Human Resource Associate™ Certification Importance and Benefits

The HRA certification is designated for non-HR professionals with supervisory or managerial experience along with non-exempt HR professionals. These positions range from administrative and clerical staff; non HR managers and supervisors, HR assistants, generalists, HR coordinators, and more. Certification demonstrates your ability to have both applied and theoretic knowledge of the HR industry in order to improve your opportunity to be hired into non-exempt HR positions.

SHRM (2010) reports that 90% of applicants hired into HR positions were required to have certification. Advance your career by registering today!

For Employers:

The HRA Certification (tm) recognizes non-exempt professionals for their applied work in entry-level HR, non-HR (but related) departments, and for learners seeking entry into HR. It is also designed for the recognition and development of small business professionals whose organizations need a recognized source for HR knowledge, but lack the need of an established HR professional or department.

The HRA certification benefits employers by:

  • Establishing the HR knowledge necessary to be known based on survey data from over 1200 HR industry professionals;
  • Ensuring applied performance by measuring employees:
    1. ability to be effective individual leaders
    2. ability to be effective in areas of time management, problem-solving, and accountability
    3. practical knowledge of electronic tools for office administration and support
    4. practical knowledge of key components of project management

The HRA certification is a tool designed to help employers recognize talent and hire talent for the right seat within the organization. This is the first step that individuals in clerical, coordinator, administrative, assistant, customer relations, office supervisor, office management, payroll or accounting should take especially if they handle HR related duties. By equipping your current staff with the HRA Certification(tm), owners can better manage their internal talent and align employee development goals with organizational needs.

Furthermore, for HR industry professionals, this program allows you to recognize the proper knowledge-base that not only draws from practical entry-level applied skills, but also ensures the necessary knowledge to function within an HR department. To this end, by using the HRA certification as a screening tool; the Professional HR and Senior Professional HR certifications will become better used for identification of mid-management HR roles while the HRA will provide recruiters with the ability to recognize top-performers for non-exempt HR positions and clerical support roles within the HR department.

For Employees &/or Job Seekers:

HRA is right for you if:

  • You have helped supervise or manage employees outside Human Resources;
  • • Engage in HR department support at the non-exempt level;
  • • Are responsible for assisting to hire, train, coach, develop, mentor, or lead teams of employees in non-HR specific roles including but not limited to: recruitment, sales management, sales training, operations, accounting, office management, or HR specific non-exempt roles.

Tired of putting out applications and never receiving a phone call or interview? The Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI, 2013) reports that 83% of hiring professionals and HR managers approve promotions or new hires based on demonstrated soft skills. Yet, those same professionals report they are UNABLE to attract and find such talent. The HRA Certification measures your applied soft skills in ares of: leadership, project management/support, and applied customer sercvice, communication, critical thinking, and personal independence.


According to SHRM (2010) 9 of 10 new hires and promotions were approved based on certification in addition to academic and applied merit. The Career Development System Report, developed by J. Paul Rand, PhD., further reports that the most recent trends in hiring suggest that professionals are better served with broad and general education and then further target and hone their professional expertise with institutional certifications.


Human Resources is a career profession that can provide lasting opportunity and a multitude of diversity. Unfortunately, according to information researched by SRP, Inc., many learners may complete higher education or training but fail to be recognized by hiring managers within HR departments because they are ineligible for the professional HR certifications.

Employees that have entry-level experience AND/OR engage in Human Resource RELATED duties (such as staff supervision, coaching, management, client relations, scheduling, coordination, etc.) should consider the HRA certification(tm) as the proper first step to not only learning the fundamentals of HR management, but also as being recognized by HR professionals looking to hire or promote professionals into one of the fastest growing professions across industries.