A professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation often called simply certification or qualification is a designation earned by a person to certify that he or she is qualified to perform a job. Certification indicates that the individual has a specific set of knowledge, skills, or abilities in the view of the certifying body. Professional certifications are awarded by professional bodies and corporations. The difference between licensure and certification is licensure is required by law, whereas certification is generally voluntary. People become certified through training and/or passing an exam. Individuals often advertise their status by appending the certification abbreviation to their name (e.g. “Jane Doe, RHCE”). Strictly speaking, most certifications do not grant post-nominals and it is usually the professional certifications that do.Certifications may be perpetual, may need to be renewed periodically, or may be valid for a specific period of time (e.g. the life-time of the product upon which the individual is certified). Although it is more common in regard to licensure, sometimes as part or whole of the renewal of an individual’s certification, the individual must show evidence of continual learning — often termed continuing education — or earning continuing education units (CEU).Certifications are offered through a “certification body”. This is usually a business organization, and sometimes a professional body. Sometimes, the organization’s business is directly related to the certification, as in a software firm that certifies individuals as competent to use its products. In other cases, an organization (often a not-for-profit organization) exists wholly, or in large part, to offer a particular certification. Whatever its nature, the certifying body determines the policies of the “certification program”.
United States
- American Academy of Financial Management
- American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
- American Bar Association
- American Congress on Surveying & Mapping (ACSM)
- American Counsel Association
- American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)
- American Chemical Society
- American Copy Editors Society
- American Dental Association
- American Economic Association
- American Hospital Association
- American Instititute of Architects
- American Institute of Building Design
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG)
- American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
- American Library Association
- American Marketing Association (AMA)
- American Mathematical Society
- American Medical Association
- American Nursing Association
- American Physical Society
- American Planning Association, American Institute of Certified Planners
- American Political Science Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Public Health Association (APHA)
- American Public Works Association (APWA)
- American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA)
- American Security Association
- American Society for Public Administration
- American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
- American Society of Consultant Pharmacists
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- American Water Resources Association (AWRA)
- American Water Works Association (AWWA)
- Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG)
- Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFM)
- Association for Strategic Planning
- Association of American Geographers
- Art Museum Partnership
- Engineers Without Borders (EWB-USA)
- Georgia Political Science Association
- Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
- National Association of Fleet Administrators
- National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)
- National Association of Industrial & Office Properties (NAIOP)
- National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses
- National Council on Interpreting in Health Care
- National Ground Water Association (NGWA)
- National Rural Water Association (NRWA)
- National Society of Accountants
- National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
- National Society of Professional Engineers
- Naval Intelligence Professionals
- Sigma Xi
- Society of American Military Engineers (SAME)
- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
- Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM)
- Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS)
- Society of Professional Journalists
- Society of Women Engineers
- The Executive Company (TEC)
- Turnaround Management Association (TMA)
- Water Environment Federation (WEF)
- WEVA
International Professional Organizations
- American Water Works Association (AWWA)
- American Academy of Financial Management (AAFM)
- Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)
- Association of International Product Marketing & Management (AIPMM)
- Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA International)
- Commonwealth Lawyers Association
- Drug Information Association (DIA)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Institute of Food Technologists
- Chartered Clinical Trialist Institute (CCTI)
- Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)
- Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)
- Institute of Transportation Engineers
- Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)
- International Association for Bridge & Structural Engineering (IABSE)
- International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
- International Facility Management Association (IFMA)
- International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI)
- International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
- NACE International
- International Project Management Commission (IPMC)
- Parenteral Drug Association (PDA)
- Professional Risk Manager’s International Association
- Regulatory Affairs Professional Society(RAPS)
- Society for Clinical Data Management (SCDM)
- Society of Clinical Research Associates (SoCRA)
- Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC)
- Urban Land Institute (ULI)
- World Organization of Web Professionals(WOW)
