May 31, 2006
Dear Everyone:
The Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM). I’ve mentioned them before. They are the Institute that administers the examination that proves you are qualified to claim the title, “Certified Records Manager” (CRM). Management (aka the Powers That Be – PTB) wishes all of us to aspire to become CRMs.
And the deadline looms.
Not the test. That’s not until next November. The deadline that looms is the one to turn in your application to take said test. The application must be submitted before July 1st. If you miss that deadline, you can’t apply again until January 1st of next year, which precludes you from taking the test until the following May.
So last Monday afternoon, Monday being a holiday, I started figuring out how to apply to take the test. In order to qualify for the exam, you have to document your records management experience. It’s not enough to say, “Ahem. 33 years working in records management.” They want more than that. For all they know, you could be a 33-year veteran of nothing more than working in the file room as a clerk. (And if that’s the best you can do, you’re hardly likely to have even heard of ICRM.)
There is a sliding scale of general education and actual work experience. If you have a high school diploma (absolute minimum), then you need 11 years of experience. If you have a bachelor’s degree from a college or university, you only need three years of experience. You could have a PhD and they wouldn’t care. You’d still have to prove three years of experience to qualify.
What’s more, you have to show three years “professional” experience in four or more of the following categories:
Management of a Records Management Program
Records Creation and Use
Active Records Systems
Inactive Records Systems
Records Appraisal, Retention and Disposition
Records Protection
Records and Information Management Technology
Records Management Training, Education and Awareness
Up until some time last year, you only had to prove experience in three of the categories. But the people in the ICRM took a vote and upped it to four. This is known as “qualification creep”. In other words, once you qualify, you want to make it harder for others to qualify, thus adding to the “snob appeal” of certification.
Now some of these categories are light-years out of
reach for me. “Managing the
Records Management Program” is something no one person at Company does.
The whole of IM COE does that in various parts in various places.
(“
And you might think “Records Creation and Use” would be a slam-dunk. I’ve created and used thousands of records over the years. But it turns out, that refers to forms management.
In fact, one person told me they had no doubt the I could pass the test. The only real question is can I pass the qualification to take the test. Yes, I’ve done a lot of these things over the years. The trick is wording it in such a way as to get my foot in the door.
The other problem is when did I do these things?
For instance, when we moved the Land Files from downtown
To find the dates, I asked my supervisor to request my personnel file. Once I had it, I made copies of all the evaluation forms it contained. This would allow me to figure out the dates. It would also remind me of some of the work I’d done over the years that might qualify me for the test. For instance, I had long forgotten that I was officially the System Administrator of the old “Company Records Management Information System” (CRMlS) back in the late 1980’s.
But then I ran into a snag. The last evaluation was in 1996. From 1997 to 2002, there are no forms on file. I know we did the meetings and filled out the forms, but apparently two supervisors never sent any in to the Human Resources (HR) files. (I’ve since learned from a different supervisor that there was some confusion in those days about what, exactly, they were supposed to do with the forms.)
So, from 1997 until about four years ago, there’s a big gap in my work experience history. So I’m screwed, right? Not necessarily.
This Letter is one of many I’ve written, beginning in the autumn of 1988, shortly after “Alice” and “Kelly” got married. In fact, there’s a box on the floor right near this computer that is chockfull of Letters.
I only had to pull out the years 1997 through 2001 to find out when I started being the System Administrator of Versatile (1993) and when I got the assignment to evaluate and recommend the replacement for Versatile (1998). And I found reminders of lots of other things I’ve done over the years.
Once again, records management (and keeping a file copy) to the rescue!
Love, as always,
Pete
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