Is Certificate of Completion (COC) important for a learner?
Are HR’s really bothered about the Certificate of Completion (COC).
After screening more than 10,000 candidates over 9+ years from an eye of a Recruiter to a CEO. There is one similar pattern observed which most of the students try to showcase or in other words, validate their skill during interviews with and i.e. Certificate of completion for the acquired skill along with the resume.
Many students collapse their initial round of interviews because the focus area of learning is restricted to not go deep on the domain but for complete the course and receive a certificate of completion which would act as a self-satisfactory factor towards acquiring the specific skill. As a student, we always believe that certificate of completion is the only way to showcase my skill strongly to the recruiter. This is purely a MYTH. COC has become more of a business strategy to sell a course to a student rather than actually understanding the real meaning of a COC, bad part being as a student I also ask the same question “will I get a Certificate of completion if I buy the course”.
COC cannot be issued for a candidate who has just studied the course and not been evaluated. Although in our country, we were quick to adapt the business model erupting out of COC, companies started issuing COC on just studying the course without any validations of the acquired skill. We would have come across so many E-Learning or Offline Training companies who specifically mention about COC while selling their courses. This is just because they very well understand that India lacks the majority of disciplined learners and Certificate of completion is the primary objective & outcome for most of the learners. These companies also are aware that a learner lacks knowledge on understanding the actual definition of COC which becomes their main USP point of sale for a learner.
Let me share an excerpt of an interview which I was part of a couple of weeks back along with my project manager: A guy applying for a Java developer position and proving self as a deserving candidate by sharing resume along with the certificate of completion which mentions about completion of 40+ hours of a Java course could not answer questions asked by my project manager on Basic fundamental Logical problem-solving techniques on Database or C. The same experience we had with no less than 15+ candidates who were freshers and from a CSE background. The problem here was about candidate focusing on learning upper crust layered information about the technology and not implementing it real-time or self-evaluating on the acquired skill. But Certificate of completion was given by the respective training company to satisfy the learner’s demand.
Let’s understand how a COC is viewed from an employer point of view. An employer sees a COC as :
- Candidate has an interest in the particular domain and doesn't guarantee about the passion point for the candidate.
- Candidate carries knowledge from the same domain and has been certified by the recognized certifying body.
- Candidate is willing to be a continuous learner
We need to understand and be more adaptable to the changing times, recruiters are more focused to see a candidate deliver an acquired skill during the interview rather than just holding a COC. Without a certificate of completion, if a candidate is able to showcase the prerequisite skill needed for the job during an interview, it is well accepted by any recruiter.
So question is, what should we look at, instead of COC?
Any skill which you acquire and post completion of the course doesn't undergo any evaluation from an Industry-standard International recognized body, there is no need for a Certificate of completion. Instead, if the relevant details of the same acquired skill are added on your resume / CV ( like the source of acquired skill, course outcome, level of the course, duration, day, month when the course was started & completed) holds the same importance for any recruiter during an interview. Your chances of getting a job still stand the same with a COC or details of the skill mentioned in your CV / Resume.
Your primary focus as a learner should be on acquiring SKILL and not Certificate of Completion. Focus hard on the learnings of the course you are enrolled in, go deep on the fundamentals of the domain, ask doubts to your respective teachers, this will develop you much stronger on the skill you are trying to learn. In my next blog, I would also be focusing on how to draft and design an appealing resume with a sample resume for your reference
Your knowledge is highly valuable and COC is too small a component to measure or validate it. Pay for the quality of the course not for Certificate of Completion. I would just like to conclude with a wise one-liner said by a scholar “Skill is Temporary, Talent is Permanent “.
For any questions, you can write to me directly at ceo@learnmall.in