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Are You Up to the Challenge?

Author(s):

Paul Novak, CPSM, C.P.M., A.P.P., CEO

March 2009, Inside Supply Management^® Vol. 20, No. 3, page 6

Executive Access to the CEO
The Institute for Supply Management™'s CPSM^® qualification exams reflect a variety of current and future topics for supply management professionals.

When I get to spend time with you, our members, talking about what you do in your jobs, I always come away inspired. I am impressed with your professionalism, knowledge of your industry, commitment to your employers and dedication to your profession. The knowledge you share with me regarding the wide variety of challenges you face, and the ideas you must come up with to meet these challenges, never fails to be both interesting and instructive.

The current economic environment is sure to test these skills. For some of you, it may unfortunately test your job-seeking skills at a time when finding a job is more challenging than it has been in years. There is no silver bullet to making yourself as attractive as possible to potential employers. If you have not thought about it, the time is here to consider obtaining your Certified Professional in Supply Management^®, ISM's newly launched qualification for our profession.

The CPSM^® gives you the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that you have mastered the broad base of knowledge required of today's supply management professionals. Many of you are doing things that 20 years ago, when I joined what was then NAPM, virtually nobody thought would become our responsibility. International sourcing has required us to learn things we simply did not need to know in such detail before. This includes logistics issues, tax and tariff issues, and managing new types of risk. All of this is included in the CPSM^®, and more.

I recently took the Bridge Exam, which is open to current C.P.M.s who also have at least a four-year undergraduate degree. I was amazed by what I didn't know. This isn't because there is some esoteric stuff on the exam that nobody would know. The questions for the exam are written by supply management professionals just like you. ISM does use a psychometrician, who makes sure the questions are written appropriately and are valid and reliable. The volunteers involved in the process also review all of the questions developed. But all the questions come from those who know and use the concepts.

Now, I know that taking and passing either the Bridge Exam or the three CPSM^® Exams that comprise the testing for the qualification will not make you run faster or jump higher. What it will do is reassure you and tell others that you have the knowledge to be a supply management professional.

By the way, the reason I know that passing will not make you run faster or jump higher is because I did pass my Bridge Exam and neither of these things happened. What obtaining your CPSM^® may do is make you more attractive to your employer or a potential employer, and that might be the ammunition you need to survive during these tough times.

More information about Paul Novak, CEO.

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