Update certificatoin names and requierements
(I am talking about the certifications on the certification & training page, under the tab "certification", you can check here : https://www.7cups.com/listener/training.php)
Why the names should be changed and what would it bring as advantages to volunteers and 7cups?
- For valorize more our work as volunteer here by allowing us to look serious when using it as volunteering experience on a resume or in job interview. (a name such "rookie", "trainee" or "pupil" does not sound very serious)
- For many people their experience on 7cups is a first experience and they develop a lot of skills here that they can use in other jobs later.
- It would encourage volunteering retention, by getting more motivated to get higher levels.
- It would be easier to speak about 7cups and encourage our friends or coworker to volunteer on here too !
If any of you have suggestions for new names, please share here! There are actually 18 certification levels.
Why requierements should be changed?
The structure and projects available changed, there is more ways to get involved and more trainings available.
I think it would take time to find what is the best order for getting certifications and the criterias, so its why im creating a space for sharing ideas and find together the best way to do it.
There are some examples of things that should REALLY change, and I explain why.
- Trainings : There is a lot of new trainings, and i dont see why some trainings topics are mainly more important than others. I think a number of trainings badges would be more appropriate. and adding the AL3 and AL4 in the levels would be great too.
- Remove or replace Group mod requierement : This requierement come very early (even before forum supporter!) and have more value than other requierements, it pushes people very early in this role and may affect the quality of mods we have. I think giving the choice between different projects, such group mod, forum supporter, peer support and other, in lower levels would be more appropriate. There could be many other steps to get before to become a group mod...But also this step is practically impossible for a non-english speaker, so you get blocked very fast in this progression.
- Referal Clicks: It is important to continue to encourage people to reach up more people on 7cups. but not every volunteer has a blog or is comfortable to share on their social medias that they are on 7cups. I think they should still be able to get a few certification levels. Maybe just put this requierement from a higher level. so the first levels would be accessible without this requierement, but the higher levels would continue to have this requierement.
@vivelespatates - Great suggestions, and I tend to agree! Tagging in @Laura
@vivelespatates
I agree, we need to update this. Its not been updated since 2014. These are great ideas. I will compile them all and try to figure out the easiest way to make adjustements!
@Laura An even more simple idea is came to my mind. a certificate generate from some of our stats, it is less competitive (no "levels"), then more fair and available to all. it is also very easy to auto-generate. the certificate generate already our name automatically when we dowload it, so this technology would be easy to use for our stats too. it could include our number of hours and we could select 2-3 badges/project/leadership roles from our list that we want include on our certificate.
I suppose giving the selection among one-of-a-kind projects, such group mod, forum supporter, peer support and other, in lower stages could be greater suitable. The certificates generate already our name automatically whilst we download it, so this era could be clean to use for our stats too.
[edited by Anomalia to remove link]