It’s a competitive job market out there, but lucrative opportunities exist for business-minded HR professionals who can make a difference.

For many employers, that means demonstrating real-world business value. A post-secondary education, alone, will quickly reduce the number of career options.

The HR Job Landscape

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment for human resource managers is projected to grow 9 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. “A bachelor’s degree is sufficient for most HR positions,” BLS observes, but “some jobs require a master’s degree.”

Certification in the HR field is voluntary, but BLS adds that certification in the field “can show professional expertise and credibility, and may enhance advancement opportunities. Many employers prefer to hire certified candidates, and some positions may require certification.”

For most professionals, especially those who are new to a field, having the minimum education and certification requirements is not an option. Success in the field is further enhanced by certifications and demonstrating broader knowledge of fields such as social sciences, business, finance and law.

The Credential Craze

“The idea of students graduating from college with just a diploma ― a single academic credential ― could soon seem downright quaint,” claims The Chronicle of Higher Education writer Goldie Blumenstyk, in When a Degree Is Just the Beginning.

Blumenstyk, who writes about the intersection of business and higher education, says that many community colleges and universities are encouraging students to earn certifications while completing coursework. But she adds that “the cornucopia of credentials” has created confusion.

So much confusion, in fact, that the Lumina Foundation has unveiled a framework ― national standards, if you will ― to more clearly define what a college degree means and what graduates should be expected to know and be able to do.

The framework, known as the Degree Qualifications Profile, or DQP, was introduced by Lumina as a way to define the range of skills and knowledge students should gain in earning associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree across five key areas: broad, integrative knowledge, specialized knowledge, intellectual skills, applied learning, and civic learning. However, as the framework matures, Lumina notes that more connections need to be made between degrees and high-quality credentials.

“Postsecondary certificates and other non-degree credentials ― many of which are being produced by employers, third party organizations and others outside of the traditional higher-ed system ― have genuine and growing value to students, to employers and to society at large,” remarks Lumina Foundation President Jamie P. Merisotis at DQP launch event. “And as we work to build this student-centered, learning-based system, we must ensure that the system recognizes and rewards the learning inherent in all high-quality credentials, not just degrees.”

The Future of Education and Credentials

Future investments from Lumina will include working with the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) to create a national credential system to encompass degrees, certifications, certificates, licenses, apprenticeships, etc.

This will be “a multi-year initiative to increase the quality and use of competency-based credentials across the company,” CSW posts. “We are collaborating with leaders committed to realizing the potentially game-changing result of large-scale use of competency-based credentials by businesses, educators, workers, and students across the nation.”

Such efforts, of course, are designed to close the much talked about skills gap – the difference between the skills that today’s employers want and what they say they aren’t getting from recent college graduates. This has become even more important as a new generation of students demand a return on higher education.

“Traditionally, employers’ workers and students have used academic degrees and diplomas as a proxy for the skills and knowledge needed to perform on the job,” concludes CSW in Making a Market for Competency-Based Credentials. “There is growing interest in the use of competency-based credentials to complement this tradition.”