The Top 3 Reasons Certifications Help Your Career
Where do you want to be in 5 years? Whether it’s an interviewer asking during your job search or a nosy relative bugging you at Thanksgiving, everybody gets this question sometimes. And it can be really difficult to answer. Do you want to be in the same career? Do you want to be a supervisor? Do you want to change lanes and try something totally different and new?
There are no wrong answers. Everybody wants something different. But if you’re focused on your career and trying to decide how to take the first step and move up, there’s one clear avenue that can help: certifications. Getting an additional certification can be a huge boost for your career. For hospitality professionals, you may want a food handler’s certificate or a bartending certification. For logistics and warehousing pros, you might have your eye on a forklift or scissor lift certification.
Why is certification such a boost? There are 3 key reasons why getting a certification can help your career:
Unlock New Opportunities
The first is the most obvious. For positions that require certification to show you’re trained and qualified, getting the certification is the first step to becoming eligible for the job. Once you have the certification, a whole new list of job opportunities opens up to you!
These positions can often be more complex and have higher wages than those that don’t require a certification. You may start as a picker/packer on a warehouse floor and move up to operate a scissor lift, or start as a dishwasher in a commercial kitchen and become a food service worker once you have a food handler’s card. Earning these certifications is a clear way to show you have the skills for the promotion and take the next step forward in your career.
If you’re finding work on the Bluecrew app, you’ll see the same thing. For example, once you’re forklift certified, you’ll be able to accept forklift operator jobs.
Show Your Hustle
When you’re thinking about a promotion or wondering how to show your supervisor that you’re a great worker, getting a certification can help. Especially when that certification helps you grow in your current position or move up to a new one at the same company.
Why? It shows that you’re invested in your career, you want to learn, and you’re willing to take the time to learn something new. You took initiative and hustled to make progress, and that tends to make a great impression. When you’re looking to grow your career, it’s important to show that you will work hard to achieve your goals. Earning a certification can be a great way to do that, and to demonstrate to your employer that you can be counted on to go the extra mile.
Prepare You For Management
Is your ultimate goal to become a manager or supervisor? Then it’s important to be familiar with - and know how to do - every job on your team. Earning a certification and getting to understand more about what other roles do is a stepping stone to show that you’re capable of leading the team.
For example, if you’re working in a small distribution center as a warehouse associate and want to be promoted to a shift supervisor, you need to know the basics of how everything works. Will you be ready to lead the whole team if you don’t know how to use all of the tools or aren’t able to pitch in when your forklift operator calls out sick?
It also makes it a lot easier to interview for the management job - and make a great case about why you’re qualified - when you’ve held multiple different positions on the team and proven that you’re capable of growing into new roles.
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