VA Certification is not important unless you're trying to use the $1k cost as a write-off at the end of the year. There is nothing a VA course will teach you that you cannot learn within a few networking calls, ebooks (like here on VAF) and research. Good luck!

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April Smith Visit My Website
Website Design | Social Media Marketing & Design | Admin Support

It's great to have so many opinions to consider on this issue. My first instinct is to believe the certification is probably not needed other than as a advertising blurb on the website. I'll keep checking back on this link to see how it goes.

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Jill Alward
Administrative Expertise

I think that I, like many others am doing work that I've performed in corporate businesses. I have over 10 years of experience. So, I think of it like this: If they were going to spend more money and hire me for say $60k per year, they wouldn't ask for a certification, they'd ask for my resume. Same here. I can talk all day about what I've done and what I know and that should put my clients at ease.

Having only been in this for about 6 months, I believe that Certification Programs may be useful to some VAS, but for the most part are just an additional revenue stream for the company providing them.

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Social Media Marketing Maven
www.verandalane.com

Thank you to all who provided their insight into certification. I am leaning towards certification for Online Business Management and Social Media so I can feel confident in my skills, as well as for increased income. In the midst of researching it all now....

I'm a college trained Administrative Assistant. I feel thats enough of a certification. I don't think you need a badge on your site that says you're trained.

In my opinion, a certification is not required to become a VA unless you are focusing on a niche that you do not have sufficient experience in, then I think a VA Certification would be a great idea.

That being said, I am a strong believer in lifelong learning, whether it is a obtaining a certification within your field/niche, workshop, keeping up with technology, learning a new skill, etc..

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Fatima A., Owner
http://virtualadminconnection.com

Since there really isn't an industry standard for virtual assistants, certification sounds good, but really doesn't hold much weight. That said, I do believe that there are times when training can give you a big advantage.

As much as I believe in the wealth of information available here on the forums and elsewhere online, your answers are limited to the questions you're asking or searching for answers to. I've learned that we aren't always aware of just what we need to help push past that edge from struggling to success until someone else points it out to us. It's why teachers don't just hand kids a book and say "learn this".

In my opinion, certifications-- not so important. Continuing education and training, very necessary.

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~Tina Marie Hilton of Clerical Advantage
& founder of VA Survival School