HR professional here. I don't use it and in fact let it lapse. In my opinion it's a scam used to get you to pay outrageous money to take useless seminars and a test. If you are at a certain level your experience and work can speak for itself. I find the letters after the name a bit pretentious. Nobody outside of HR knows what the hell it means anyway. Do you only give your business cards to HR professionals?

I list my degrees and credentials, since it means I have met national standards to practice in this country. I'm in allied health.

Anonymous wrote:Not an HR professional so forgive me for butting in, but personally I find it annoying and tiring when people list their degrees after their name in email signature lines. I have two advance degrees and save listing them on my resume. I'm an attorney. My business card says so but I don't list "JD" or other degrees after my name. I have definitely noticed that only the most insecure and/or annoying people add this or "esquire" or such to their email signatures.

You're an attorney and yet you can't distinguish your situation from OP's. Your business card says you're an attorney, so people know you have a JD and are an esquire. Maybe you should have left the conversation to the HR professionals...

I have a masters but don't list that but professional certiifcation letters are listed after my name on business cards and on work products I produce. that is standard in my industry.

Depends on the culture of your particular firm and even division/project within the firm.

At one contract I was on I noticed everyone put their certs after their name, so I was "Larlo Larloson, Security+, RHCE" (low-middle cybersecurity certification and a mid-tier Red Hat certification)

Here I'm just Larlo Larloson, although if/when I get a CISSP (high-middle cybersecurity certification) I will likely put that after my name. Definitely if I am RHCA (high-end Red Hat certification) or *certainly* if I am a CCIE (highest-end Cisco networking certification).

Probably industry, and perhaps even firm, specific. Where I work, listing "PhD" after your name means you feel you haven't been given the seniority you feel you deserve. Using "Dr." in front of your name for anything other than an MD also sends up red flags.

Adding letters after your name for a masters degree seems odd - perhaps a recent grad without experience would do that?

Email signature - no.
Business card - the degrees that are directly linked to what you do and might seem useful to people you are dealing with absolutely.

I can't get over my uncle listing his PhD EVERYWHERE. Even when my grandma died and we were all listed in the newspaper article thingy (don't know the english word sorry) he insisted on listing his PhD. He is VERY insecure, very show-off, very slimy so yeah...that's what I connect with people who list degrees in anything that is not connected directly to their work life.

I work in a field where there are a higher than usual number of minorities holding PhDs. Folks introduce each other as Dr. So-and-so all the time. At first, I thought the field was overly formal. It took me a little time to realize that African American women in their fifties and sixties were introducing each other with titles because otherwise they would be mistaken for admin staff.

My company wants me to list my degree...I used to go by Dr. xxx on my business cards, but for more clarification, shifted to xxx, Ph.D. The reason is marketing. I want potential clients to know. Once they know me, it does not matter.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The SPHR is pretty important in HR. (Only 48% of people who sat for the exam passed it last year.) It would definitely be recognized by people in the field.

I never listed by masters degrees because, well, I don't really know why.

So. Almost 1 out of 2 people who tried achieved it. Hmmmm.

What does this mean MBCHB MRCS (ENG)

"Presumably you have credentials enough to hold the position you have, so why the need to continually thrust them front and center? For one thing, a lot of people (Bill Cosby comes to mind) trumpet honorary degrees. You don't want to be confused with this nonsense. "

Bill Cosby has at least one earned degree beyond the bachelor's degree.

There is a difference between listing degrees and listing certifications. It is about conveying the necessary information.

If you are an attorney, you have a JD. It is clear from your job title. No need to list your degree.

If you are a social worker, CPA, Physical Therapist, you might have an MS but you might not have passed your liscensing exams. People will care about the status of your liscense before they interact with you. There are certain things you can't do if you are not liscensed.

On degrees: I work in academia. I appreciate when people list their degree because for what I do, it makes a difference if someone has a Ph.D., an MLS, a PsyD, etc. not because any of those things are better than the others but because I need to coordinate people with different skill sets and I am often looking for a specific subject skill.

Its not inappropriate in professional settings to use this information when it conveys meaning and points out relevent distinctions between professional roles.

Your certification should definitely be put on your business cards or email signature to outside clients. However, honestly, masters degrees don't mean anything anymore and it isn't relevant to your clients only someone hiring you for a job.

What's a terminal degree? Another Lawyer here who never puts it in an email unless it's going to a client--I'm looking at you annoying parents she fire emails off to the whole class with your work non-disclosure language at the bottom. So lame.