Enhancing Your Career for the Digital Workforce Through Certifications

1. Enhancing Your Career for the Digital Workforce Through Certifications

2. Overview of Certiport • Established in 1997 • Exclusive worldwide administrator of the Microsoft Office Specialist and IC³ certification programs • Use concurrent and simulation technologies Certiport is the leading provider of global, performance-based certification programs and services designed to enable individual success and lifetime advancement through certification

3. Overview of Certiport (cont.) • Worldwide Statistics • Close to 2.1 million validated exams delivered • Over 1,400,000 certifications issued • The Microsoft Office Specialist program is the fastest growing computer certification • 9,000 testing centers • 40,000 exams monthly • 18 languages • 114 countries • 47 Courseware publishers

4. Why Certify? • Advance in education and career • Increase productivity • Stand out from the competition • Portable proof of skills • “Certification creates a workforce capable of delivering higher service levels” • Prometric Study • “Even in recession, value of certifications has held steady…” • www.eweek.com/itcareerscenter

5. Microsoft Office Specialist Put Microsoft on Your Resume

6. A huge need and opportunity • Over 250 million Microsoft Office users across the globe • 95% of all businesses standardize on Microsoft Office • However, the average user only understands 20% of the functionality available in the Office suite

7. Microsoft Office Specialist • Independent confirmation of an individual’s mastery of Microsoft Office programs • Word, Excel, PowerPoint®, Access, Outlook® and Project • Certification of true abilities via realistic, performance-based tests • The only credential of its kind provided by Microsoft • Rapid growth of certifications worldwide since July, 1998 • Year-over-year growth: 1999 +553%; 2000 +203%; 2001 +161%

8. Testing Method • Questions • Based upon “objectives or tasks” defined by Subject Matter Experts • Correspond to real world tasks • Written by professional item writers • Validated by professional psychometricians • Exams • Performance-based exams (45 minutes) • Core level certification meets basic features in Microsoft Office applications • Expert level certification meets advanced features in Microsoft Office applications

9. Certification Benefits • Provides individuals with credentials indicating mastery of Microsoft Office programs • Empowers and expands opportunities • Professional benefits: • Credible proof of Office proficiency • Key differentiator in competitive job market • Student benefits: Recognized credential for college admission and job applications • Distinguishes student as having business technology skills and the desire to excel • Opportunity to earn transferable college credits

10. Benefits For Employers • Signifies an employee’s ability to leverage Microsoft Office programs for organizational success • Serves as a reliable performance-oriented standard of competency • Streamlines the applicant screening process • Identifies individuals that actually possess, rather than profess, critical business desktop skills • Identifies employees who can make a difference • A visible example of skills enhancement to fellow workers increases professional credibility

11. Improving the Workplace • The following 4 slides highlight the effectiveness of Microsoft Office Specialist “on the job” • Data from a survey of 13,700 Microsoft Office Specialist examinees and their supervisors • Survey administered by independent 3rd party research organization

12. Improves competence • Individuals who have successfully completed Microsoft Office Specialist certification have more competence in work performed • 80%of employees felt Microsoft Office Specialist increased their competence with Microsoft Office applications • 89% of supervisors stated Microsoft Office Specialist certification resulted in increased employee competence with Microsoft Office applications

13. Increases productivity • Individuals who have successfully completed Microsoft Office Specialist certification show an overall increase in productivity • 73% of employees and 85% of supervisors feel Microsoft Office Specialist certification has a positive impact on employee productivity

14. Raises employee credibility • Individuals who have successfully completed Microsoft Office Specialist certification are more credible • 86% of supervisors feel Microsoft Office Specialist certification has a positive effect on employee professional credibilityamong co-workers • 80% of supervisors feel Microsoft Office Specialist certification has a positive effect on employee professional credibility with customers and clients

15. Recruitment and Promotion • Microsoft Office Specialist has a positive effect on recruitment and promotion • 71% of supervisors feel Microsoft Office Specialist certification is advantageous to employees considered in hiring, promotion, and advancement decisions

16. Benefits For Educators • Provides students with the skills, confidence and credentials needed to excel academically and professionally • Signifies students’ ability to apply Office knowledge and skills to common academic and business tasks • Gives students a recognized and highly-credible credential • Positions the institution as a “technology leader” • Provides a ready-to-use, modular examination format • Reliable method for evaluating the effectiveness of computer training • Provides faculty with a method to increase and verify their own skills

17. A rapidly growing list of schools Over 2,000 educational institutions Pepperdine University Notre Dame University Clemson University Northern Illinois University Texas A&M University Montana State University Texas Christian University University of Michigan University of Arkansas University of Akron Roosevelt University University of Texas Louisiana State University University of Kentucky Albany State University Fullerton College Catawba Valley CC Cuyahoga CC Delaware Tech & CC Hudson Valley CC Oklahoma City CC Loyalist College Spokane CC Jamestown CC Southwest Texas Junior College Santa Barbara City College Hilton High School Red River High School Potomac Senior High School Yakima School Dist.

18. What employers are saying • "When our employees earn Microsoft Office certification, they prove to themselves and our clients that they can effectively troubleshoot and provide solutions to clients over the phone. Certification is an integral part of our Microsoft Office training program.” • Kyle Root, IT training manager for EDS Global Support Services

19. American Express FedEx JP Morgan Bank Levi Strauss and Company McDonald’s Corporation Pepsi-Cola Pfizer Scholastic Inc. Sprint PCS Sysco Foods Verizon US Bancorp UPS Wells Fargo Financial Cigna Health Care GMAC Ikon Office Solutions Albertson’s Briggs & Stratton New York Life Asset Mgmt Chrysler Financial Corporation KB Home Target Group, Inc. Centex Homes Companies with Certified employees

20. What your peers are saying • "As an industry-recognized standard, certification shows employers that a candidate is proficient in using Microsoft applications. The clear result is a stronger bottom line through dollars saved, dollars earned, or both." • Jeff Johnson, Associate Dean of Computer Training, Bellevue Community College

21. Certiport Exam Delivery System • Candidates take exam in proctored environment • Any computer lab can be a testing center • Candidates receive printed score results • Results are uploaded to global candidate database • Certiport delivers certificate to passing candidates • Candidates can view their online Digital Transcripts

22. Digital Transcript Service • Secure, authenticated website • Candidates can view exam and certification results online at any time • Instantaneous results • Access can be granted for educators, employers, and staffing agencies to verify candidate results

23. Sample Digital Transcript

24. Enhance Programs with Certification • Test Out options • Course placement • Final course exams • Teacher professional development • Community workforce development

25. Questions and Answers www.certiport.com