If you’re employed in the culinary field and would like to test your work skills elsewhere in the Caribbean, there’s an available option to do so. CARIBCERT, a local professional certification programme, is the gateway to access jobs in several islands within the region. Here’s how to get ‘CERT’-ified:

Dr Anthony Hall, coordinator for the Jamaican arm of the CARIBCERT programme, which officially started in 2002, terms it “a challenge programme”. “The whole idea is to make the participant aware of what their professional outlook should be,” he further notes. Three categories: line staff, supervisory, and management are covered under the programme that spans a total of 47 job positions in the hospitality industry.

He summarises that the certification “amplifies [the candidate’s] social skills, aids on distinguishing what is right and wrong professionally and sharpens their competencies.”

There are essentially three steps to attain certification.

STEP 1: Candidates work through a job performance checklist with their supervisor. Standards for each area of performance are printed on the checklist allowing candidates to practise the tasks and master the required skills.

STEP 2: Candidates are mandated to satisfy all criteria for certification in their occupation including job experience and other criteria such as food handler certificates.

STEP 3: Candidates write the CARIBCERT examination for their occupation. This straightforward multiple-choice and true/false exam can be taken online, in a classroom or even at the establishment where the candidate works, under the supervision of a CARIBCERT exam supervisor.

The cost for certification is US$100 for line workers, US$125 for supervisory workers and US$150 for management workers.

To learn more about the CARIBCERT programme, you can email Dr Anthony Hall at jahall@jhta.org, telephone him at 754-7732 or log onto www.caribcert.org