HRCP Blog

I think it’s pretty safe to call it a trend. Pass rates on the HR certification exams have continued to decline, with both the PHR and SPHR exams hitting all-time lows in 2009. Here is what the results look like since 2005:

I’m not sure what to make of it. I don’t think human resource professionals are getting dumber. Or studying less. So, why the lower pass rates? Having taken the SPHR exam five times since 1997 (once every three years to recertify), I have some historical perspective on the matter. And here’s my conclusion:

The exam is getting harder.

And it’s not that the field of human resources is getting trickier. It’s that the exam questions are. See my reaction to taking the exam a couple of months ago.

We update the HRCP Program every year. We release a new edition each January.

Our updates include

• changes in legislation that impact the field of human resource management;
• relevant court cases;
• developments in human resource practices; and
• statistical data regarding employment, demographics, and etc.

Also, we take the certification exams ourselves (and get feedback from others who have taken the exams) to ensure that we are covering all essential topics. We’ll start the update process soon so we can have our materials to the press before Thanksgiving. 2010! It will soon be upon us!

I am taking a break from answering my Top 10 Questions to honor the memory of a man who helped shape the direction of our company. When we released the first edition of our materials 14 years ago, we were focused on providing an exam preparation tool for individuals preparing for the PHR and SPHR exams. In fact, our materials even had a different title back then: Human Resource Certification Self-Study Program. Then one morning I got a call from Jan Karow. He worked with the Employers Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, he explained, where he taught preparation courses for the HR certification exams. He hadn’t been happy with any of the study resources available, so he had started writing his own. “Then I saw an advertisement for your materials,” he said, “so I ordered a copy. After your books arrived and I looked through them, I quit writing.”

And then he placed an order. Our first group order.

Our perspective of what HRCP could be shifted dramatically. And we couldn’t have had a better pioneering instructor than Jan Karow. His classes achieved astounding pass rates. (I think maybe he scared his students into passing the exams.) He was a walking encyclopedia of HR knowledge, and he made valuable suggestions on how we could improve our materials. Now, a little more than a decade later, about half of our sales are to ongoing study groups across the country and around the world. But Jan’s group will always have a special place in our hearts, because his was first.

Jan Karow passed away on July 9, 2009, at the much-too-young age of 59.

The PHR exam and the SPHR exam both cover the same six functional areas of human resource management. The exams have different emphasis within those areas, but the content is the same. We provide one set of materials that is designed to prepare both PHR and SPHR candidates for their exams. Within the HRCP Program, areas that are particularly relevant to one exam or the other are marked as such.

So, do we have materials specifically for the SPHR exam? Yes. And the same materials are also specifically for the PHR exam.