Given the choice of a new graduate or a person with two years' experience, an employer may choose the latter if they have the relevant skills. Yet even in industry certain qualifications can carry substantial weight in the job market. Certification is becoming increasingly important for both employers and employees. Employees benefit by proving to themselves and others that they can actually do a particular task to a recognised standard. It also allows people to add qualifications to their CV, which could otherwise become stale.
Employers can offer such training as a carrot for current and potential employees.
Those employers who offer training packages can often seem the better prospects to potential new staff. While it may be true that all qualifications prove is that an employee can pass exams, they can also increase knowledge of new technologies beyond the particular jobs employees do. Having skill bases of staff with improved qualifications can have benefits for participating companies beyond those of recruitment and retention. Companies can get accreditation themselves with qualification providers, as is the case with the Novell and Microsoft qualification schemes. Such accreditation can then be used in tender proposals, which often require the inclusion of the CVs of the staff being assigned to do the work.