AUDITORIUM - Dekra

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Personnel certifi cation Expertise becoming a trademark Personnel certification is a response to the rapid changes in the labour market and the rising demand for expertise there. School qualifications or traineeships will gradually lose their value in the future. Much more important will be the skills which an employee needs to carry out his or her work. In order to document and evaluate these skills DEKRA Certification has developed a range of services for ISO 17024-based personnel certification which is internationally recognised and comparable, and which also meets corporate demands. Professional learning does not end on completion of a traineeship or on receipt of school reports or certificates. Under the Accreditation Act, personnel certification represents “formal certification of conformity by an impartial third party”. This defines the specialist skills required for working in a particular field. The employee is also certified as being in possession of sufficient practical and specialist skills for this particular area. This yields advantages both to companies and employees. Certification gives companies the certainty that their new employees are suitably qualified. It also gives them transparency, both internally and externally, regarding the level of skills and expertise within the company. Nowadays it is standard practice to pay frequent visits to suppliers to monitor production conditions, and certification provides a decisive means of boosting a company’s image. Above all, with certification, companies offering consultancy or other services can provide their customers with a degree of security concerning the quality of the services. Here, and in many other sectors too, the tool of personnel certification offers companies the opportunity to record and evaluate the skills and performance of their employees on a comparable basis. This gives companies transparency when it comes to human resources development. In addition, staff with certified skills are easier to assign within a wage and salary structure. In the case of companies which operate internationally, personnel certification also provides defined skills levels at multiple locations. In this way ISO 17024 becomes an internationally recognised and comparable “trademark”. But employees, too, benefit from certification. Their professional learning does not end on completion of their traineeship or on receipt of school reports or certificates. Work today places a wide range of professional demands upon employees – and at frequently changing locations. During his or her professional career, each employee will gain a large number of skills. These are often not documented, but may well be a precondition for being able to carry out a particular task. Personnel certification can represent an important yardstick for skills and quality, especially in sectors where there is great demand for a highly skilled workforce and ongoing further training yet few specific professional training opportunities. 4 > Your contact: Thomas Brauns, Fon +49.711.7861- 3426, thomas.brauns@dekra-certification.com
It’s people who make the difference Thomas Brauns, Head of Personnel Certification In markets which are increasingly saturated with products with little to choose between, it is above all people who make the difference. Which is why growing numbers of companies are investing in the skills and performance of their employees as decisive competition factors. The certification of personal and professional skills is a crucial key to success. Just why DEKRA Certification, the first certification service provider in Germany, is offering the certification of operations managers is explained by Thomas Brauns in an interview. He is in charge of the Personnel Certification unit at DEKRA Certification. AUDITORIUM: There is a shortage of skilled employees in many parts of industry. Is personnel certification a suitable tool for tackling this problem? Brauns: Personnel certification by itself is certainly not suitable for remedying past inadequacies in employees’ school education or in their initial and further training. But it is a tool which can help raise employees’ skills levels in areas with great demand for skilled specialists and ongoing training but with few dedicated professional training or study programmes. And, what’s more, by means of a certificate from an impartial organisation such as DEKRA. AUDITORIUM: Where do you think there is great demand and which sectors would stand to benefit most? AUDITORIUM: The term “operations manager” is very broad in scope. Who exactly are you addressing here? Brauns: The certification is aimed at team leaders, master craftsmen, foremen, shift workers and also health care managers. In the programme we combine the external expert’s knowledge with the employees’ internal know-how. In well-balanced blend training units the participants are trained in personal, specialist and social skills. The course is completed by a practical project, an interview and a written test. Successful candidates are then issued a certificate. This is valid for an initial period of three years, within which time the criteria for an extension must be fulfilled. Certification increases quality, profits and – above all – employee satisfaction. Because only satisfied employees can produce satisfied customers. Brauns: Comparable and measurable standards for personal and professional skills amongst employees are required above all in the health sector and in the IT industry. But across the board there is great demand from employees working in the field of quality and environment management, but also from trainers, expert witnesses and people in all kinds of advisory positions. In France we’re certifying property assessors, for example, whereas in Germany we’re certifying experts in composite thermal insulation systems. AUDITORIUM: Employees are quite often promoted to manage rial positions, especially in rapidly growing companies. And in many cases, these employees find the additional responsibility more of a burden than an opportunity. Can personnel certification for companies and employees help here? Brauns: We are well aware of the gulf between what is desirable and what actually happens. This can often hold back the development of an individual employee – and also that of the entire company. DEKRA offers ISO 17024 certification of operations managers. 5
Page 1 and 2: AUDITORIUM Specialist publication f
Page 3: Editorial Skilled employees - your
Page 7 and 8: No access for unauthorised people.
Page 9 and 10: Proud winners of the 2008 DEKRA Awa
Page 11 and 12: Sustainability New ideas help unlea
Page 13 and 14: There are roughly 50,000 IT centres
Page 15 and 16: Intensification and restructuring o
Page 17 and 18: “Without the certified management
Page 19 and 20: In a nutshell Oleksandr Litkovskyy

AUDITORIUM - Dekra

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