See what I did there?  ;o)  If you’re in the US, you certainly do.

Regardless, there are things that potential employers look for with regard to applicant qualifications in these challenging times regarding unemployment and maintaining job stability.  Experience is important, of course, but that takes time.  The ability to demonstrate job skills or knowledge of particular products in discovery certainly can make the difference between you and other potential candidates.  But how do you do that and do it quickly?  Certifications, of course!

If only there was a site that listed all (or nearly all) of the certifications available in eDiscovery – wouldn’t that be great?  Well, now there is.  eDiscovery.jobs has posted on its blog the “complete eDiscovery certification overview!”  It’s compiled by Remco Srijdonk, Founder of eDiscovery.jobs, who “scoured the web for every single certificate which is currently available in eDiscovery and…created an overview with what we consider the most essential aspects of every certificate exam or course”, including:

• Pricing
• Course/Exam Setup
• Course/Exam Duration
• Whether it’s online or a test center location
• Any mandatory training or courses
• Any recommended prerequisites
• If there are any CLE credits to be obtained
• How to maintain the certificate,
• The retake policy (if any)
• Links to the actual sites for more information and purchase

As Remco notes: “it’s quite hard to compare the certificates with one another. For example, some certificates might require a 3-day course, while others will allow you to take the exam without any mandatory prerequisites. The pricing is also wildly different, ranging from tens to thousands of dollars…The purpose of this page is, therefore, not to compare certificates one-on-one but for you to get a full overview of what’s out there for the eDiscovery tools that you use on a daily basis, and your amount of experience in the industry.”

It’s a literal A-to-Z of eDiscovery certifications, ranging from the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) Certification to the Zylab Certified Application Administrator.  And, many in between.

If you’re like me, you’re wondering how long did it take to compile this list of eDiscovery certifications?  Remco says that “it took a couple of weekends to put all this together, some of the information is very well hidden and required some back-and-forth with the vendors!”

Of course, as you might expect, there is a Disclaimer at the top that notes the article “is made for informational purposes and might contain outdated or incorrect information.”  So, if you’re an eDiscovery provider that has one or more certifications available and wants to get them added to the list or updated, what do you do?  Remco says: “Our intention is to keep the article up to date as best as we can so we encourage eDiscovery providers to reach out to us by our contact page, or by leaving a comment at the bottom of the article.”

Kudos to Remco for assembling all of the eDiscovery certification information in one place!  It will certainly help a lot of professionals out there looking to boost their skills and credentials.

So, what do you think?  Are you looking to obtain any eDiscovery certifications?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the authors and speakers themselves, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.