Since 1961, the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS) has been certifying recruiting and staffing professionals nationally.

CPC stands for Certified Personnel Consultant. It is the coveted symbol of professionalism in the Personnel Consulting industry. The Certification is viewed by the business community and the industry as a seal of excellence. Fortune Magazine reported in its July 20, 1998 issue that one way to choose a recruiter is to ask if they've been certified.

Certification is the Personnel Consulting industry's badge of confidence. It identifies those individuals who have attained a high level of expertise and professional competence. Its purpose is to assure the employer and job applicant that the highest ethical and professional standards will be met in their business relationships with the private industry.

To the client, certification is the assurance that the personnel consultant you are working with met or surpassed a prescribed set of standards and is a professional in all aspects of the highly technical field of personnel placement.

The rules about certification are few, but they are significant. To qualify, an individual must be employed currently in the practice of Personnel Consulting. That individual must give evidence that he or she has been employed for not less than two years or has comparable personnel experience. The designation can only be granted to individuals. No firm can claim that it is a CPC firm.

Upon applying for certification, candidates must first pass a Business Situation Interview. This interview tests their knowledge of certain aspects of the field of specialization. Should they fail the BSI, candidates are not permitted to continue on with the written portions of the examination.

The written examination is made up by an independent testing organization with the input of designated certification regents from the Personnel Consulting industry across the nation. Candidates are tested on State and Federal laws and the general business law.

What does CPC mean to you? Maybe even more than it does to the individual who achieves it. It is your assurance that you are working with a highly competent individual in the complex field of employment!

Reprinted from the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS)

When it comes to recruiting, you'll find that we're better than just "par for the course!"

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