone else is in denial, implement your initial preparation task to seek out any department (or company) that has been financially successful in recent months. Look there for a new project with a clear connection to heavy cost cutting.
In the interview stress how you hate expenses and love to spend weekends reviewing cost analysis spreadsheets to find possible reductions. You prefer to staff only with existing workers, even if shared, and will never ask for new hires. And you bring your own pens from home and don't even drink office coffee. |
Posted on: October 31, 2008 08:02 AM
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This Training Method Now Doubly Useful
| Rapid e-learning has been growing in recent years because of business needs. Podcasts and other on-demand technologies have become more popular to train workers faster for today's shorter product and project lifecycles.
Now there is another reason to use these technologies: Budgets are shrinking so fast you need a magnifying glass to see them. To see their return to their former size you need a telescope. Now is the time to think "fast" to reduce total costs per training event. In your training plan, reduce or eliminate expensive "old school" multi-class instructor-led training where possible and replace it with less expensive and more efficient rapid e-learning methods. Work with what is left of the training department - or our sponsors - to see what options are open to you. |
Posted on: October 28, 2008 09:51 PM
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