How to get certified?
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You stick your money in MSPA's pocket and voila! You're "certified"
Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain
YES REALLY. It's an arbitrary designation by the MSPA in which they tell you that by getting "certified" it means the companies will take you seriously as a big professional shopper. They will also tell you that by joining their grand, exalted ranks that you'll see all kinds of shops that an ordinary shopper won't see. I've been at this a loooong time and can tell you it's all mule fritters.
Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain
MSPA certification is not a requirement to work for most, if not all, mystery shopping companies.
Talking to a scheduler the other day, she told me about a hard to fill location and how she finally found a shopper and the shopper was gold certified. Although she had not used her before, she was willing to give the shopper a try. That is until she found at the shopper had never completed a mystery shopping job of any kind. Moral of the story, experience goes a long way
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2012 11:08PM by LisaSTL.
Talking to a scheduler the other day, she told me about a hard to fill location and how she finally found a shopper and the shopper was gold certified. Although she had not used her before, she was willing to give the shopper a try. That is until she found at the shopper had never completed a mystery shopping job of any kind. Moral of the story, experience goes a long way
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2012 11:08PM by LisaSTL.
I agree with what Cettie said, and if any Sisquentejillion-Trilithium Certified folk wanna deny it, I invite them to copy-and-paste here the email offers they get which us lowly mortals do not.
Cettie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> YES REALLY. It's an arbitrary designation by the
> MSPA in which they tell you that by getting
> "certified" it means the companies will take you
> seriously as a big professional shopper. They
> will also tell you that by joining their grand,
> exalted ranks that you'll see all kinds of shops
> that an ordinary shopper won't see. I've been at
> this a loooong time and can tell you it's all mule
> fritters.
Cettie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> YES REALLY. It's an arbitrary designation by the
> MSPA in which they tell you that by getting
> "certified" it means the companies will take you
> seriously as a big professional shopper. They
> will also tell you that by joining their grand,
> exalted ranks that you'll see all kinds of shops
> that an ordinary shopper won't see. I've been at
> this a loooong time and can tell you it's all mule
> fritters.
D'Agosto
"What does it mean? You ask. I answer not/For meaning, but myself must echo, What?/And tell it as I saw it, on the spot."
"What does it mean? You ask. I answer not/For meaning, but myself must echo, What?/And tell it as I saw it, on the spot."
Hello - Janell Rose - First of all, you don't have to certify to have a successful mystery shopping career. Second, you can certify with MSPA if you decide that's what you want to do.
The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) provides a certification program at two levels. The first level is silver, and it's $15.00 on line at their website. The second level is gold, and it runs from around $100 and up depending on whether you do it by DVD and on line testing, or actually attend a conference. Full information is available on the website.
The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) provides a certification program at two levels. The first level is silver, and it's $15.00 on line at their website. The second level is gold, and it runs from around $100 and up depending on whether you do it by DVD and on line testing, or actually attend a conference. Full information is available on the website.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Yes Agreed. Do not worry about this. Go on and appy to as many MSCs as possible. Is this phishing? The MS credo is never pay to shop. They pay US>
JUST click on no MSPA certification. It will make no difference for the most part.
JUST click on no MSPA certification. It will make no difference for the most part.
I just completed and received my Silver Certification. I found the test to be easy also. I started mystery shopping at the end of August 2011 and I have been quite successful with 20+ MSCs mostly receiving 9's and 10's. But for $15.00, which is tax deductible, I figured "why not?"
I use the MS Bible to keep track of all my shops, expenses, etc. so it should be pretty easy to track my stats to see if being Silver Certified makes a difference or not. I do feel that an excellent track record with the MSCs does hold more weight than a certification.
Now do I have to go and update my certification with each individual MSC or is there a quick and dirty way of doing it?
I use the MS Bible to keep track of all my shops, expenses, etc. so it should be pretty easy to track my stats to see if being Silver Certified makes a difference or not. I do feel that an excellent track record with the MSCs does hold more weight than a certification.
Now do I have to go and update my certification with each individual MSC or is there a quick and dirty way of doing it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”
~ Jimi Hendrix
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”
~ Jimi Hendrix
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
You go to each company you signed up with and give your certification number. There's no blanket way to do it all in one shot.
Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain
Well, it has only been a week since I got certified and so far...
1) I received a phone call from a scheduler for a company that I have never worked for. She congratulated on me becoming silver certified (not sure how she found out) and invited me to register with ABC mystery shopping company because she had some assignments in my area. I did so and have already performed one shop this past week (which paid for the fee to become certified!)
2) I have more high-end, high-paying jobs scheduled for the next two weeks which is more so than usual. Could be a fluke, maybe not.
That's my two cents.
1) I received a phone call from a scheduler for a company that I have never worked for. She congratulated on me becoming silver certified (not sure how she found out) and invited me to register with ABC mystery shopping company because she had some assignments in my area. I did so and have already performed one shop this past week (which paid for the fee to become certified!)
2) I have more high-end, high-paying jobs scheduled for the next two weeks which is more so than usual. Could be a fluke, maybe not.
That's my two cents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”
~ Jimi Hendrix
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”
~ Jimi Hendrix
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
My understanding is that any MSPA affiliated company can see who the certified shoppers are and contact them. Considering that shoppers can see who the MSPA affiliated companies are, it is not magic and probably not a reliable method to substitute for registering with companies on your own as obviously not all MSPA companies are supportive of certification.
Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just completed and received my Silver
> Certification. I found the test to be easy also.
> I started mystery shopping at the end of August
> 2011 and I have been quite successful with 20+
> MSCs mostly receiving 9's and 10's. But for
> $15.00, which is tax deductible, I figured "why
> not?"
>
> I use the MS Bible to keep track of all my shops,
> expenses, etc. so it should be pretty easy to
> track my stats to see if being Silver Certified
> makes a difference or not. I do feel that an
> excellent track record with the MSCs does hold
> more weight than a certification.
>
> Now do I have to go and update my certification
> with each individual MSC or is there a quick and
> dirty way of doing it?
I am interest to take the Silver Certification,but i worry i will fail can u help me? wht kind of question will be ask? how if i fail?
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just completed and received my Silver
> Certification. I found the test to be easy also.
> I started mystery shopping at the end of August
> 2011 and I have been quite successful with 20+
> MSCs mostly receiving 9's and 10's. But for
> $15.00, which is tax deductible, I figured "why
> not?"
>
> I use the MS Bible to keep track of all my shops,
> expenses, etc. so it should be pretty easy to
> track my stats to see if being Silver Certified
> makes a difference or not. I do feel that an
> excellent track record with the MSCs does hold
> more weight than a certification.
>
> Now do I have to go and update my certification
> with each individual MSC or is there a quick and
> dirty way of doing it?
I am interest to take the Silver Certification,but i worry i will fail can u help me? wht kind of question will be ask? how if i fail?
So is it true that MSPA is going to be offering "Palladium Certifications" as of 2013....at Palladium prices? If so, let's hope for jobs with a higher percentage of payouts above those of Silver and Gold certification.
Maybe in 2015 it will be Diamond Certification?
Maybe in 2015 it will be Diamond Certification?
I am gold certified and recently got an email from an MS company I was not aware of. (completely legit)
I was offered an ongoing "route" of credit unions - so I complete these same three locations every month, and they pay VERY well.
In the email, it was clear I was offered this because of the gold certification.
So while it's hard to say if my $100 investment of one year ago has actually paid for itself, I'm happy to have this new job.
I was offered an ongoing "route" of credit unions - so I complete these same three locations every month, and they pay VERY well.
In the email, it was clear I was offered this because of the gold certification.
So while it's hard to say if my $100 investment of one year ago has actually paid for itself, I'm happy to have this new job.
I started shopping at the end of September, 2011. I did not buy into the certification deal assuming it was a pointless waste of money and time. After completing a ton of MS applications that asked for certification information, I decided to look into it a little further. I decided to take the $15 plunge and get Silver Certified just to see if it made a difference. Maybe it is coincidence, maybe not, but since I became certified in mid-February, I have received more direct e-mails from schedulers, phone calls, and accepted shop applications than before. I can't say it is the only reason for the change, but since I got my certification, I personally see a difference in the ease of getting shops and have shops laid in my lap. I would argue that it is based on a great shop rating and record with various companies, but just last week, I was offered 2 great paying jobs from a company I have not been able to schedule a shop with in months. Even better, they called me directly to offer the shop and included a bonus. This is probably a unique, needle-in-the-haystack scenario, but, if nothing else, I feel like I have been reimbursed my $15 investment.
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