Yesterday SHRM Announced the new Talent Acquisition Specialty Credential. The new TA credential from SHRM is designed for HR pros who have a portion of their responsibility in talent acquisition, and have a desire to move into a full time recruiting role, or just want to increase your TA abilities.

You do not have to be SHRM-CP or SCP to take the Talent Acquisition Specialty Credential, all you have to do is pay for and pass the test! Now, SHRM will be offering training courses through SHRM learning for this specialty credential:

• Talent Acquisition: Getting the Candidate to Yes
• Talent Acquisition: Onboarding
• Talent Acquisition: Global Hiring
• Talent Acquisition: Technology and Social Media
• Talent Acquisition: Analytics
• Talent Acquisition: Trends

“SHRM’s Talent Acquisition Specialty Credential addresses the specialized, rapidly changing universe of the talent acquisition professional,” said Nick Schacht, SHRM’s chief global development officer. “Even more importantly, it develops participant skills to ensure that successful talent acquisition efforts lead to a sustainable, high-performing workforce.”

So, what do I think of the new SHRM Talent Acquisition Specialty Credential? 

I love it! You can definitely see SHRM’s trend towards micro-credentialing (they also have a special California specialty credential as well, and others are in the works). We are living in a world where people want to skill-up and re-skill quickly and going through a long degree program, or getting a full-blown certification, might not be what is really needed.

We know that corporate HR folks need and want to better be able to recruit talent to their organizations. SHRM recognizes this and has moved quickly to give talent acquisition professionals training and credentials to show their organizations they’re doing something tangible to move the needle.

Being the President-Elect for the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals (ATAP), I love any organization and program this is working to help people be better TA pros. Will this solve all of your TA issues? No, but it’s one more step in the right direction of building credibility and quality among the profession of talent acquisition.

I’ve been a vocal advocate of talent acquisition education and development, and eventually I would love to see a world where TA pros and leaders will have the same certification ability as our HR peer group, as TA is definitely a full-blown, separate profession at this point, not just another silo under the HR umbrella.

SHRM’s development of a Specialty Credential is a big step for the TA profession as the world’s largest HR association is keenly aware of the impact of great TA practices in an organization and understands that a great majority of SHRM members have TA responsibility as part of their overall responsibility.

For those HR pros looking to learn more about becoming a TA pro, take a look at SHRM’s new credential, if you want to continue to help move the TA profession forward in a big way, come join us at ATAP!