Grow as an HR Professional with IHRP

Professional organisations like the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) provide more value than simply a designation to add to a business name card. Through professional certification programmes, IHRP offers our community invaluable learning opportunities

and timely insights relevant to their industry as well as the opportunity to give back to the community. IHRP also provides access to a valuable network through which to build connections, model from peers and contribute to policy-making.

Having a success model to gain ideas from within the IHRP community has been an unexpected bonus for Jernet Tan. “Traditionally, corporate learning takes place within the organisation and perhaps with an external course provider,” says Jernet. “However, through IHRP’s certified programme, I have firsthand experience of how renowned organisations such as Changi Airport Group framed their people practices. I can consider possible implementations within my organisation.”

Jernet believes that HR professionals need to continually upgrade in order to be the change agent of Today and Tomorrow and IHRP certification can help with that. She attained her IHRP certification four years ago and when it came time for renewal, she wanted to push herself further to increase her value to her organisation. Jernet took up the challenge to sign up for the Senior Professional upgrade assessment.  “Being part of the IHRP certified community is not just a learning development journey on paper,” she says. “It has helped in my pursuit to partner and co-create sustainable value with the business.”

IHRP certification has allowed Ivy Tjin to grow as an HR professional and add value to her organisation. “I have been able to access IHRP Connect to learn and share innovative HR practices with HR professionals from various industries,” she shares. “Importantly, through this process, I have become a strategic and solution-driven HR leader within my organisation. As part of the IHRP Mental Wellness Taskforce, I have learnt to identify the gaps of mental wellness support in my workplace, introduce different strategies to close the gap and measure the effectiveness of the initiatives implemented. Through discussion groups set up by IHRP and policy makers such as MOM, NTUC and SNEF, I also have a better appreciation of our national policies and advisories.”

Jean Tan was also able to grow as an IHRP professional, and gained value through the coaching and mentorship she received as part of the community.

“It’s easy to neglect ourselves and forget that we are also employees and need the same support and guidance, if not more these days to handle the mounting challenges brought upon by the pandemic,” she cautions. Jean recommends every HR professional to have a coach to help them maximise their potential.

“I find that IHRP takes on this role for me,” she says. “IHRP certification sets HR professionals on the pathway to achieving their lifelong milestones through valuable experiences that propel us to be strong contributors to company business. It is our lighthouse, giving us encouragement and guiding us with insights and trends to support and validate that what we are thinking and doing are aligned with our goals.” Jean finds exceptional value through IHRP certification and recertification as she feels it gives her a cadence of best practices and creative ways of solving problems as a community. This in turn enables more learning loops and knowledge acceleration and, therefore, more professional growth. 

For Sharon Pock, IHRP certification has been a powerful motivator for self-development. She recognises IHRP certification as the gold standard in the industry in Singapore and this sets a benchmark by which HR practitioners can measure their growth. “Because they know the standard and can compare their own capability through the IHRP assessment framework, they can identify the programmes and tools that IHRP offers to help them bridge the gap in their own learning needs,” Sharon advises.

She also recognises that growth doesn’t stop once certification is attained. “Being certified in the past, doesn’t mean we can be ready for the future, using our old knowledge and skills,” she advises. “Recertification is one of the ways of getting recognition that we have indeed kept up with the changing environment.”

If you are considering certification, we understand that taking the first steps out of your comfort zone is never easy. However, as our community members above have testified, IHRP provides strong support for the development of your HR competency, allows you to work with the wider HR learning community and a chance to give back to your fellow members by sharing your

knowledge and participating in specialised committees. We celebrate your growth as an HR professional, a transformation that benefits you personally, magnifies your value within your organisation and ultimately uplifts the HR professional standards in Singapore.