Thursday 21 June 2012

ISEB Accreditation: The result


Well, I may not have had a letter recently from the Royal Household announcing that Her Majesty was minded to award me an honour in her recent Birthday Honours List, but in data protection terms I’ve received the next best thing.

I’m now certified. I’m not insane, but I evidently do possess a sufficiently wide body of data protection knowledge to convince the British Computer Society that I do know what I am talking about.

Sincere thanks go to my tutors, Chris Pounder and Sue Cullen of Amberhawk Training. Their mastery of the subject gave me the confidence I needed to put myself forward for an exam that I was seriously concerned I might fail. Their patience and good humour gave me all the help I needed to enter the exam room fully prepared.

For those that are thinking of taking the ISEB plunge, I can only offer encouragement. It is not an easy exam - but it shouldn’t be easy. It’s about showing examiners that you are capable of exercising discretion in a variety of circumstances. Which is what we should all be doing in our day jobs.

And remember – with the increasingly optimistic employment prospects for data protection professionals, our HR chums love to see a candidate with a relevant set of qualifications on their CV. So go for it – I believe the investment really will pay dividends!