No fast food education here!

Maintaining your personal knowledge base is not about grabbing a quick bag of intellectual french fries. Rather, it is a continuing process of investing in yourself.

By -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2000

In this age of technology, everything is quick-paced. This has also given rise to a "fast food" mentality about many things including education. Everyone wants to "drive up" to an Internet window, order a business degree or a diploma, use a credit card, and speed away to a better and "smarter" life with a recently purchased education. And life then is all peaches and cream.

What many are finding is that a "fast food education" is in some cases like "fast food experiences." It's a quick solution to hunger, but its nutritional value is lacking and the servings are not proportional to the cost and poor service.

Maintaining a personal knowledge base is not about acquiring a quick bag of intellectual french fries. Rather, it is a continuing process of investing in yourself and increasing your personal worth.

Would you expect a huge return on a small investment in anything, or would you be willing to spend a little more time, knowing that the payback on your investment would be more valuable in the long run?

The demands on the materials handling and management professional are such that the successful practitioner must possess a wide range of skills and experience. While many professionals in the industry have degrees, few have specialized in materials handling and management studies.

The successful materials handling professionals are those who are committed to enhancing their professional development through continued education programs, many of which lead to professional certification. Professional certification is a sign of our times. Obtaining professional credentials is about identity, leadership, and continuous personal professional development. Earning certification is a significant accomplishment, indicating that those who are certified have mastered a validated, common body of knowledge.

Today, employers are placing more value on the certification process. It helps them judge the knowledge of potential and existing employees. Professional certification programs help the employer to identify the competencies employees must possess in their field. And, when an employer cannot easily differentiate between the employability of one applicant over another, often it is the professional credentials that influence the final decision on who's hired.

The process doesn't stop with obtaining the credentials. The dedicated professional is committed to retaining those valuable credentials by continuing his or her professional development and maintaining certification through recertification,

Recognizing all of this, the Materials Handling & Management Society (MHMS) administers a certification program which offers an opportunity to demonstrate a command of the vast body of knowledge and expertise which materials handling management requires.

To obtain one of these certifications, the applicant must first be a member of MHMS and apply for and successfully pass a multiple-choice answer examination. The examination is currently in a paper and pencil format. The exam may be administered at your place of business by your Human Resources manager or you may take the exam at the offices of the Materials Handling & Management Society in Charlotte, N.C.

If you need more information on MHMS and its educational opportunities, its local chapters, networking and social events, and how to become professionally certified, please visit our Web site at www.mhia.org/mhms, call our headquarters at 704-676-1183, send us an email to mhms@mhia.org .