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Lemme tell you something, as someone who has hired a lot of staff over many years.
Get something to put on your resume. 90% of what we're looking for is that someone is willing to put in effort. If you can show that you've taken free courses, and put in your own time to improve yourself and your career, you are far ahead of 90% of the resumes we receive.
The other 10% is the skills you bring to the table.
I don't think this is upvoted enough.
ITT: People asking: 'Is this good enough to put on a resume?'.
Here is the answer:
Your future employer will see that you can recognise and take an opportunity when it is presented (e.g. free training) and you can follow through on simple commitments (e.g. sacrifice a weekend to learn something new).
My mom quit her job from the company she's been working with for about 30 years to pursue work in a field she actually cares about, and just to be able to show she did something while not working she got a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certificate paid for by her old company. I've seen it mentioned a few times as something that can get you jobs, but she barely studied and was still the best by far only by using her experience, and while taking the course she was already in talks over the new job she already got, so while it may not have helped her resumé, it probably showed that she wasn't just another middle aged woman who got laid off because she doesn't actually do anything worthwhile.
The Digital Garage by Google. It shows that you have knowledge of how Online Marketing (Analytics, Adwords, E-mail marketing etc) works. It's a good introductory certificate and you can put it up on LinkedIn.
Hello everyone coming from r/AskReddit threads, after years of forgetting about this comment I've now updated this as of the 12th of January, 2022 with all working links. The original list was compiled from the links from this thread 6 years ago. I would also like to thank SnaggyKrab for fixing some links and adding some more.
[Medical Terminology Certification] (http://www.aama-ntl.org/cma-aama-exam/study/medical-terminology-practice-test)
[Boating (Maryland only)] (http://dnr.maryland.gov/nrp/Pages/BoatingSafety/Safety_Certificate.aspx)
[Interpreting] (http://www.panoltia.com/Interpreter_Certification.htm)
[Beer judge certification] (http://www.bjcp.org/index.php)
[SQL] (https://courses.w3schools.com/)
[National Career Readiness Certificate] (https://www.act.org/certificate/faq.html)
[American Purchasing Society certification] (https://www.american-purchasing.com/applyingforcertification)
[Haz-mat certificate] (https://www.natlenvtrainers.com/blog/article/hazmat-certification-requirements)
[Get Ordained by Universal Life Church (+Doctorate of Metaphysics)] (http://www.themonastery.org/ordination). For other cool stuff check out this [hyperlink.] (http://www.themonastery.org/catalog/)
[Get Ordained by the Church of Latter Day Dude] (http://dudeism.com/ordination-form/)
[At the time of updating this list, this link only has a free course for ID checking (like a bar bouncer).] (http://www.360training.com/free-online-courses/)
[Canadian OSHA Equivalent and more free courses in this link.] (http://www.ccohs.ca/products/courses/course_listing.htm)
[Canadian boating courses] (https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/getting-started-safe-boating/find-education-resources-recreational-boaters)
[FEMA training] (https://www.firstrespondertraining.gov/frts/npccatalog)
[XSeries Courses (Certification Courses from Various Accredited Universities)] (https://www.edx.org/xseries) [Project Management Professional (PMP certification from PMI)] (https://www.pmi.org/certifications)
[Fall Protection Awareness Training (Canada)] (http://www.fallarresttraining.ca/)
[Google Apps Certification] (http://certification.googleapps.com/)
[Multiple certifications and courses from a college, which you can get financial aid for to make some of the courses free.] (https://www.lssu.edu/academics/complete-degree-listing/#toggle-id-3)
[Beer server] (http://www.cicerone.org/)
[Management and Leadership] (http://www.masterclassmanagement.com/)
[CPR course] (http://www.firstaidweb.com/)
[A Pokemon professor] (http://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/organize/become-a-professor/)
[Magic The Gathering Judge] (https://blogs.magicjudges.org/o/judge-levels/become-a-magic-judge/)
[Powder actuated tool certification] (http://www.ramset.com/patlicensing)
With Google courses
[Dog Psychology and you can apply for financial aid in order to cover the cost.] (https://www.opencollege.info/product/dog-psychology-course/)
Psychological First Aid and they have other clinical training programs [here] (https://learn.nctsn.org/course/index.php?categoryid=61).
Scrum fundamental certification
[Multiple certificates from HubSpot] (https://academy.hubspot.com/certification-overview)
[Health & Safety UNDSS] (https://training.dss.un.org/)
[Deputy Heart Attack] (http://www.deputyheartattack.org/intro.html)
[CDC lab training] (https://www.cdc.gov/labtraining/)
[Tulane University's free courses] (https://lms.southcentralpartnership.org/aboutus.php)
[Columbia University's free courses] (http://ncdp.columbia.edu/practice/the-columbia-regional-learning-center/)
[NCTSN and continuing education] (https://learn.nctsn.org/course/index.php?categoryid=3)
[CCOHS courses] (http://www.ccohs.ca/products/courses/small_business_cert/)
[Colorado School of Health] (https://www.publichealthpractice.org/trainings)
[Technology & Science Cognitive Class] (https://cognitiveclass.ai/courses/)
[Free Code Camp] (https://www.freecodecamp.com/)
[GIS (web development and not geographical information systems)] (https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/57630434851d31e02a43ef28/getting-started-with-gis/)
[Online Classrooms Future Learn] (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses)
[Coursera] (https://www.coursera.org/)
[Stanford] (https://lagunita.stanford.edu/)
[Carnegie Mellon] (http://oli.cmu.edu/learn-with-oli/see-our-free-open-courses/)
[Open Learn] (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue)
[edX] (https://www.edx.org/)
[Open Classrooms] (https://openclassrooms.com/)
A website to learn how to play guitar
You can become a train conductor by using financial aid to cover the tuition costs at: Dakota Technical College, Johnson Community College, and at the Northwest Railroad Institute.
Medical illustrator, which you can go to many colleges for so financial aid can cover it
You can also become a sonographer, it includes doing ultrasound for women, but it has other applications too.
Biohazard cleaning
Being a Certified CISCO Networking Associate
Various tiers of being a welding inspector
International Air Transport Association certification for dangerous packages and transportation
DOT certification
Learning calligraphy
These aren't all certs, but some free classes/resources.
http://education-portal.com/academy/course/index.html
http://101science.com/
https://iversity.org/
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
http://www.coursehero.com/subjects/
http://oli.cmu.edu/
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/find-by-topic/
http://www.saylor.org/
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-websites-started-learning-programming-language/
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/
http://freerice.com/category It quizzes you on the basics of a subject of your choosing, and donates rice for each answer you get right once you turn off adblock
http://openstaxcollege.org/
http://freescience.info/index.php
Free books (all legal of course): [novels] (https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/nrguv3/what_is_something_free_from_the_internet_which/h0ge0nc/) and open sourced textbooks.
Freecycle, a site where people give away random things for free
A site to get free wood chips from
A free resumé builder
US government website to see if there are assets in your name that you can claim for money
A site to see if there are free or open sourced alternatives to whatever paid software that you are looking for.
Wikimedia, the non-profit that runs wikipedia has other useful websites.
Wow, awesome, thanks! Some of these are hilarious, like Unicorn Hunting License. Others, I will do, like Pokemon professor
I recommend becoming ordained. No downsides so far.
Become ordained in both a Christian and a Satanist order, best way to hedge your bets on the afterlife....
http://www.deputyheartattack.org/
I had to do it a few years ago for a hospital I worked at. It's a basic little certification that shows you understand the signs of heart attack and also goes into why people are reluctant to get help. It doesn't give you a cpr certification or anything but the idea is if you catch it early enough you won't have to do compressions. Good info in it.
Edit: Neat! I'm at work tonight and unable to respond to everyone but, as other people have said, if someone becomes unresponsive do compressions... Don't waste your time trying to figure out if they're having a heart attack! To the people who took the little course offered on the website I really hope you found it valuable!
Edit 2: Yes please do check for a pulse before cracking ribs. I've seen them done on people who weren't actually in cardiac arrest and they did NOT enjoy it. Should have included that in the last edit.
UNDSS.org
Basic and advanced security in the field. Mandatory for all UN employees, often a requirement for other non-military institutions involved in humanitarian missions. Even if you don't do stuff like that, it gives you a nice baselayer in terms of traveling abroad.
Openclassrooms has some certifications, it's also a pretty good site
Psychological First Aid Online. Free, about six hours long. Hosted by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and promoted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
You learn how to help disaster survivors get referenced to the professionals they need and how to triage those with more damaging psychological distress before it gets worse. Learn the signs, symptoms, etc., and know where to forward the survivors to the proper agencies. Additionally there are some things on how to secure relief sites in consideration for physical and mental health.
There are also free courses on the website regarding helping children and military families with specific issues, but since I have not taken them yet I cannot comment on those classes.
EDIT: Yes, the class teaches you how to deal with both children and adults. Due to the nature of the training, psychological first aid can be comfortably taught online because there are no physical demands. I completed this in a day to enhance my resume for a masters program in psychology a while back. It looks very sharp on a resume. I hope this helps!
EDIT: The course is tailored to the U.S., but the ideas should be easily applicable anywhere. Anyone may register for a class online and take it at their own pace. If there are any issues, please let me know so I may update this post.
EDIT: Psychological First Aid is more designed towards a large-scale response. For individual psychological training, consider the QTR Institute which trains you in suicide prevention techniques in multiple different settings and environments. PFA for large-scale, QTR for small-scale.
This is relevant to my life and line of work. Thank you!
Thank you. I work EMS and preach that we don't have nearly enough psych training.
FEMA certification. It's long and repetitive but it looks good to employers so they understand that you have knowledge of a basic command structure and how to handle adverse situations.
Edit: For anyone looking for the link here it is https://training.fema.gov/is/ The courses are under Independent Study
Edit: Wow I'm glad so many of you found this helpful or at least interesting. Thank you for the gold kind stranger! Also for those asking about programs like this in other countries this was the closest lead that I could find https://training.fema.gov/hiedu/collegelist/othercountries/
I completed these for my resume when I applied at FEMA. I remember most of it's just common sense. I got the job but forgot most of the small details on those tests, so here's hoping common sense pays off.
I have a Masters in Emergency Management with 12 years of EM experience, continuity and exercise planning certs through FEMA and I couldn't get FEMA to even interview me. So, now I write nuclear policy. /story no one asked for
Jesus. Any chance you were actually over qualified for the job? I know people use that as an excuse not to hire, but in your case I can't think of any other reason. I can think of at least 3 people who didn't even graduate university who work in the same department as myself. Granted they are lower echelon, but I would think with 12 years experience they would at least interview you, and then offer you a contractual position if they weren't interested in long term. Sounds like you might be doing more good / better off where you ended up in the long run though. I can't say Nuclear Policy sounds exciting, but it sounds like it offers more satisfaction knowing you are actually making change.
They can actually transfer as college credit if you need some elective hours. I had an oddball number of hours and I ended up 1 hour short for my degree, so I took a couple of these FEMA classes and transferred them.
Edit: I'll also follow up with a link - https://em-study.com/emsfema/ It's kind of a roundabout process. Basically you convert your FEMA courses to college credit at Frederick Community College, which can then transfer those credits to your college or university. YMMV, so check with your academic advisor. I went to University of North Texas, an accredited public university, so it should work at just about any similar public school.
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I actually had a good advisor who recommended it to me. I didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars for one class; the FEMA thing cost me like eighty bucks.
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Fema as in... floods and earthquakes?
Can someone drop a link.
https://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.aspx
I've done a number of free online certifications through their Emergency Management Institute. Time consuming, but they look good on a resume!
This is awesome! I'll be applying at fire stations in the next year or so after getting my EMT, and this would look very good! Thank you!
Definitely do your IS-100,200 and if you get an opportunity for the in person ICS-300,400 classes, take those as well.
https://training.fema.gov/nims/
The 100, 200, 700 and 800 are required for most first responders in the United States. But it is all good information to know. I believe 300 and 400 have to be taken in a classroom setting as those classes are more for the people who would actually be in command in a disaster situation.
Not free but very very cheap ($50) google analytics cert
Edit: Actually I was wrong, I haven't been certified in a while and it used to be $50, it's free now https://www.launchdigitalmarketing.com/how-to-pass-google-analytics-certification/
Worth also mentioning: Google Adwords and Facebook Ads have their own free online certification courses to go with it, if marketing is your jam. Every small business could use somebody who knows how to run an ad, and if you're looking to break into digital marketing as a career, they're absolute necessities.
EDIT: Other commenters have pointed out that the Facebook certification isn't free. They're correct: the courses are free. The certification costs a bit and has to be performed by a proctor.
this is good stuff. thank you
Is this something a guy can knock out in a week?
Easily! If you're already familiar with web analytics as a concept then you could probably do it in a day. It's a 90 min test with 70 questions. Watch the beginner and advanced analytics videos here and you're more or less ready to take the test.
Edit: fixed link- originally posted from iOS mobile app which does not require https:// and auto generates reddit markup upon posting. I regret to inform you all that I am in fact competent.
It's not [] ()
Plus needs https:// or Reddit won't recognize it as a link.
What exactly is this?
Google Analytics is a website/online advertising tracking platform - basically lets you track everything anyone does on your website (i.e. page views, button clicks, video plays, even how far down the page they scrolled).
Google let's you take a test for free that says you're certified to use Analytics, although (having taken it myself) I have to say it only takes about a week of studying to learn everything you need to know.
Agree on this point. Once you manage Google Analytics, you can use other tracking platforms, such as Adobe Analytics, and shows that you can handle data analysis for user-experience research.
Websites add a bit of javascript which allow google to collect information about which pages a specific user visits, how long they stay, where they came from (facebook share, google ad, google search,...) etc.. The site owner can then use the Google Analytics tool to visualise this data to see if an ad campaign works or which content users actually reads. The certification is basically training in setting up graphs to make sense of the data.
On the EPA website, you can get a certificate for NPDES, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. Will be good for any environmental, energy, chemical, or related field job.
EDIT: https://www.epa.gov/npdes/npdes-training Click recorded-->scroll down--> section 1.
environmental engineer here. and i agree with that.
Not a certificate, but definitely worth your time. Excel training.
https://excelexposure.com
YouTube offers a certification in audience growth and development. It's a requirement for some job listings and people are always impressed when you say you're certified.
Edit: turns out there are limitations on who is eligible for certification. I was working at an MCN at the time, managing one of the largest channels on the site when I got certified. When applying for other jobs, every one of them said "YouTube certified is a plus" or "Must be YouTube certified."
Edit 2: The certification process is a long one and is mostly slideshows, a series of videos and fake scenarios, with a multiple choice quiz after each section. It covers best practices for upload schedules, thumbnails, banners, description layout, tags, really everything there is about YouTube. At the end you get emailed a .pdf from google saying you are officially certified.
This is interesting! Is it free or a reasonable fee?
It's free. it takes a while to complete. The only part I had trouble with was the copyright section. You get two chances to pass. If you fail again you have to wait a few weeks/months(?) to try again
To be fair, YouTube is having trouble with the copyright section as well.
Thanks!
Link https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6145904?hl=en
What kind of jobs is that a requirement for?
Social media management, I'd assume.
Great gig if you get to be like Denny's Twitter
"you can't spell pancakes without pancreas" wtf am I looking at
Lol, you haven't even seen their Tumblr; it's infamous in the community.
http://blog.dennys.com/
"is national catfish day where you celebrate an actual fish or just a day you find out that you’ve been dating a deceptive pancake for a year"
Not free depending on the state you live in, but look into becoming a Notary Public. You are able to notarize legal documents, I've had a couple of friends ask if I can stop by their offices to notarize documents for people. Super useful to have around.
In NYS, it's $15 to take the test, and if you pass (70% minimum of Multiple Choice), it's $60 to get the license. But I've definitely gotten my value for it, and it's good for the entire state.
Damn that's cheap. In Arizona you have to buy like $5k in bonds or something.
Actually I just checked again. It looks like you have to get a $5k bond that costs $25 and the registration fee is another $25
A $5k bond should be cheap. I used to have something similar in California, and I think it cost me something like $50 - $100 for the bond, and it was good for four or five years.
Can you explain what you mean by bond? I know this is a stupid question but I don't understand why to be able to notarize you have to have like a 5k bond
Sure thing! I explained it in another comment, so I'm just going to copy pasta:
edit: to be more specific about why a Notary needs a bond, it is because if you do not notarize a document correctly, it can invalidate the document. If this happens under certain circumstances, it can potentially cost the affected party monetarily. In which case, the bond is basically there to make the Notary easier to sue. Which is basically why Surety bonds exist. I.e. You're a contractor and you fail to finish a job, now the people that paid you for that job have to find another contractor, but they've already sunk money into you so now they don't have the funds to finish the project. They collect on the bond to regain their money, and they hire a new contractor. In the meantime, the insurance company that holds the bond works on collecting the debt from you.
These used to mostly just be for very large contracts. Like government level contracts building big stretches of road and such. That way, if a contractor fails, the government wouldn't have to spend months/years in court trying to get the money back to finish the project while a road is all messed up.
Now there are Surety bonds for all kinds of licenses. It depends on the state, but in a lot of places, mortgage brokers, used car dealers, small contractors, and debt collectors all have to have surety bonds just to maintain their licenses. If you're aware of this, it gives you some leverage against them if they screw you over. You utilize this leverage by threatening to place a claim on their bond, which can be done with something as simple as a hand written note to the insurance company. The insurance companies are really jumpy about claims on these things, so they'll put that persons bond on hold while they investigate the issue. In the meantime, the state will be informed that the bond is on hold and they will place a hold on that persons license. So essentially, with a note, you can stop a person from legally doing business. This doesn't happen often because most people don't know these things even exist, and the professionals that hold them aren't likely to mention it to anyone as it is a huge liability.
I'll have to look into it for Canada, I'm in Ontario, but this is right up my alley lol
https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/notary_public/
Awesome, thank you for the link!
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How much do you charge to notarize something?
In NYS it's $2 per signature max. But you can waive that, and you can charge any amount for travelling if you are not on site. I've gotten like $60 for driving out to notarize insurance paperwork.
Damn, my notary license cost me like $150,000. Granted, it also entitles me to practice law in my state, but I still feel like I got ripped off.
I'm not even allowed to legally recommend whether a person is supposed to use an affirmation, oath, or jurat.
But $150,000 is a bit high. I know a guy, could have got you one of them for only $149,995.