My congratulations to all the new CAP and OM certification holders! You have worked hard to achieve this goal and should be very proud of yourselves.

 

Now is the time to begin your file for tracking your recertification points, update your resume and social media and work email addresses, announce your accomplishment to friends and coworkers and generally revel in the satisfaction of a job well done.

 

While it's nice to rest on your laurels for a bit, have a plan in place for your NEXT accomplishment and an idea of when you will start to work towards it. Time tends to slip away insidiously.

 

For those of you that didn't pass, I know that it's frustrating to not get the score you had hoped for, especially if you feel like you truly did as much as you could, but that doesn't negate the value of what you accomplished. I hope that you will consider retaking the test in September.Even if you don't though, you at least have the knowledge you acquired during the journey.

 

Marie

Marie,

Thank you. I passed both the CAP and the OM exams.

My question is how do you leverage the certifications in seeking a pay adjustment. I have seen articles in Office Pro that suggest a 6% increase. I noticed that the information is not included in the WHY to recertify on the IAAP website.

Any assistance that someone can provide would be helpful.

Denise

I think it really depends on the company that you work for. In my case, I would start laying the ground work in advance of performance review time by sitting and having a chat with my boss. Bossie, I've been devoting a lot of time to ensuring that my skills are kept up to date and that I am being the most efficient employee I can be for the company. I have acquired new skills and brought improvements to my job (give examples of how because of what you learned you were able to streamline procedures to save "x" amount of time or "y amount of dollars" and I believe these actions justify an increase of "x%".

Thank you, Marie. I appreciate the feedback. Is there a percentage that most CAP-OM designees receive?