PHR/SPHR Certification

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PHR and SPHR certification is intended for professionals who have at least two years of exempt-level HR work experience. To be eligible to take either exam, candidates must demonstrate that:

• At least 51 percent of their daily activities are within the human resource function.
• Those activities are at the exempt-level.
• The exams reflect today's HR practices. Although two years of exempt-level HR work experience need not be current or sequential, the more recent the experience the more likely it will coincide with the exam's content.
• For additional information visit the web site http://www.hrci.org/certification/phr-sphr.

To qualify for either exam, candidates must demonstrate work experience in an exempt-level HR position. "Exempt" is defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its amendments. All managers and supervisors have some HR responsibilities as part of their jobs, but it is generally not the dominant work function on a daily basis, and therefore would not make them eligible to take the exam. In the HR field, exempt-level positions are categorized as:

• HR practitioners (those whose job duties are normally found in the typical HR function).
• HR educators (those whose principal areas of instruction are in the HR field in an accredited institution of higher learning).
• HR researchers (those whose research activities are restricted primarily to the HR field).
• HR consultants (those whose consulting activities are primarily in the HR field).

Choosing the Appropriate Exam Level
With this in mind, HRCI strongly recommends that PHR candidates have two to four years of exempt-level HR work experience and SPHR candidates have six to eight years of exempt-level HR work experience.

Click here for more information on the Spring 2008 UNF certification classes

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Recertification Information

Study Group Session Application