The LearningBuilder software implementation process is different from development projects you may have experienced before. Instead of handoffs that create distance, distortion, and delays, your staff and our team of analysts collaborate to write an interactive story together. Together, we use LearningBuilder’s low-code, user-friendly tools to configure your certification management system.
Our Visual Rules Engine, for example, translates the “E’s” of eligibility — education, experience, exams, and ethics — into a straightforward online application. Your program’s standards, policies, and requirements form the basis for your online applications. Your candidate handbook thus plays a key role in the software configuration process.
A well-written candidate handbook means an easier implementation. Why? Your candidate handbook is like an instruction manual for your application and process. It lets us know what information, data, and documentation you need to collect, and when you need to collect it. Furthermore, analysts and coders look for patterns to help streamline implementation. Poorly written rules often make it more difficult to see the patterns immediately. It’s hard to interpret “bad” rules into a clean system configuration. But if your applicants can understand your handbook, we can understand it.
The inverse is also true. If we can understand your handbook, your applicants will also understand it. This paves the way to greater success beyond configuring program processes and requirements. A well-written candidate handbook can increase the accuracy of applicant submissions. Your applicants want to prove they meet your eligibility requirements. Why not make those requirements as easy to understand as possible? A well-written handbook also empowers consistency in evaluation, audit, and review processes. The better your reviewers understand your standards, the better they can apply them.
It can often be a challenge to write detailed, multi-faceted requirements in a concise way. You have to set the parameters for the requirement itself. Then you have explain how an applicant demonstrates they meet that requirement. Then, you have the inevitable clarifications and exceptions. A seemingly straightforward statement like “if this, then this” can quickly become “if this, then this — unless XYZ, in which case…” and so on. To write a straightforward, easy-to-use candidate handbook, you must know what you’re asking for. You must also how you are asking for it. Finally, you need to state what alternatives are acceptable.
What Characterizes a Well-Written Candidate Handbook?
We support over 200 credentials. Over the last 15 years, we’ve had a chance to read — and compare — a lot of candidate handbooks. In that process, we’ve learned a few best practices that can seriously streamline software configuration and support your applicants’ success:
Plain Language That Sounds Natural When Spoken Aloud
Your requirements may be complex, but your language doesn’t have to be! Instead of “applicant must be a graduate of a high school,” why not say “applicant must be a high school graduate?” After all, that’s how you would say it if you had to explain it.
Requirements Grouped by Commonalities
It’s easier for a reader to understand and remember requirements if they’re listed together by similarities. For example, if you require 25 hours of supervised practice and 25 hours of CE credits for recertification, group them! When you group requirements by like factors, it helps us easily identify your quantitative parameters during configuration. Everybody wins!
The “What” Separated from the “How”
Consider the following statement:
“An applicant shall be a graduate of a high school, by arranging for a certified transcript to be sent directly to the Board from the applicant’s high school. Is a graduate of an accredited school or college of interior design whose course of instruction is not less than twelve (12) months in duration, or is composed of not less than eight hundred and forty (840) hours of study, or has successfully completed a two (2) year course of study leading to an associate degree in floristry, by arranging for a complete, certified transcript of their educational program to be sent directly to the Board from the applicant’s school or college of interior design.”
Can you read it and quickly understand…
- What are the eligibility requirements for this credential?
- How do candidates prove that they meet those requirements?
If you’re having trouble parsing this language, you’re not alone. Let’s separate the “what” (the requirement) from the “how” (the way an applicant demonstrates they meet it):
“Applicant must be a high school graduate and meet one of the following conditions:
If they are a Graduate of an Interior Design School:
- Education: Graduated from an accredited school of interior design (at least 12 months or at least 840 hours of study) AND
- Experience: Two years of practical experience as an apprentice interior designer.
If they have an Associates Degree in Interior Design:
- Education: Completed an associate degree in interior design AND
- Experience: One year of practical experience.
Applicant must:
- Have certified school transcripts sent directly to the Board; and
- Submit a Supervision Verification Form completed by each supervising Designer.”
What about now?
It may at first seem counterintuitive to separate the “what” from the “how.” However, doing so makes it easier for applicants to know whether they meet the requirements and then move forward with proof.
LearningBuilder creates an online checklist to meet requirements. It also is a mechanism to track an applicant’s progress as they submit proof of those checklist items.
Eligibility Paths Named in Logical, Straightforward Ways
Readers of your candidate handbook should immediately understand the eligibility paths for them. A path name like “Candidates with an Associate Degree” lets applicants and analysts alike know the baseline criteria for that path. A name like “Certification Path: Option One“ does not.
Requirements Phrased as Positives Instead of Negatives
Negatives can get confusing in a sentence. Which is easier to understand: “at least 12 months in duration” or “not less than 12 months in duration?” Positively phrased requirements align with our analysts’ approach to configuration. They also help us move forward more decisively.
Decisive Keywords and Phrases, Active Voice
State it and mean it! Good rules avoid inexact action words. A well-written candidate handbook will use “and,” “or,” “must,” “only,” “all of the following,” and “any of the following” instead of words like “should” and “may.” A software system doesn’t work well with “wiggle room.” It only leads to misunderstandings and mistakes on submitted applications.
Good rules also use active rather than passive voice. “The applicant will sit for the exam” is more effective than “The exam will be taken by the applicant.” It’s also more accurate. After all, when you sit down to diagram your program processes, the exam is not the actor. The applicant is.
LearningBuilder: Built to Take Your Certification Management System Online
We’re focused on optimizing certification management. We’ll work with you to translate your program requirements into a navigable experience for all participants. We don’t lock you into your software implementation framework: Should your eligibility rules (or another aspect of your program) change in the future, LearningBuilder has the flexibility to accommodate change — while preserving your legacy applications as needed.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a call to see if we’re the right fit for your program needs.
