Hi Everyone! I’m torn between which HR certification to pursue (SHRM-SCP or SPHR). Which one would you recommend and why?
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I’ve been in meetings where leadership said they wanted honest employee feedback, then became visibly uncomfortable when they actually received it. HR often encourages openness while quietly managing reactions behind the scenes. Do organizations really want honest feedback, or just positive feedback?
I had an exit interview recently where the employee said: "The job was not the problem." It was the team culture. That stayed with me. We spend a lot of time talking about pay, workload, recruitment and retention. Yet so many people leave because of how they felt every day at work. Have you ever left a role because of the culture rather than the job itself?
I’ve been debating the same thing and found this article to be very helpful. Skip to, “Which certification is better?” https://upstarthr.com/shrm-scp-vs-sphr-which-senior-hr-certification-makes-more-sense
Great article. I think we all grapple with the certification question and I agree that it depends. I do think the PHR/SPHR is good for compliance issues while the SHRM-SCP is good for HR leadership and gives you access many resources in the industry. To further complicate matters, I think the WorldAtWork certificates provide technical knowledge in specialized areas such as compensation and benefits. I have all three. But, recertification can be challenging!
I just obtained my SPHR certification in June after researching and debating the same thing. I ultimately decided to pursue the SPHR because it's more established (it's been around 40+ years, vs. the SHRM-SCP which has only been around for 5 years) and had a slightly lower pass rate (the latest quote I received was 50% for SPHR vs. 55% for SHRM-SCP, though these rates may have changed since January). Due to those factors and some others, it seemed slightly more prestigious. However, I don't really think you can go wrong with either one. From what I could tell, it seemed unlikely that having the "wrong" certification would prevent you from getting a job, clients, etc. Hope this helps!
HRCI for sure. SHRM only recently joined the certification business and gave me a SHRM CP for nothing, just because I was already PHR certified. I didn't earn it, it was given to me.