Neshaminy High School

A Microsoft Certification is an industry standard recognized worldwide and can help open doors to potential job opportunities.  Students taking Information Technology 2 are eligible to test for the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification.  By taking these Business, Computer and Information Technology (BCIT) courses, students will have received curriculum designed to prepare them for the Excel or Word exams.  The BCIT Department at Neshaminy High School is an official Microsoft Certification Testing site and students can make arrangements to test through the BCIT Department. Microsoft does have an exam fee that students will be required to pay.

There are many benefits to earning a Microsoft Office Specialist Certification:

• Students who earn MOS certifications have been shown to earn higher GPAs, graduate at a higher rate, and get higher-paying jobs. The Microsoft Office Specialist Program also helps educational institutions raise the bar on their performance. (Pearson Education - Certiport 2022)
• Microsoft Certification is based on industry-defined roles and on the skills needed to perform those roles. That’s what makes Microsoft Certification so valuable. It demonstrates that you’re proficient in the specific, real-world skills associated with recognized industry roles. It verifies that you know how to apply technical knowledge to solve today’s business challenges. (Microsoft 2020)
• When you pass a Microsoft Certification exam, you’ll earn a digital badge, which you can share online with your professional network.  The badge will help with the following:
  • Getting hired—faster. Certification validates your skills, which means you’ll have what you need to stand out as a great candidate. Employers regularly use certification as a criterion for hiring. New hires who are certified reach full productivity a month sooner than non-certified hires, and they have more opportunities for advancement, too.
  • Get recognized. By building or updating your skills, you can reach full productivity sooner and become an indispensable employee or team member. Compared to their peers, Microsoft-certified developers are 90 percent more productive and nearly 60 percent more efficient. In the 2018 Pearson VUE report, 36.9 percent of IT professionals claimed that certification helped them perform complex tasks more confidently. 
  • Get rewarded. On average, certified employees earn 15 percent more than those without certification, are nearly 20 percent more productive, and have longer tenure. According to the 2019-20 Nigel Frank International Microsoft Dynamics Salary Survey, 27 percent of the almost 1400 professionals surveyed reported a direct increase in their salary after certification. As an added bonus, 70 percent of respondents surveyed reported that their employer paid for their certifications in full.
  • Get promoted. Certification can distinguish you from other professionals and can improve your opportunities for advancement in your current role or organization. Certified employees are often entrusted with supervising their peers—putting them on the fast track for a promotion. In fact, employers regularly use certification as a criterion for promotion.
  • Satisfaction. Don’t take our word for it. Listen to those who have achieved their goals. In 2018, 90 percent of people who earned certification said they would recommend it to a colleague.(Microsoft Ignite, 2022)