I have been doing mystery shops for almost a year, and wondering if getting my certification would be worthwhile? Any thoughts from those who have it? Does it get you better jobs, does it get you better companies? What purpose does it serve -v.s. - not having any certification. Thanks,

Hi. You're going to find pro and con answers on this. Do a search on certification on this forum and you'll find some threads discussing it. The upshot is that everyone has to decide on their own. The silver certification is not expensive and may help you if you're just getting started. The gold is more controversial. I have the gold and it helped me but many shoppers have said the gold did not help them and they do not see better shops than uncertified shoppers. So I say yes it is worth it, but many experienced and busy shoppers say a resounding NO.

I became gold certified when I was first starting out and it did help me to get more shops.

Hi there and tend to agree with candiwv. I just started last month and since i knew nothing about mystery shopping, thought it would be wise and I did first the Silver and then a couple of weeks later got the Gold. I can't say if it helped or not however with only been doing this a little over a months, I've completed over 60 shops, whereas I have heard other newbies complain that they cant hardly get anything. I'm a believer that experience trumps education, so if you feel that there is nothing more for you to learn in regards to the basics, and technical points of mystery shopping, it may not be worth spending the money. For me, it totally was.

If going the certification route is your best way to gain knowledge then it is an important tool. The point of certification is you supposedly have the knowledge you have earned through the program. For others a little experience is a better substitute. On the job training is another way to go. Reading these posts are helpful, too.

Newbies.....well, they are just that. I am glad they are here reading and learning and I am open to be helpful and not critical. MysVal sounds aggressive enough that perhaps they would have gotten the shops anyway but I would bet they were better prepared for the early jobs due to the knowledge they gained with certification. The MSC will endorse certification because it could mean a more knowledgeable shopper. Don't let anyone convince you certification will get you more shops. Certification might help you to get your very early shops if you have no other business, education or related experience. Once you have completed one shop you will have a rating. Your experience and performance will earn you more shops and like any job when you have experience more opportunities may follow.

I did not choose to pursue certification when I began. It was my choice to learn on the job. I live in an area where there are tons of MS opportunities. I found the most important knowledge and skills to be objective writing, organization and observational skills.

I've wondered the same thing, being kind of new myself. I don't see how one would even know if certification would help them get more shops. But I have not gotten certified and I don't see how it would help. Are there really shops that require at least a silver certification? I'm thinking not but I guess I don't know. So I don't see how I would be offered more jobs by getting certified so I'm not wasting the time or money right now.

I think as Mary indicates above, you're going to get people who got certified and feel sure that it has helped, and people who didn't get certified and who don't think it will help. You'll probably also get people who got certified and wished they hadn't bothered, and people who aren't getting certified and wish they could.

The problem is that everyone either gets certified or doesn't and then can't compare the jobs they're offered against the jobs they would have been offered if they hadn't or had gotten certified. Jobs are different all over. I'm sure that there are some parts of the world where MSCs are desperate for shoppers and have jobs for everyone who wants them including uncertified newbies. And I'm sure there are areas where there is a glut of shoppers and not enough jobs even for the really experienced and certified shoppers.

The only way to know for sure would be to conduct an experiment where you have two shoppers who are exactly the same (same age, gender, income, education, zip code, MS experience, and who write the exact same essay upon application - which might be a dead giveaway) sign up for an MSC. One shopper should be certified and one not. Then check to see if they're offered the same number of jobs. This experiment wouldn't be much of value, though, because it would only tell you whether certification is valuable for that very specific location and at that time for that particular demographic. You'd have to repeat the experiment all over the world with different people and at different times of the month, year, etc. Sounds like too much work to me.

I have heard people who got certified say that while they don't know if being certified helped them get assignments, they found the training they took in order to obtain the certification valuable. They felt more confident taking those first few shops because they had some training and tools they learned. I think for really new shoppers, that might be valuable.

Thanks everyone for your input. I have well over 100 shops in the last year, and I get plenty of calls from the schedulers. So I am not lacking in assignments. I have a degree in accounting and a property mgmt background with a CPM and an ARM from I.R.E.M. so that was useful in about 25% of some of the announced visits that I have done, (i.e.: those with ADA inspections attached and etc.). So I'm thinking maybe I will get the silver certification and see what happens. Also, I am registered with several companies, so I have my option to pick and choose who I can work for. Thanks again for all your advice, I appreciate you points of view.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2015 09:57PM by barbk913.

For any new shopper, it is not necessary. Shoppers do not need to spend money on conferences, certifications, rated memberships, pro status. . . in order to prove themselves. Do the work, build your value, and keep your hard-earned money in your pocket.

I did not get certified until I had been shopping for a few years. It has gotten me notifications of some special jobs that I would have never seen had I not been certified (things like expense-paid trips to the islands). I always apply for these shops and am never assigned. So does it help me get better jobs? Yes and no.

Even though I have been shopping for awhile, I learned a few things from the gold certification course. If you have the $75 to spare, I recommend it.

I never got certified, but I imagine it's some help when you're starting with a new company. I have had a few where I floundered around until I bit the bullet and took the dork work, building up some perfect scores until I could get the notice required to snag the coveted jobs.

I should guess certification helps you skip that line a bit.