I recently completed my SPHR exam and I thought it would be worthwhile to share my thoughts on the exam and the certification process as a whole. I know I did alot of due diligence searching the web before I registered for the exam and was thirsty for knowledge from those who had sat for the exam. There's a healthy amount of information out there published by the Human Resources Certification Insistute (HRCI) but there's gaps in the conversational level details. I think pursuing the certification was a valuable use of my time and I highly recommend it to other HR professionals.Here's my contribution back.
My background is in safety investigations and inspections, and more recently as a generalist for a small international business with a widespread workforce. This left me well prepared for the OSHA and safety questions, but my generalist experience was the most helpful in giving me an understanding of all the test areas.
The learning systems out there are probably worth it, would seem to formalize the steps I took. Since I was self funded I avoided the costly prepared solution and forged my own review plan. Below I've stepped out the methods I found most helpful.
Self Directed Learning
-Anne Bogardus PHR/SPHR Certification Study Book
-Long Term Exposure to Information - look at it regularly and for a long period of time
-Apply the material you have reviewed to a real world situation you are facing
-When an HR situation arises, reference the Bogardus book and see what it has to say on the topic
-Make flashcards for each section of the book from a stack of index cards and refer to them regularly, I kept them in my car and reviewed 2-3 before I went into the office each day
-Find your workplace HR posters, read them and pay attention to the numbers in them, one week later, scan them, repeat until test day.
Books/Websites I Read:
David Ulrich - HR Transformation, HR Value Proposition - Gold standard of HR guidance, exhaustive study of modern HR structure and how it should work
Bill Conaty/Ram Charan Talent Masters - Textbook GE practices, good source for the tone of idealized HR practices
Kris Dunn - HR Capitalist(Blog) Irreverent look at day to day realities of HR, good change of pace from normal, somewhat dry HR reading.
Becker/Huselid/Beatty - The Differentiated Workforce: Transforming Talent Into Strategic Impact
For me 6 months was adequate preparation, any shorter and it would have been rushed, anything over a year I would have started to lose the thread on some of the details of the laws. In the end I'm happy that prometrics test centers are in my rear view mirror for the near future, and very happy that I spent the time pursuing the certification.
