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Five Certification Mistakes You Don't Have to Make
Certification plans don't always go smoothly, but by learning from those who have gone before, you can bypass the most common mistakes and take the fast lane to certification.
By GoCertify Staff
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Error: Failing to shop around
Don't you hate it when you buy something at what you think is a good price only to see it advertised a week later somewhere else for a third less? It happens all the time with consumer purchases, and it can happen with training purchases, too.
While you might not be willing to expend much effort to save three dollars on a pair of shoes, when it comes to training packages, your potential savings are much higher. For a one time investment of an hour or less, you may save fifty, a hundred, or even a thousand dollars. When choosing your certification training, pay attention to the features each option has to offer, weigh benefits against cost, and above all, shop around. Unless, of course, money is no object.
Error: Failing to set deadlines for yourself
You've no doubt heard the saying, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." If you have multiple priorities competing for your time, you may well find yourself playing the role of grease monkey and running from project to project, applying the lubrication that will keep things going. Meanwhile, projects that aren't in crisis go untended, until they begin to squeak, too, or are completely forgotten. Certification preparation is rarely one of the squeaky wheels. Because of that, it often falls low on the scale of daily priorities. Unless you take action to keep this from happening, your certification plans will languish and your goals will go unmet.
The best way to avoid the pitfall of inaction is to create deadlines for yourself. This should occur as part of the process of creating your personal certification plan. Each requirement should have a deadline date. If the requirement is that you pass a test, go ahead and schedule the test. As each deadline approaches, the urgency of finding time to train and prepare will grow until, like the proverbial squeaky wheel, it demands your attention. Tending to these artificially induced squeaks will keep your certification wheel turning.
Deadlines also help you escape the big P: procrastination. If you're a person who doesn't get things done until the last minute, deadlines will generate time pressure to keep you on track.
Plan, Perform, And Follow Through
If there's one key to successful use of certification as a career booster, it's attention. You control each stage, from choosing your certification to selecting your training and setting deadlines. A mistake here and there won't keep you from reaching your certification goal, but if you avoid these top certification mistakes, you'll fast be on your way to certification success.
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