Does Anyone Care if I'm Certified?

I've been delinquent in renewing my Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) annual membership. If I don't renew, my SCMP certification (Supply Chain Management Professional) will expire. For our annual business forecast & budget, I decided to question all expenses (as we do for clients), so I've been debating the benefit to being a member and maintaining my certification. (Rationale: I have an MBA so is the certification necessary?)

Of all my past & current employers and clients - only one has REQUIRED that I be a member seeking/holding certification...and that was for my first purchasing job. My manager was a wonderful mentor (and if you ever goto a PMAC National event, seek her out - Donna Lee Reid - Dufferin/Peel Catholic School Board - she's incredibly smart). Donna introduced me to the concept of 'networking' - because of Donna, I see the purchasing/supplychain/logistics profession as a group of peers ready & willing to help each other out. Whenever I need to buy something 'new to me', I contact someone who may have done it before to seek advice (Most of whom I've never even met in person!) Everyone has been willing to share their experiences & expertise.

From there, I 'educated' my next employer(s) on the benefits of the PMAC training and membership - I negotiated a deal that I'd save them more than they paid in my tuition (in actuality, I always 'earned' my annual salary in 'savings').

In later years, a director told the staff the certification meant "nothing" to them, but a business degree (especially an MBA) made more sense. As I crept up the ladder, strategy was more important than tactical thinking, but, the PMAC education went through phases to build strategic thinking, so yet again, I needed to 'educate' my employers and clients.

I completed my certification in 1999, back then it was called CPP (Certified Professional Purchaser)...in the last year, it's been rebranded as SCMP (which personally I think better reflects the education/experiences I've had in the profession). So with a new certification brand, I have to 'yet again' educate my clients (no its not a new certification, it's a rebranding of what I've always had..). So for this year's forecasts/budget, I had to question the benefits of my "Membership Dues".

Being a member does not get me discounts on Errors & Omissions insurance (that I require for government clients); nor does it lobby/educate government & corporations on the certification requirements as well as other associations do for their members; nor am I finding courses I want to take this year at a member discount. So what does my membership get me? Networking opportunities that perhaps I wouldn't have if I weren't able to open with "I'm a fellow member of PMAC"; I have fond memories of the program, and still keep in touch with fellow 'live-in course survivors'; I receive lots of 'free' trade magazines as a result of being a member and even if the clients/corporations don't understand the certification, some actually do put it in their requirements; there's opportunity for me to be a course instructor; I receive emails/calls from students in the program when they see my certification...

Perhaps the certification isn't about the education, courses & discounts per se, but instead its about what you do with it. I love teaching, and one of my dreams was to be one of the instructors for the final "live-in course". Perhaps it's like a marriage - I stuck to this through the good and the bad...I'm committed to seeing this through (I think I'll go write a cheque now)

What do you 'require' of your professional associations/memberships?

Related articles

• The Importance and Relevance of PMP Certification Requirements (pro2sell.com)

What's in a name?

I'm finding myself immersed in a theme of "what's in a name". This morning I received an email from The Surge Group talking about what a business is - ie it's brand, name, logo or what they sell. It was an interesting article about brand being a combination, but in reality, your business really is what people feel about it. Made me think about people understanding a business, understanding they are in good hands, understanding the need for the help, support, results they get. Surge believes a recession will be a good test of a business - businesses that operate authentically have a brand as a 'result' rather than a brand they push onto the marketplace. Intrigues me, so much so that I'll be attending their next workshop where they're discussing this topic further.

What then led me to feeling immersed in this theme was reading a discussion board on the Purchasing Management Association's member's portal. The topic was regarding the 'renaming' of the C.P.P. designation. To say people feel passionate about the topic is an understatement. In reading the posts, this same thought haunted me, what is in the name? Does it really make a difference in what the credential is named? Do people understand it? Do people feel that someone with this credential is better qualified to do their purchasing, inventory management, strategic sourcing, negotiations, etc? Strangely enough, people believe the brand is the designation, yet ignore that the brand is, in a huge way, the membership. The misunderstandings come from the huge range of skills, understanding, and acceptance of the people performing these jobs. Accountants have three separate, distinct designations for the three "types" of accountants and what "niche area" they focus on. Does "supply chain" designations need to reflect different "niche areas"?

Does the designation "name" really matter? Are purchasing, procurement and supply chain understood by the marketplace as "different" areas requiring different distinct skills? Does the marketplace even understand the designation requirements? Who's responsible for this 'confusion' in branding?