Advance Your Career with CPSE Credentialing
Put yourself on a path to advance your career and enhance your credibility and reputation among peers and leadership alike. Credentialing through the Commission on Professional Credentialing® (CPC) provides a road map to personal and professional growth in the fire and emergency service.
The CPC professional designation model was developed to recognize career excellence and offer strategies for continuous personal improvement. Working towards, achieving, and maintaining your designation will:
- Highlight your professional growth
- Document strategies for your career enhancement and development
- Demonstrate your commitment to life-long learning, skill development, and community service
- Affirm your dedication to proficiency and delivery of all-hazard services to your community
- Improve your chances of being successful in hiring and promotion processes by identifying you as a candidate with superior skills, knowledge, and leadership capabilities
- Foster a source of pride for you or those in your agency you encourage to become credentialed
CPC offers six distinct designations covering the various levels and specialties of fire and EMS officers. The CPC application process helps officers develop their portfolio along with training and support – under the guidance of experienced peer reviewers.
- Chief Fire Officer
- Chief EMS Officer
- Chief Training Officer
- Fire Marshal
- Fire Officer
- Public Information Officer
While it takes some effort to develop your portfolio, we promise it’s worth it.
Individuals with CPC designations are often described as progressive and well-rounded. The CPC model is holistic in scope, it looks at the whole officer, focusing on seven components that cover the full span of an officer’s experience:
- Education
- Experience
- Professional development (training and certifications)
- Professional contributions and recognitions
- Professional memberships and affiliations
- Technical competence
- Community involvement
The Pathway to Designation
- Determine which of the six designations is right for you
- Start the application process
- Conduct a self-assessment. Candidate guidelines and application forms are available through the CPSE online store free of charge. Once you order the candidate guidelines and application you will receive a separate email with the link to download the document. (If you don’t receive it within 30 minutes, be sure to check your spam folder)
- Develop your portfolio. Collect documents, records, and letters to document your career competence. Ask credentialed colleagues to review your portfolio or request a mentor to help you with this process
- Participate in a peer review and interview process
Aligning Multiple Designations
Any designee that has multiple designations may choose to align the renewal dates of their multiple designations instead of having different renewal dates to keep track of.
- The decision to align the renewal dates must be made when the earliest designation is due for renewal. At that time, the new renewal dates and associated fees will be determined.
- The designee will be required to submit the full renewal fee for the earliest-renewing designation, the prorated fees for the remaining designations, and the applicable renewal application(s).
- Once the renewal dates of all designations are aligned, they may not be separated in the future.
- Individuals interested in this renewal alignment option, should contact the CPC Program Manager for the specific dates, costs, and application requirements.