HR Practitioner Licence

1.0 Introduction:

1.1 At the 114th meeting of the Governing Council of the Institute held on Friday, December 16th 2011, the Council considered and approved the institution of Practitioner Licence for Human Resource Practitioners in Nigeria effective 2012.

1.2 The licence would be the major instrument for achieving its mission of “Regulating the practice of Human Resource Management and the promotion of the acquisition and application of knowledge in Human Resource Management” It would also serve as a strategic instrument as is the case with other professional bodies of its class, for ensuring continuous advancement of the practitioners knowledge and competence.

2.0 The HR Practitioner Licence:

2.1 The Human Resource Practitioner Licence (HRPL) is a licence to operate /practice and endorsement /certification by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria to its holder of his/her worthiness to practice the profession within and according to the ethos of the profession over specified validity period.

2.2 The licence would have validity, relevance and value for the performance of Human Resource Management roles as mandated by the enabling CIPM Acts. Holders of the licence would be adjudged and accorded appropriate recognition and worth as possessing the requisite knowledge, competencies and skills to operate as HR Practitioners.

3.0 Objective:

A key objective of the licence is the establishment of a framework that will in the main, engender sustained professionalism in the practice of Human Resource Management and deliver compelling value to all the stakeholders through the certification, re-certification and validation processes.

4.0 Value Proposition:

The HR Practitioner Licence scheme would offer value in the following areas;

• 4.1. Globally, certifications/ licences are acknowledged as key in market differentiation and preference when making hiring decisions in many organizations.
• 4.2. Sets the holder apart as active practitioner as against others who are mere members of the Institute.
• 4.3. Ensures continued advancement of holder’s skills and competence along the emerging developments in the profession
• 4.4. Engenders sense of accountability, confidence and continuous strive for commitment to the ethos of the profession.
• 4.5. Establishes and confers the confidence of stakeholders and other recipients of the holder’s service, of his/her currency, business relevance and a measure of quality assurance of his services.
• 4.6. Provides an auditable and credible medium and platform for validating the quality of the service of the holder benchmarked against similar/identical body both locally and internationally.
• 4.7. Demonstrates and recognizes diligence and commitment to the ethics and professional standards required of practitioners and provides a credible medium for enforcing such standards
• 4.8. Serve as an instrument that confers on the issuing professional body, the authority that relates to its mandate under the enabling charter.
• 4.9. Sets the framework for disciplinary measures, control and checks against deviations from standards and negligence on the part of the practitioner.
• 4.10. Enhances the loyalty of the holder to the profession.
• 4.11. Establishes a recurrent link with the requisite knowledge, skills and competences of licence holders to the core body of knowledge that underlie the value chain of the profession.
• 4.12. Serves as check against unauthorized presentations, representations or performance of the activities of the profession by persons not so duly authorized.

5.0 Eligibility:

5.1 The Human Resource Practitioner Licence (HRPL) will in the first instance be issued to all CIPM certified members who maintain current and up to date minimum of the Associate level membership of the Institute attained through either the examination or the Practitioner routes. The Licence shall also be issued to newly qualifying professionals at inductions. Honorary members irrespective of class of membership are not eligible for the Practitioner licence.

6.0 Validity of Licence:

6.1 All licences will have validity of 3 years after which the holder will be required to revalidate/renew the licence.

6.2 Holders of licences exceeding their validity cycle will no longer be authorized to practice the profession and all Human Resource roles, activities or contract entered into during such period will not have professionally certified backing and null and void. It will be illegal for holders of such expired licence to make any professional HR representations and presentations.

7.0 Revalidation of Licence:

7.1 Licences once issued will be due for revalidation at the expiry of the mandatory validity period. Holders will have the option of validating their licence through either examinations or Continuous Professional Education and work activities.

A) Examination Route:

Practitioners opting for this route will be required to sit for the requisite scenario examination covering the Human Resource body of knowledge and the HR value chain not later than one month to the end of their licence validity cycle. This will be an objective type examination around practical business issues demanding HR solutions.

Attainment of a minimum score of 60% will be required for pass in this examination.

Unsuccessful attempts could be repeated immediately on line or next sessions at the exam centres.

B) Continued Professional Education and Work Activities:

Practitioners could also validate/renew their licences through the accumulation of credit points from their professional education and approved work related activities.

A minimum of 60 credit points will be required for renewal for the 3 year licence validity cycle.

7.2 Accumulation of credit points:

Credit points for the purpose of licence renewal could be obtained from the following activities listed here

7.3 Capturing of activities for credit points:

During the course of a holder’s licence cycle, the practitioner is expected to keep a log of relevant experiences and job related activities in the form that would be captured as credit earnings to be used in support of licence renewal.During the course of a holder’s licence cycle, the practitioner is expected to keep a log of relevant experiences and job related activities in the form that would be captured as credit earnings to be used in support of licence renewal.

An “My page” professional development activity log will be created for all licenced professionals at the institute’s website into which the practitioner would after each activity, record in the provided format, smart narrative of the activity and submit to the scheme Administrator.

Hard copies of evidence of such activities could also be mailed to the Administrator by those who may not have access or competence for online reporting.

Such points when “accepted and recorded” shall no longer be editable by the practitioner.