SHRM-CP Certification

No, you do not need an HR degree to sit the SHRM-CP, and you do not need an HR job title either. SHRM sets no education minimum and no experience minimum for this credential; a basic working knowledge of HR practice is recommended, not required. That makes money, not eligibility, the first real gate. The standard exam fee is USD $399 for SHRM members and USD $499 for non-members, and applying before the early-bird deadline brings that down to USD $350 and USD $450.

That combination is unusual. Most professional certifications at this level ask for a degree, a set number of years in the field, or both, and they check before they take your money. SHRM checks nothing of the sort for the SHRM Certified Professional. The door is open; what stands behind it is a 134-question paper that half the time asks not what you know but what you would do.

This guide is about getting through that door well. It covers who can apply, what the whole thing costs once the application fee and the avoidable extras are counted, how the application windows work, what the exam is built from, and how to prepare so that you pay the fee once. Everything about the credential's senior sibling and about life after you pass is deliberately left aside here.

Acknowledging that many HR practitioners come into the profession, pursuing an HR certification can be an excellent way to prove expertise in the industry. But is getting certified worth it? And which one should you seek? Many senior HR professionals have received certification from the major players: the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the HR Certification Institute (HRCI).

Though HRCI created as an extension of SHRM, SHRM stopped offering PHR certification in 2014 and launched its own set of exams. SHRM assigned the majority of its current membership from the standard PHR to this new SHRM certification.