Through professional certification and continuing education programs, approved by the Human Resource Certification Institute, the American Staffing Association helps its members maintain the high standards that staffing industry clients expect.
Certification
ASA offers two professional certification programs designed specifically for the staffing industry: Certified Staffing Professional™ and Technical Services Certified™.
Both certification programs require a review and demonstrated knowledge of labor and employment laws and the association’s code of ethics and good practices. Certification candidates study materials prepared by ASA, including two textbooks—Employment Law for Staffing Professionals (370 pages, now in its 11th edition) and Co-Employment: Employer Liability Issues in Third-Party Staffing Arrangements (279 pages, now in its sixth edition)—and then take a two-hour exam that has been validated by third-party education experts.
Study topics include the pre-employment process, equal employment opportunity laws and regulations, candidate screening, the Immigration Reform and Control Act, substance abuse and drug testing in the workplace, employment agreements, wage and hour laws, family and medical leave, workplace safety and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, workers’ compensation, wrongful discharge, labor–management relations, employee benefits, co-employment issues, and preventive measures to reduce employment-related litigation. The TSC™ program adds material on legal, legislative, and regulatory requirements applicable to technical staffing, such as employee classification and contractual agreements. Anyone earning the TSC™ will automatically earn the CSP™.
Staffing professionals who successfully complete the certification exam are entitled to bear the CSP™ or TSC™ designation. To maintain their designations, certified staffing professionals must obtain a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education within three years, of which at least six hours must be on employment law.
Continuing Education
ASA offers some 60 continuing education courses annually to promote current best practices and elevate individual, corporate, and industry professionalism to help its members maintain the high standards that staffing clients expect. Many of the courses are available at Staffing World, the association’s annual convention. The association also holds seminars throughout the year as well as semimonthly Webinars. Dozens of other courses, workshops, and seminars are conducted for staffing professionals by ASA-affiliated chapters and numerous approved continuing education providers.
In addition to its structured training and education programs, ASA proactively monitors federal, state, and local legislative, regulatory, and court actions and keeps members informed of current developments through frequent communications and publications, including ad hoc issue alerts, a Web site that is updated daily, a weekly fax and e-mail newsletter, a bimonthly magazine, and a periodic Staffing Law digest.
Human Resource Certification Institute
HRCI—the credentialing arm of the Society for Human Resource Management—has approved ASA as a continuing education provider, which means that certified human resource professionals may meet their continuing education requirements through ASA programs.
