HRCP, a leading provider of human resource study materials, has announced that it has helped more than 100,000 HR professionals advance their careers in a span of 28 years. It does this through its comprehensive offering, which include prep courses, printed review materials, and online micro-credentials under its Micro HR brand.
HRCP was co-founded in 1995 by David J. Cherrington (DBA, SPHR) and Laura Z. Middleton (SPHR, SPHRi), two human resources industry specialists. Cherrington, a retired university professor, was part of the HR Certification Institute Board of Directors from 1989 to 1995. He saw that people who failed the HR Certification exam were disheartened, and that the available preparation materials at the time were subpar. This led him to create his own material, teaming up with his former student to establish the company. Middleton, who is also an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University, has passed the HR certification exams on nine separate occasions.
The field of human resources is very fast-moving, especially in the legal environment. There has also been a huge change in how people work in the past few years, with the pandemic making remote and hybrid work much more popular than ever before. To ensure that HR professionals are always up to date with all the latest developments in the profession, HRCP updates its materials on a yearly basis. Throughout the year, it collects articles and information on human resources, as well as input from its customers, which include instructors who use their materials. The customers provide HRCP with suggestions for topics that the material may have missed or correct things that they feel are inaccurate.
“Human resources is a constantly changing and evolving field, so the material must keep up with all the developments. We are constantly updating our content and reinventing how we do things, so even when we say that we're a 28-year-old company, it doesn't feel like it's 28 years because we're reborn every year,” Middleton says.
Among the recent developments in human resources is the growing adoption of micro-credentials and digital badging. Taking a page from the IT industry, HRCP offers quick, affordable online courses that provide credentials on a total of 13 areas of human resources, such as employment, organizational ethics, and employee compensation. These are instantly verifiable and stackable, and the short, modular nature makes them easy for professionals to complete, even while juggling a busy work schedule.
“It's really amazing that HRCP has grown into something larger than I imagined. The company was started in a spare bedroom that we've converted into a home office. I was incredibly elated when, for the first time, an instructor called us and ordered 25 sets of our materials for their class. But now, we ship more than that in a single day. HR certification isn't going to go away. It's something that has been important in the field of human resources for the past 40 years, and it will remain important for the next 40. However, the nature of credentialing for human resource people is changing, and HRCP is one of the first to embrace the reality that more and more HR professionals are interested in earning micro-credentials and digital badges,” Middleton says.
Media contact:
Name: Terri Varnell
Email: [email protected]
