As if it weren’t challenging enough to earn a professional resume writing certification, it can be daunting to learn you have more hoops to jump through to renew and retain that credential.
But at CDI we’ve now taken huge strides to ease those resume writing certification renewal requirements!
Let’s face it, most professional resume writers who earn master-level resume writing certification credentials are self-employed with free time at a minimum.
They sought out master-level resume writing certifications to stand out from the competition, demonstrate their expertise, command higher rates, and have more free time.
Do they really want to spend that free time re-proving their skill to renew their credentials every three years?
We thought about it and strongly agreed that no master is going to just stop putting in the effort and decide to be subpar.
Certainly they could, but only if they didn’t want to be in business for much longer!
It’s just not realistic and we feel confident that upon certifying at this caliber of expertise that an individual will maintain this level of excellence going forward.
So for our six master-level resume writing credentials we’ve pared down the renewal requirements.
The following CDI resume writing certifications now only require certification maintenance payments every three years*. No change in fee; we’ve just removed the need to prepare resume samples, portfolios, and essays or take tests.
We know our masters are masters, and we want to save them precious time to focus on what counts — bringing their expertise to job seekers!
But two CDI resume writing certifications will still require a renewal process.
When CDI was born out of PRWRA in 2005, we quickly altered the lowest tier of resume writing certification from Certified Resume Writer to Certified Advanced Resume Writer (CARW).
We have never been afraid to demand excellence, even at the entry-level tier; we strive to provide the membership resources to make that possible.
Yet still we recognize this as a first-step credential set to CDI’s higher-than-normal standards.
The CARW and other industry resume writing certifications (not to include courses leading to certification) require resume writing and testing, it’s true. But they don’t require mastery in multiple professions/specialties, levels, or career challenges.
While we must all be lifelong learners, at the CARW and related industry credential tier, continued learning is a must.
(Let me interrupt with an important aside — once a CARW takes the leap to successfully attain one of our master-level credentials, the CARW can be maintained without the 2-year CEU requirement.)
So our continuing education requirements are still in place for the CARW credential as well as for our newest credential, the Certified Resume Analyst (CRA).
The CRA is CDI’s only resume writing certification that does not require CDI membership.
It actually doesn’t even require resume writing.
It is a unique credential for those who review, analyze, and advise job seekers on winning resumes.
For some it is the first step in moving toward becoming a certified professional resume writer.
For self-employed resume writers it’s the opportunity to diversify income with a less time consuming service.
It’s also the perfect solution for those working in university, school, military transition, and volunteer settings where knowledge of professional resume writing is required but resume writing is not performed for the job seeker.
In any case, we feel strongly that this audience should be required to demonstrate their grasp of the changing resume writing landscape through renewal requirements as well.
We know this will get mixed reviews from career pros and we’re A-OK with that.
Our goal is to lighten the load and reward excellence and mastery.
The reality is that in this industry there are some resume certifications that require no renewal except for maintaining membership and there are others that require all the hoops.
More, most organizations opt to end at the entry-level credential and not extend to the career-growth opportunities that CDI supports.
This is what we are embracing for the master resume writers we certify.
Now in our 23rd year we maintain our confidence that CDI-certified resume writers at all levels will continue to be the best of the best industry-wide.
Is it time you joined the exceptional, elite certified resume writers in CDI?
While we’ve provided links to all our resume writing certifications above, we also offer courses and mentoring along with member’s only resume writing video tutorials from TORI award winners, and credentials in career specialty areas as well.
Check out the following:
- Resume Writing Certifications and Training
- Career Coaching Certifications and Training
- Association Membership
We’ll see you flying higher in CDI!
* CDI Membership is a prerequisite for all resume writing certifications except for the Certified Resume Analyst credential.
