HRCP Blog

In contemplating the reasons for the steady decline in HR certification exam pass rates, I’ve gone back to my analysis from a year ago. I think that my observations still hold. One or more of these must be true:

• The PHR and SPHR exams are getting more difficult.
• The cutoff for passing the PHR and SPHR exams is being set higher each year.
• People are going into the PHR and SPHR exams less prepared.
• Less-qualified individuals are taking the PHR and SPHR exams.

Whatever the reason for the falling pass rates, there is only one solution for those preparing to take the HR certification exams: Be better prepared.

More on that next time.

I recently received an invitation from HRCI to provide feedback on their proposed changes for PHR and SPHR certification.

The proposed new eligibility requirements for the PHR examination are:

• 4 years demonstrated exempt-level HR experience with less than a Bachelor’s degree
• 2 years demonstrated exempt-level HR experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• 1 year demonstrated exempt-level HR experience with a Master’s degree

The proposed new eligibility requirements for the SPHR credential are:

• 7 years demonstrated exempt-level HR experience without a Bachelor’s degree
• 5 years demonstrated exempt-level HR experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• 4 years demonstrated exempt-level HR experience with Master’s degree

My feedback to them was a resounding “YES!” I strongly favor these proposed changes. They address several issues I have had with the current eligibility requirements since they changed them some years ago. The two designations should not have the same eligibility requirements. That has never made any sense. I like that they value education, something the current requirements ignore. I believe that if these changes are implemented, it will strongly enhance the value of human resource certification, and I support the proposed changes, even though they could negatively impact my business, at least in the short run.

This week’s question of the week on the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) website examines the significance of the “PHR Only” and “SPHR Only” designations in the HRCI body of knowledge. The information is worth repeating here:

Q. I am preparing to take the PHR exam in May, and I noticed that some areas covered in the HRCI body of knowledge are marked either “PHR Only” or “SPHR Only.” Why is this, and does it mean that I don’t need to know anything about the items marked “SPHR Only?”

A. When HRCI conducted its most recent practice analysis in 2005, the HR professionals who responded to our survey indicated that a few responsibility areas were performed chiefly by those at the PHR level and some others chiefly by those at the SPHR level. Therefore, exam questions that relate specifically to those job responsibilities were moved to the appropriate level exam.

This does not mean, however, that you may not need to know something about the related knowledge level or underlying concept. For example, in the Employee and Labor Relations functional area, responsibility #11 “Participate in collective bargaining activities, including contract negotiation and administration” is now marked SPHR ONLY. Therefore a question dealing with specific contract negotiation strategies or activities would appear on the SPHR exam. However, in the US, the National Labor Relations Act covers most collective bargaining agreements in the private sector. Therefore, the PHR exam might appropriately ask a question about the NLRA and its impact on the collective bargaining process, since it appears in Knowledge Area #48 of the body of knowledge.

I spent a good part of the day yesterday reading and writing about employment branding. Here’s a bit of what I added to Unit 2: Workforce Planning and Employment of the HRCP Program:

As the labor market becomes increasingly competitive, employers apply strategies from marketing to help them compete for job applicants. Just as companies develop a recognizable brand to help position their products or services in the market, they attempt to “brand” themselves as an outstanding employer. Employment branding consists of projecting an image that makes people want to work for the company. This image is created through the company’s employment value proposition, another concept borrowed from marketing, which describes what the company has to offer its employees relative to the rewards offered by other places of employment.

When you think about it, getting your PHR or SPHR is a good step toward branding yourself as and outstanding employee. Being a certified human resource professional can strengthen your employee value proposition (yeah, I just made that up). It sets you apart as an individual with sufficient experience and knowledge to pass a comprehensive certification exam based on the vast body of knowledge that comprises the human resource field. So, if there is such a thing as employee branding, you’re on the right track.

I’ve given up on making sense of the Harry Potter/horcrux thing, but I believe I’ve made some headway into understanding the PHR and SPHR pass rates. The pass rate on the PHR exam has declined over the past number of years, with an especially precipitous decline over the past two years (from 67% in May-June 2005 to 62% in 2007). One or more of the following must be true:

• The PHR exam is getting more difficult.
• The cutoff for passing the PHR exam is being set higher each year.
• Less-qualified individuals are taking the PHR exam.
• People are going into the PHR exam less prepared.

The pass rates on the SPHR exam have bounced around over the years, with a low of 53% in May 2002 and a high of 60% in November-December 2004. The most recent administration of the exam produced results (58%) that are slightly above the average (57%). Looking at the data since 2005, the only conclusion I can draw is that you’ve got a better chance of passing the SPHR exam in the spring. I don’t know why. Maybe the fact that the winter exam window straddles the holiday season increases stress and provides less time for study. (Why SPHR candidates seem to be more negatively impacted by this, I couldn’t say. Perhaps it’s the eggnog.)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, whatever the reason for the plummeting and bouncing pass rates, the only thing you can control is your personal preparation. Study hard. Your result on the exam is not determined by national pass rates or trends. Your success is determined by you.

Today HRCI released the pass rates for the May–June 2007 administration of the PHR and SPHR exams. The SPHR pass rate was 58%, three points higher than the last exam window, while the pass rate for the PHR exam slipped a point to 62%. I created a graphic of the pass rates for the past five exam windows:

What conclusions can we draw from this data? That it is advantageous to take the SPHR exam in the spring, perhaps? Maybe that if you’re considering taking the PHR exam, the sooner the better?

I’m going to have to mull this over for a bit. That and the whole Harry Potter/horcrux thing. I’ve got thinking to do. I’ll get back to you.

As a school child, I liked spelling tests, which is strange considering the fact that I’m not a particularly good speller. I think what I liked about spelling tests was the absence of surprises. We had a list of words, and we were tested on our ability to spell those words. I was pretty good at memorizing, so I fared well in spelling despite my lack of natural ability in the area. Some questions on the PHR and SPHR exams are not so different from grade school spelling tests. We memorize facts and identify correct definitions or concepts on the exam.

The tough questions are the ones that ask for more than facts. And there are a lot of them. The items on the HRCI certification exams may be classified into three cognitive types:

1. Knowledge/Comprehension. These items are designed to assess your ability to recall facts or interpret a concept. (The “spelling test” questions.)
2. Application/Problem Solving. These items assess your ability to solve real-life problems by applying familiar principles or generalizations.
3. Synthesis/Evaluation. These items assess your ability to accurately and logically use critical judgments to combine distantly-related elements into a whole.

HRCI attempts to include items from the three cognitive types on the exams using the percentages shown in the following table:

Just as acing your spelling tests has limited usefulness until you’re able to put those words to use in sentences, the facts and knowledge you learn in preparation for the PHR or SPHR exam only get you part of the way there. You need to push yourself beyond the facts and into application and synthesis.

I was a bit anxious last spring about taking the SPHR exam in its new computer-based format. Although I didn’t enjoy the paper and pencil experience (as described in my previous entry), at least I was familiar with it. The first thing that won me over was my discovery that there was a computer testing center in the neighboring town; I would be spared the drive into the city. Also, I could schedule the exam for any day withing the two-month testing window and for a time that suited me, like after the sun had actually risen.

When I arrived at the testing facility, the test administrator smiled and welcomed me warmly. She checked my ID and verified which test I was taking, then she provided a locker for my personal belongings. No interrogation. No strip-search. As I was directed to a cubical in the testing room, I was happy to note that the room was fresh and clean and comfortable, with actual windows to the outside world. The chair was padded. And adjustable. Nice. I was given a white board and a marker for making notes or doing calculations. Although I could hear the occasional click of a mouse or tap of a keyboard, I couldn’t see any of the other test-takers. I relaxed into the chair and began the exam.

Upon completing the exam, I only had to wait a few (eternally-long) minutes before the computer displayed my exam results. The anxiety of those minutes is indescribable, but pails in comparison to the agony of waiting six weeks for the results, as with the paper and pencil exams of the past. The testing center administrator gave me printed exam results, hard evidence of my success there that day. I proudly displayed the results to my husband, who proclaimed that we should all go out to dinner to celebrate. And we did.

I have mentioned before that I’ve taken the HR certification exams five times. (And again, my ego whispers in my ear that I should clarify that I re-took the exams to re-certify, not because I didn’t pass them.) When I took the SPHR exam last spring, it was my first time taking the exam in its current, computer-based format. The previous three times that I took the SPHR exam (2003, 2000, & 1997), and when I took the PHR exam (in time immemorial), it was administered by an exam proctor on a specified date in a group setting.

It was miserable.

We were required to report at the specified location at dark-thirty in the morning. The building resembled a prison; all the interior walls were windowless, solid concrete (I picture metal rebar protruding from the walls, but that might just be a trick of my memory). Thirty or so SPHR and PHR candidates lined up to have our ID verified, our admission ticket scrutinized, and our blood drawn. The prison guard, er, proctor, checked that we had nothing more dangerous than our sharpened No. 2 pencils. We were assigned to seats and given our exam booklets and answer sheets, aka bubble sheets. The proctor read the tediously detailed instructions explaining how to fill in the selected bubble on the bubble sheet completely, without making any extraneous marks on the page. We were also given elaborate directions on restroom-break procedures: one at a time, turn in exam booklet and bubble sheet to proctor, sign out, return promptly, show ID to proctor (who isn’t expected to remember me even though I (and only I) left the room two and a half minutes ago), sign in, retrieve exam materials from proctor, return to seat. And then the clock began ticking (audibly). The desk surface was too small to spread out my booklet and bubble sheet comfortably. The chair was so hard I began squirming after about 20 minutes (only 220 minutes to go). But the worst thing of all was the tension in the room. The proctor scanning the room with her x-ray vision, vigilantly watching for cheaters. The PHR candidates scratching their heads and trying to remember how to calculate overtime when the employee is payed on a piece-rate. The SPHR candidates trying to remember if they’ve ever even heard of the Systems Model. I would have gladly volunteered for solitary confinement.

The computer-based testing procedure is ever so much better. I’ll talk more about that next time.

Raise your hand if you are scheduled to take the PHR or SPHR exam today.

Yes, that’s right, the spring testing period begins today. I took the SPHR exam last spring; however, I took it not on the first day of the testing period, but on the last (June 30). It wasn’t due entirely to procrastination. I wanted to wait until returning from the SHRM Conference in Washington, D.C. (we had a booth in the expo). I needed the travel time for study.

While I recognize that some of you (rate-busters) will be taking the exam today or within the next few days, I assume that many of my blog’s visitors will be taking the exam later in the exam period (or possibly in the winter exam period). I will therefore continue dispensing advice and test-taking tips.

Here’s my tip for today: RELAX! Stress and anxiety hamper your ability to recall information and to think clearly. When you take practice tests, practice employing various relaxation techniques so you’ll know what works for you.