January, February, March 2020                                                         Volume 15 Number 1
Note: Articles that are marked with an asterisk (*) can be read for continuing education credit by NAPS certificate holders. Any CPC, CTS or CERS who reads any six of the linked articles can count two hours of contact time toward the 17 hours he or she must earn each year as a part of their certification maintenance. In this edition, for example, 7 items qualify for professional reading. Reading all four quarterly editions of The NAPS Credential and their links over the course of the year can qualify the reader for eight contact hours or .8 CEUs annually.
In This Issue
Certification Advocacy Begins at Home
by Frank Burtnett, Ed.D.



The new year affords the National Association of Personnel Services an opportunity to extend a credentialing initiative launched this past fall to provide support for the search and staffing professionals who have distinguished themselves by earning the Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC) and Certified Temporary Staffing-Specialist (CTS) national credentials.
 
Jump started by the "You're Certified...What's Next" breakfast meeting at the San Antonio Conference in September and followed by a December Lunch n Learn webinar, NAPS is advancing proactively to aid CPCs and CTSs and the firms where they work in placing these professional designations before candidates and clients.
 
A major aspect of this initiative has been the creation of a series of resources and tools that certificants can use in support of their personal advocacy efforts. Maria Palladino, NAPS Design, Marketing and Social Media Web Consultant, has created a package of items that will promote certification with professional and public audiences. Those resources include:
  • Marketing Flyers - Three generic marketing flyers CPCs and CTSs that can be downloaded and used in service promotion---one for CPC, one for CTS and one for CPC and CTS if you are certified in both areas.
  • Email Templates - Three email marketing templates that can be used to send specific messages about the value and importance of your certification to your clients and candidates.
  • Certification Advocacy Checklist - A list of twenty strategies used by CPCs and CTSs to call greater professional and public attention to their credential achievements. The checklist permits CPCs and CTSs to audit their advocacy efforts.
NAPS Credential readers are encouraged to share their stories of how they have educated others about the importance of working with CPCs and CTSs and offer examples of how that strategy evolved and became successful. Examples will be published in the next quarterly Credential. Send to ednow@aol.com.
 
Learn more about new NAPS resources...
https://www.naps360.org/page/NAPS-Certified
Workplace Preparation Trending ~ Law and Med Schools Witness Enrollment Changes*


The American Bar Association has reported that fall 2019 enrollments at ABA accredited law schools declined slightly after a number of years of growth. The decline is reported even though the number of applications rose by three percent.
 
Read more...
 
A similar study by the Association of American Medical Colleges has found that for the  first time ever, women are now the majority of U.S. medical school students. According to the association, the proportion of women medical students rose from 46.9 percent in 2015 to 49.5 percent in 2018. This year women comprise 50.5 percent of all medical school students.
 
Read more...

Skills Gap Study Findings Suggest Micro-credentials Development*
The Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Emsi, an analytics firm specializing in supply and demand studies, have released new findings on the "disconnect" between current job seeker skills and what employers are seeking to hire. A goal of the project is the eventual creation of targeted postsecondary education training programs that result in graduates with micro-credentials.
 
Read more...
CPC and CTS Achievers for 2019 Final Quarter of 2019
The October through December period witnessed the addition of the following search and staffing professionals to the NAPS certification ranks.

 
Jennifer Smith
Amy N Slomba
Thomas Casper
Brian D. Vogt
Joseph Shields
Ben Kessler
Georgia Westwood
Declan Daly
Thomas Erb
 
 
Jo Leader
Rena Smith
Brenda Alomar
Christina Ortuzar
Bruce J Palmer
Angelica Villagomez
Sherri Chapman
Brenna Carey
Brittany Kernodle
Chad M. Blakley
Mariah Pabon

Congratulations and welcome to this new group of NAPS certificants.

Study Examines Racial and Ethnic Candidate Access to Good Jobs*
J.P Morgan Chase and Co. and the Georgetown University Center for Education recently published a study that examines how inequities in access to good jobs by race and ethnicity have grown in recent decades. The study summary suggests that policy changes must be enacted to narrow existing equity gaps; otherwise, they will continue for generations to come.
 
Read more...
Seniors ~ Fastest Growing Segment in U.S. Workforce*


Writing for the American Association of Retired Person's popular
Real Possibilities blog, writer Kenneth Terrell cites U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data projecting "that by 2024---just five years from now---13 million people age 65 and older will still be working. These older workers will constitute the fastest-growing segment of the workforce from 2014 to 2024." The reasons vary, but the facts are real---Americans are working longer.
 
Read more...

Manager/Supervisor Role in Life-Work Balance Initiatives*
The Gallup Organization has posted an article online by Emily Wetherell and Nate Dvorak that calls upon employers and human resource leaders to make certain any life-balance initiatives they support have the full "buy in" of supervisors and managers. The authors cite the importance of realistic goal expectations between managers/supervisors and employees, as well as an effective mechanism for monitoring and communicating outcomes.
 

Quotable Quotes of Notable People ~ Michelle Obama on Life-Work Balance

"We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own 'to do' list."


Michelle Obama is an American attorney, university official, nonprofit organization administrator and author. She was the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, during which time she made career and college readiness a focal point of her work with children and youth.

Bachelor's Degree is Great Job Door Opener, Graduate Degree...Not as Much*
A college degree at the bachelor's or baccalaureate level remains the best door opener to the American workplace and the mobility that workers seek as a part of their personal career development. Researchers, using data contained in the National Survey of College Graduates, could not make the same claim about graduate degrees. The study was reported in InsideHigherEd and published in the Social Science Research journal.
 
Read more...

Certification and Education Question ~ Study Emphasis for CPC and CTS Maintenance
Question: Does NAPS want CPCs and CTSs to direct their continuing education studies toward any particular areas of learning?
 
Answer: The NAPS "rule of thumb" regarding continuing education for certification maintenance is fairly general. We ask that professional development training, conference participation, professional reading and other avenues of learning improve and extend your knowledge and skill set as a search and staffing professional. Study on!

Tennessee Veterans Getting Help with Military Experience Credits*
InsideHigherEd recently reported recently that the Tennessee Higher Education Commission had launched an effort to make it easier for veterans to acquire credit for military training and work by comparing those experiences with courses at Tennessee colleges and universities and awarding appropriate credit. Hopefully, this and other examples of veteran experience credit awarding will become more universal.
 
Read more...

Message from the Editor ~ Let The NAPS Credential Hear from You

Have a question about certification or continuing education? Let us know the issues and concerns that are on your mind and they may become subjects for future editions of  The NAPS Credential . NAPS encourage readers to submit information about certified persons and accredited firms who are making the news and performing outstanding professional feats. Our goal is to provide news, research and resources that will help CPCs, CTS and CERSs do a more effective job. Direct comments and input to Frank Burtnett, Ed.D., NAPS Certification and Education Consultant at ednow@aol.com .
About The NAPS Credential
Copyright © 2020.
 
This electronic newsletter is distributed to NAPS members and to all active Certified Personnel Consultants (CPCs), Certified Temporary Staffing-Specialist (CTSs) and Certified Employee Retention Specialists (CERSs) whose credentials are posted in the National Registry of Certified Staffing Professionals and for whom NAPS has a working email address.
 
The reference to a study, product, service or activity or the appearance of a website in The NAPS Credential does not imply endorsement by NAPS. Any views and opinions are those of sponsoring organization and may or may not be shared by NAPS.
 
Direct comments, questions and submissions to ednow@aol.com. All submissions will be subject to review by NAPS for accuracy, timeliness and relevance to the readership and may be edited to meet space parameters.
 
Tom Erb, President
Tallann Resources, LLC
NAPS Chair
tomerb@tallanresources.com
 
Trinette Cunningham
President
tcunningham@naps360.org
 
Carolyn Boyer
Vice President
cboyer@naps360.org
 
Maria Palladino
Design, Marketing and Website Manager
maria@starboardcreative.com
 
Frank Burtnett, Ed.D., Editor
NAPS Certification and Education Consultant
ednow@aol.com
 
National Association of Personnel Services web site:
 
National Registry of Certified Staffing Industry Professionals website: