5 Online Certifications That Are Actually Worth Getting
Online courses are a convenient way to take the next step in your education and move up in your chosen profession. Online classes allow you to work at your own pace, juggle education alongside a busy schedule, and earn a digital certificate to help boost your career—all from the comfort of your home. Yet with so many different online certificate courses available, it can be difficult to decide which online classes are actually worth spending the time, money, and effort on. To help you in your decision-making, we break down the online courses that may actually make a difference in your job application.
CPR and First Aid
Medical professionals and first responders aren't the only ones who should get a first-aid certificate or CPR training. Lifeguards, teachers, construction workers, caregivers, flight attendants, and more can all benefit from first aid and CPR training. Knowing how to provide proper CPR is a great skill to have in the workplace.
Emergency situations like cardiac arrest don't always happen in a hospital, so if disaster strikes you can be confident and prepared to help. CPR courses are offered online and you can find the best online CPR certification along with renewal courses from the American CPR Care Association. The course material adheres to updated American Heart Association guidelines.
Project Management Professional
Listing organizational and project management skills on your resume is one thing, but actually having the certification to back those claims up may help you stand out on a job application. Whether you are a project manager or not, the knowledge gained from a Project Management Professional course (PMP) can be used in other management and leadership positions.
In order to be certified, you need to pass the PMP certification exam consisting of 200 multiple-choice questions related to project planning and implementation. You can prepare for the exam with a pmp certification online course from the comfort of your own home. Course material includes interactive learning modules, 35 contact hours, and four practice exams with sample PMP exam questions.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a well-known platform for customer relationship management (CRM). The software is the top CRM service out there with thousands of customers across numerous industries. Because of Salesforce's premier business status, many job descriptions now actually require this certification. Salesforce's CRM services include analytics, marketing, and application development. The platform offers several different certifications to choose from depending upon your career path: Administrator, Marketer, Developer, and Consultant.
HubSpot Inbound Marketing
This certification is great for someone interested in boosting their sales and marketing skills. Inbound marketing strategies are designed to drive customers to your company, rather than trying to chase after customers. Having certified knowledge in inbound marketing may make you an incredibly more appealing candidate to recruiters and employers. This free certificate course provides online training on a wide array of marketing tactics like analytics, e-mail marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, and social media.
Google Certifications
Google offers a number of well-respected certifications an employee or job candidate can benefit from. Google AdWords, Analytics, and Publisher University are just a few of the certificates you can earn with Google. Many recruiters find that candidates who possess these qualifications are actually at a stronger level in terms of proficiency and performance than others. Google Analytics is one of the primary data analytics platform used by companies in tracking website traffic, retaining customers, and assisting with SEO efforts. A job candidate with a certificate in Google Analytics may make quite an impression on an employer. A Google Analytics or Google AdWords certification can provide you with the basic information needed to construct paid search advertising campaigns and other SEO marketing tactics.
