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Updated Dec 20, 2023

Best Corporate Training and Development Certifications for 2024

Professional certifications can boost your knowledge and earning potential. Here are the top five training and development credentials to pursue.

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Written By: Jeremy BenderBusiness Operations Insider and Senior Writer
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This guide was reviewed by a Business News Daily editor to ensure it provides comprehensive and accurate information to aid your buying decision.
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Business Operations Insider and Senior Editor
Business News Daily earns compensation from some listed companies. Editorial Guidelines.
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Corporate training roles exist at all levels and may include responsibilities ranging from administrative tasks to managerial oversight. Generally, these roles focus on assessing organizational learning and training requirements, creating training materials to fulfill those needs, and delivering the training. Training and development professionals need organizational and communication skills, as well as strong knowledge of common human resources practices. 

You can beef up your training and development expertise and show your value to employers by obtaining a relevant certification. Read on for the top certification programs to help you get ahead in the world of training and development. 

Corporate training and development certifications

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, corporate training and development specialists earn a median income of $63,080 per year, or just over $30 per hour. Training and development managers can expect median earnings of more than $120,000 per year, with the top tier receiving over $200,000.

While researching training and development certifications, we found that most employers look for a combination of human resources and training-based certifications. Below, you’ll find the certifications most commonly requested by employers for training and development job roles.

Best human resources certifications

Human resources-related certifications focus on the wide range of aptitudes found in these roles. Core competencies learned and certified in these trainings include knowledge management, training delivery and facilitation, change management, logistics, and business strategy. 

Many of these certifications are iterative, helping to showcase knowledge and capabilities as individuals grow in their careers. These certifications can help individuals break into working in HR or advance to higher positions. Some of our favorite trainings include: 

Did You Know?Did you know
Training and development managers in the top-earning tier can make over $200,000 per year.

Best sales certifications 

Sales is the epitome of a people-person career. Certifications in sales can’t teach the necessary personality traits to excel in the field. However, certifications are generally vendor neutral and can help reinforce and teach the necessary technical skills, like ways to identify buyers and create sales strategies.

While many sales job descriptions now call for a bachelor’s degree, there are still plenty of employers that accept some combination of work experience or certification in lieu of a degree. Employers look for candidates who are highly productive and have the drive to increase company profits. A certification helps prove that you’re willing to go above and beyond to achieve goals. 

Some of our favorite sales certifications include: 

Best CRM certifications

Customer relationship management (CRM) takes customer service to another level. Modern CRM software uses technology and automation to find and interact with leads and customers. Leveraging CRM software can help a company engage with its customers to build trust and provide necessary products and services.

Current CRM certification courses are available through academic institutions, professional affiliates and massive open online courses. Topics can include CRM optimization, automation, marketing strategies, product management, business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) and networking. Some of our favorite certifications include: 

Did You Know?Did you know
According to certification course provider Simplilearn, IT professionals with one Salesforce certification on their resume can expect as much as a 40 percent pay increase.

Best help desk certifications

Technical support and help desk positions are traditional entry points for IT professionals navigating their career paths. Help-desk certifications tend to focus on two areas: overarching help desk functions and job roles or technical support skills with an emphasis on specific vendor platforms or products.

Earning a respected help desk certification can help IT professionals stand out, validate valuable knowledge and skills, and demonstrate their willingness to learn to employers and hiring managers. In these cases, help desk certifications can help start, and lay the foundation for, a long career in  IT. Some of our favorite help desk certifications include: 

Best project management certifications

Project management certifications are among the most sought-after tech credentials. Project management certifications enhance and expand other IT qualifications and add to a professional’s skill set.

Project management involves planning, scheduling, budgeting, executing and reporting on various projects. In the IT realm, events such as hardware and operating system upgrades, platform migrations, security patches, software updates, and maintenance tasks are considered “projects,” so project management is incredibly important. Some of our favorite certifications in this space include: 

Did You Know?Did you know
PMP certification is also recommended for anyone who aspires to become an enterprise IT architect.

Best PEO accreditations

Professional employer organizations (PEOs) can offload some HR-related tasks, as well as prove to be extremely successful organizations in which to work. There are hundreds of PEOs offering thousands of services to small businesses nationwide. Finding the right organization to work with, or for, is critical to success. 

Accreditations are one of the easiest, and most trustworthy, ways of picking a PEO. While there are many PEOs throughout the United States, only some are accredited by top PEO accreditation agencies. These agencies rigorously review PEOs and their services on a yearly basis to ensure that services are up to par.

The following are our top PEO accreditation picks: 

Did You Know?Did you know
It’s common to confuse PEO services with ASO services, but there are big differences in how each will support your business. Learn more in our PEO vs. ASO guide.

Certifications offer many ways to advance your career

The certifications above offer just a few ways to gain important training and skills development that can advance your career in the direction you want to grow. Whether you’re looking to directly train employees as an HR professional, manage projects and keep your team running effectively day in and day out, or drive more sales for your company, the corporate training and development programs above can help you stand out from the crowd. 

Natalie Hamingson contributed to this article.

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Written By: Jeremy BenderBusiness Operations Insider and Senior Writer
Jeremy Bender is a cybersecurity specialist who excels at breaking down intelligence threats, developing security solutions and mitigating risk. With his deep understanding of IT infrastructure, threat management and cybersecurity trends, Bender advises small businesses on the practices required to keep their companies safe in the digital age. At Business News Daily, Bender covers cybercrime, data security, IT certifications and more technology topics. Bender holds a Certified Ethical Hacker credential from the EC-Council and a CompTIA Security+ ce certification. Prior to turning his attention to cybersecurity, Bender studied geopolitics and worked for the Fulbright Commission in Turkey. His work has been published by Business Insider, BuzzFeed and the threat data and intelligence company Flashpoint, among others.
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