Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications that use post-nominal letters are an acknowledgement of educational achievement, or an agency appointed to safeguard the public interest.
A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing meaningful feedback, and by being a reliable source for accountability. Trainers also conduct a variety of assessments beginning with a preparticipation health-screening and may also include assessments of posture and movement, flexibility, balance, core function, cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular fitness, body composition, and skill-related parameters to observe and gather relevant information needed to develop an effective exercise program and support client goal attainment.
A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a legal professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals is broad, including consultancies, companies that have legal departments or that perform legislative and regulatory compliance activities in areas such as environment, labor, intellectual property, zoning, and tax. Legal offices and public bodies also have many paralegals in support activities using other titles outside of the standard titles used in the profession. There is a diverse array of work experiences attainable within the paralegal field, ranging between internship, entry-level, associate, junior, mid-senior, and senior level positions.
An arborist, tree surgeon, or arboriculturist, is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants in dendrology and horticulture.
An engineering technologist is a professional trained in certain aspects of development and implementation of a respective area of technology. An education in engineering technology concentrates more on application and less on theory than does an engineering education. Engineering technologists often assist engineers; but after years of experience, they can also become engineers. Like engineers, areas where engineering technologists can work include product design, fabrication, and testing. Engineering technologists sometimes rise to senior management positions in industry or become entrepreneurs.
The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) is a learned society dedicated to promoting the science and education of exploration geophysics in particular and geophysics in general. The Society fosters the expert and ethical practice of geophysics in the exploration and development of natural resources, in characterizing the near-surface, and in mitigating earth hazards. As of November 2019, SEG has more than 14,000 members working in more than 114 countries. SEG was founded in 1930 in Houston, Texas but its business office has been headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma since the mid-1940s. While most SEG members are involved in exploration for petroleum, SEG members also are involved in application of geophysics methods to mineral exploration as well as environmental and engineering problems, archaeology, and other scientific endeavors. SEG publishes The Leading Edge (TLE), a monthly professional magazine, Geophysics, a peer-reviewed archival publication, and Interpretation, a peer-reviewed journal co-published by SEG and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Building design, also called architectural design, refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complicated projects often do not require a licensed professional, and the design of such projects is often undertaken by building designers, draftspersons, interior designers, or contractors. Larger, more complex building projects require the services of many professionals trained in specialist disciplines, usually coordinated by an architect.
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit professional organization.
A clinical research associate (CRA), also called a clinical monitor or trial monitor, is a health-care professional who performs many activities related to medical research, particularly clinical trials. Clinical research associates work in various settings, such as pharmaceutical companies, medical research institutes and government agencies. Depending on the jurisdiction, different education and certification requirements may be necessary, although not usually required, to practice as a clinical research associate. The main tasks of the CRA are defined by good clinical practice guidelines for monitoring clinical trials, such as those elaborated by the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use. A CRA would subsequently grow into a Feasibility Leader, Study Start up Leader, Project Manager, and Project Director at a Pharmaceutical company or a contract research organization. A CRA is usually required to possess an academic degree in Life Sciences and needs to have a good knowledge of good clinical practice and local regulations.
Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit. Accreditation is a specific organization's process of certification. According to the U.S. National Council on Measurement in Education, a certification test is a credentialing test used to determine whether individuals are knowledgeable enough in a given occupational area to be labeled "competent to practice" in that area.
Following is a partial list of professional certifications in financial services, with an overview of the educational and continuing requirements for each; see Professional certification § Accountancy, auditing and finance and Category:Professional certification in finance for all articles. As the field of finance has increased in complexity in recent years, the number of available designations has grown, and, correspondingly, some will have more recognition than others. Note that in the US, many state securities and insurance regulators do not allow financial professionals to use a designation — in particular a "senior" designation — unless it has been accredited by either the American National Standards Institute or the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.
A Landman or "Petroleum Landman"—in the United States and Canada—is an individual who performs various services for oil and gas exploration companies. According to the website of the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL), these services include but are not limited to: negotiating for the acquisition or divestiture of mineral rights; negotiating business agreements that provide for the exploration and/or development of minerals; determining ownership in minerals through the research of public and private records; reviewing the status of title, curing title defects and otherwise reducing title risk associated with ownership in minerals; managing rights and/or obligations derived from ownership of interests in minerals; and unitizing or pooling of interests in minerals.
Board certification is the process by which a physician or other professional demonstrates a mastery of advanced knowledge and skills through written, oral, practical, or simulator-based testing.
The Society of Petroleum Engineers has a petroleum engineering certification program whereby it certifies the technical knowledge of petroleum engineers. The certification is granted based on an examination in conjunction with experience of the applicant. Once certified individuals must renew their certification annually to keep it current. A list of current SPE-certified petroleum engineers is available online.
An urban planner is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning.
Energy Management (EM) is a business-specific degree, with a broad curriculum focusing on multiple facets of the energy industry: business, geology, petroleum engineering, and law. The American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) provides curriculum guidance and program support for approved petroleum land management programs. Currently, the AAPL has 10 accredited universities in the United States and Canada.
Andrew S. Long is an Australian geophysicist. He has a PhD in geophysics (1996) from the University of Western Australia, and a post-doctoral term at Stanford University. He is a leader in the application of geophysical technologies to exploration for oil and gas in marine areas, and has written and presented several papers at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (ASEG), the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) and many other international conventions and journals.
A certified paralegal or certified legal assistant is the title of paralegals in the United States who have met certain education and work experience requirements and have passed one of a number of available certification exams. The primary function of paralegals is to assist attorneys in the delivery of legal services. According to the American Bar Association: "A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training and/or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible." Because certification programs are voluntary in most states, a paralegal may find work in the field without obtaining certification. Additionally, requirements for certification may vary by state.
The American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS) is a professional organization that provides certification of animal scientists through examination. It also develops and promotes a code of ethics, offers continuing education, and disseminates scientific information through publication of the peer-reviewed journal Applied Animal Science
The Academy of Certified Archivists is an American independent, nonprofit organization of professional archivists founded in 1989.
