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About the CSM Certificate
The CSM Certificate certifies High Performance skills, including:
- College-level quantitative reasoning
- Professional literacy
- Learning agility
- Intention to excel
This certificate is endorsed by Workforce West Virginia, the WV Manufacturers Association, the Gas & Oil Association and other business and industry groups. It also earns college math credit at partner colleges.
This page provides information about the skills that the CSM Certificate certifies, how to verify a CSM Certificate, and how you can join employers across West Virginia in using CSM in talent acquisition, workforce development, and employee upskilling.
High Performance Skills
The CSM Certificate's High Performance skills are needed in every sector (manufacturing, healthcare, IT, etc.) and every position. These are skills that all employers desire the most -- often even more than skills specific for the job. Problem solving mindsets, attention to detail, persistence, strong math and literacy skills, and self-efficacy enable people to perform well at all jobs, and easily pick up any job-specific skills they need.
While High Performance skills are related to "employability skills", "transferable skills", "soft skills" and "power skills", these term generally are used to refer to skills that mainly refer to entry-level jobs, while High Performance skills are critical at every level, from front line to manager.
The CSM Course is rigorous
The CSM Certificate is earned on completion of the CSM Course, which is based on a next-generation, online, personalized learning system that is self-paced and inexpensive.
In CSM, most of the problems are fill-in-the-blank rather than multiple choice, and the only passing score is 100%, repeated twice, and repeated again 2 weeks later, ensuring that the participant really knows the material and can retain it. This also builds attention to detail -- missing a single problem can set you back to considerable effort.
The CSM Course is taken by people of all educational backgrounds
The CSM Course is used by frontline workers with high school diplomas, but it's also used by corporate managers with advanced degrees to build skills that they may never have really learned or which may have become rusty (see some testimonials from corporate managers below).
The back of the certificate describes CSM skills
Verifying the CSM Certificate
The CSM Certificate uses strong identity verification through biometrics and formal ID.
You can verify the validity of a job applicant's CSM Certificate here.
"Our pilot group has indicated that CSM teaches in a manner that is non-threatening and less frustrating with a strong focus on persistence, attention to detail and improved knowledge retention. In short, it teaches our workers how to learn. ...CSM will result in a more confident, self-reliant workforce that ...has a changed mindset from 'Getting the job done' to 'Getting the job done more effectively and efficiently'..."
"CSM provides a valuable tool for assessing and strengthening the proficiency of employees at all levels of the organization. As an employer, one can have absolute confidence that a team member who has successfully completed the CSM course will have a solid foundation upon which to build their job-specific knowledge and skills."
Senior Workforce Development Strategist, University Hospitals (Cleveland)
"I was incredibly skeptical of the learning program, but when I saw what our employees were doing and witnessed their success in not only the mastery of the skills of CSM, but then saw their completion of their High School Diploma, after multiple failures of the GED, I was hooked! Seriously, not to be too dramatic, but our employees have changed since doing this program."
Learn about how West Virginia employers are using CSM
CSM is an integrated training/certification program being used across West Virginia -- it provides you a way to find qualified employees in your community, to develop a pool of future workers, and to upskill your existing workforce. All of these services are free!
