you are not an ASE certified mechanic, how do i know?...i have an ASE master cert. and guess what....never had to touch a car durring the whole process, and all the tests were open book. no real training, no experience form them, at all, but what a selling point. the paper means nothing, but given the choice at a price point wouldn't most people want an ASE certified mechanic under the hood? ASE techs never taught me anything about wrenching, but the guy in the next bay at the mom & pop shop with 40 years under the hood taught me more than i can remember. but i got more work from that useless certificate than my actual knowledge. why would this be any different?
This is an excellent post, because it opens up another point about what any certification means.
Example: I post ads on free sites. I was looking for new ones the other day and ran into a listing site run by something called the Karaoke Alliance, or some such, run by a guy named Eric. Supposedly another SC "partnered" site, but I didn't see anything from them on it, so not sure.
Anyway, they offer certifications as well. The would like all to be 1:1, but don't require it. However, they SAY they want hosts to go through a training program, and also to run a certain type of show, with equipment qualifications, etc...
Sounds OK, except that I then went to the NJ listings, on which there was ONE listing that showed as VENUE certified by then, and KJ certified by them. Great! I figured I would go see how a REAL certified host works....
...Um, no. It happens that the venue in question was one where I worked for a bit over a year. A little background:
I was their longest lasting host- a bit over a year before I quit. Amost all ( and I mean a lot- before and after) QUIT in a few months. I won't go into why, but only say that place could not hold a host. Not sour grapes, but an explaination for the following.
They finally gave up, and started putting on a house show, using different employees, as well as ( I believe) one of the owners' sons. They have simply plugged in a PC to the house system. I'm not making accusations about the library on that PC, but I feel it may be talking point.
The show is so bad that it no longer stands on it's own ( Wednesday nights), and they replace it with live music on that night if they can book a band cheaply enough.
In other words, karaoke is now just a "night filler", and would lose them money if a full host's fee was paid.
Strangely enough, this
fully certified host's name ( again, the only one around) is listed as "o". Coincidentally, this is also the only PAID ad that I found.
In other words, it looks like money bought a "certification" without any certification process.
KIAA was/is the same. Rob's been a certified member in good standing, displays the logo, yet I don't believe anyone audited him- though he asked repeatedly- for months on end.
While I have absoloutely no doubt that Rob is legal, how do
THEY know and certify that? Well, because Rob sent in a membership fee.
The only way ANY type of certification works is if the certifying agency is both VERY well known, the certification process is very well known, and carries a LOT of credibility.
Hate to break it to you, but though the vendors/mfrs. are well known to those of us in the trade, they are relatively unknown out in the laymans' world. Credibility?........
Add to that the lack of legality in regard to
vendors/mfrs. pushing venues to do it THEIR way ( NJ HATES Restraint Of Trade), and it looks like we have to wait for a different agency.