Certified Career Strategist Credentialing Program
Certified Career Strategist (CCS) Testing Process
In order to obtain and maintain your Certified Career Strategist (CCS)
designation, you must meet all of the following requirements:
- Complete and pass an on-line CCS Challenge Exam. (PART 1)
- Submit by e-mail and pass an evaluation of a case study and client reference. (PART 2)
- Maintain a current membership with Career Professionals of Canada.
How the CCS Program Works
The CCS program is a self-study program that validates your expertise as a career
strategist.
You complete the program on your schedule. Once you have paid for the
program, received your CCS Certification Study Guide (ebook), and
started your CCS credentialing program, you have up to one full year to
study, prepare, and complete the 2-part testing process.
The complete process operates remotely on-line and through the
internet. You can study and complete the program in your office or at
home.
Career Professionals of Canada operates on a “trust” basis. As an
ethical professional, you must ensure that you complete both parts of
the 2-part testing process on your own and without any assistance from
others.
PART 1 (CCS Challenge Exam)
The CCS Challenge Exam is designed to test your competencies as a
professional career strategist. You will write an online, open-book
exam based on the material in the CCS Certification Study Guide (ebook).
The CCS Challenge Exam is performed remotely at your home or office. The online
system is timed. You will have two hours
to write the exam. If you feel that your experience sufficiently
prepares you for the challenge exam and you have studied the CCS
Certification Study Guide, it is not mandatory to complete a course in
order to take the challenge exam.
Once you are ready to write your online challenge exam, you must e-mail info@CareerProCanada.ca
with subject line "CCS Challenge Exam Request" to request a user name
and password. Your username, password, and further instructions will
then be e-mailed directly to you. From that point on, you can feel free
to connect when you are ready. Your access will be available for one
full week, but remember, once you start the exam, you’ll have two hours to complete the exam.
The CCS Challenge Exam consists of an on-line test that consists of two sections:
- Section 1 consists of 25 multiple-choice questions.
- Section 2 consists of 25 true and false questions.
The exam is open-book, so make sure to keep your CCS Certification
Study Guide handy. You can write this exam anytime during your day, but
make sure that you schedule enough time for yourself. You’ll need to
work in a quiet place, where you have no interruptions or distractions.
Your CCS Challenge Exam will be marked by an automated system and
verified by CPC staff. To pass PART 1 of the testing process, you must
achieve a grade of 60% or above on the online CCS Challenge Exam. You
will be notified of your status for PART 1 within three business days
of exam completion.
You have one month to place any inquiries on your exam. After this, your exam
results will be kept on file for 3 months.
After that, the exam itself will be removed from our systems.
PART 2 (Independent Evaluation)
To ensure that you can effectively use the concepts you have learned, you must
pass an Independent Evaluation of a case study.
When you are ready to start PART 2 of the 2-part certification process,
you will provide us with a case study supported by a letter of
reference from your client. E-mail your case study in Microsoft Word
format directly to info@CareerProCanada.ca with subject line “CCS Evaluation Submission.”
Your 2000 word case study must adequately discuss the following:
The competencies that you utilized in the following areas:
The strategy that you performed to support your client’s career development needs.
Client Reference and Confidentiality Requirements
We require that you obtain a letter of reference and, to honour your
client’s confidentiality, written agreement to use their experience as
part of your case presentation. Please instruct your client to send an
e-mail from their originating email to info@CareerProCanada.ca with the subject line "CCS Evaluation Submission - <insert your name>" as
shown in the box below.
Your client’s e-mail must effectively respond to the following questions:
How would you describe your experience of working with an career strategist?
What skills and concepts did you learn from this training?
Did your career strategist effectively support your job search initiatives? If
so, how?
Client approval example:
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To: info@CareerProCanada.ca Subject: CCS Evaluation Submission - Candidate's Name
I, Name of client, authorize Name of credential applicant to release information regarding career services provided to Career Professionals of Canada (CPC). I understand that this information will be reviewed by CPC’s Certification Review members for the sole purpose of assessing my strategist's abilities and qualifications. I understand that the information will be kept confidential and will not be shared with any other party.
Sincerely, Client's Phone Number
|
Three independent Assessors will evaluate your case study and client
e-mail. Each Assessor will evaluate you on a grading form that provides
a uniform set of standards covering the following broad categories (as
applicable to your case study and situation you outlined):
Your Competencies:
- Setting the Foundation
- Co-Creating the Relationship
- Communicating Effectively
- Facilitating Learning and Results
Your Strategy:
- Assessment of client needs
- Overall understanding of client profile
- Client’s Value Proposition and related strengths
- Understanding of client’s point of view
- Understanding of how stress may affect client
- Awareness of client’s teamwork abilities
- Awareness of client’s leadership style
- Ability to transfer results to marketing documents
- Creation of developmental steps
- Understanding of client’s target market
- Ability to build client confidence
- Focus on stress management
To pass PART 2 of the testing process, you must achieve an average
grade of 60% or more on the evaluation of your submission. You will be
notified of your status for PART 2 within four weeks of your submission.
Once you have achieved your CCS certification, your designation is
valid as long as you remain an active member of Career Professionals of
Canada. There is no recertification fee.
Next Steps: MCCS Certification
