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Certification is Good for You!

Many of us will have experienced the pressure of dealing with Continuing Professional Development (CPD), whether as a result of an initiative in the company we work in or as part of our own personal drive. Being able to prove a level of certification (such as Prince 2) gives us more status with our peers, gives our arguments more weight and aids career progression. However, not everyone is aware that there is an independently regulated certification scheme for bid and proposal professionals and we want to ensure you are not missing out.

 

CPD Benefits

CPD is an investment that we make in ourselves and if tackled with enthusiasm, it can also help us keep our skills up to date and prepare us for advancement. It can boost our confidence, strengthen our professional credibility and help us become more creative in tackling new challenges. It can make our working lives more interesting and can increase our job satisfaction.

In reality, all these benefits though important are somewhat intangible. However, in the formal bidding and tendering environment, we have some added incentives to certification.

 

Survey Results

We are beginning to see irrefutable evidence that such self-investment, coupled with external assessment, can lead directly to much better pay.  The Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), through our partner Bid Solutions, has been running salary surveys for several years. Now we can see clear trends emerging.

The APMP accredits its members at three levels of increasing competence; Foundation, Practitioner and Professional. The exciting thing is we now know that once certified, these members earn an average of 15% more than their peers*.

The survey results are very compelling. For specific levels of accreditation, progressing from Foundation to Practitioner level typically attracts a further 14% pay rise, whilst advancing to Professional level leads to an additional 30% increase.

If you are a bid professional and you want a pay rise, keep up the CPD and get your skills recognised by external assessment. After all, a 15% or 30% pay rise would be pretty handy, wouldn’t it?

Author: Peter Lobl APMP Director, Sixfold International

 

Learn More with Bid Writing Courses

We are pleased to announce that Sixfold has just been appointed as an ATO (Authorised Training Organisation) for the APMP. For more information please contact us on 020 8158 3952 / enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk

 

*SOURCE: APMP Salary Survey, Spring 2012; Bid Solutions Salary Survey, 2015

To learn more about bid writing courses, click here.


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