Business Writing Certifications and Certificates

You’re determined to improve your business writing skills and, to that end, have taken a class (or classes) in the subject. How do you show potential employers that you’ve acquired a new and highly marketable skill? You’ve probably seen something about certificates and certifications for business skills and are likely confused by what these terms mean. Below, you’ll find answers to your questions and advice on whether certifications and certificates in business writing can help your career.

What is Business Writing?

Business writing is a specialized writing style for written communication, both internal (inside your own company) and external (as with a client.) It’s a very different discipline than academic writing (let alone any other writing in which personal style is paramount), substantially limited in the creativity department, and designed to make practical points as quickly and straightforwardly as possible.

The qualities upon which business writing today most depends are concision and clarity. Learning to express oneself within those confines is an invaluable workplace skill, given that email has become the preferred inter-office communication method. There’s no office worker who doesn’t have to read and write emails; a study quoted by GreggU calculated that the average businessperson has to deal with a whopping average of 80 emails daily. And that’s just email: there are business letters, memoranda, reports, and proposals that all need to be written in business language as well.

Read more about what business writing is and why you should learn to do it.

What Can You Do with Business Writing?

Business writing is, in today’s commercial landscape, inescapable. Consider its most frequently encountered application, the email. A generation ago, people made internal calls for quick inter-office communication. They used to have secretaries who could return calls at the recipient’s convenience. Today, those calls have all but been replaced by internal email. Whether or not you perceive that as faster or slower, it’s an inevitable fact of life. Suddenly, people must be able to write in the language of business.

Above and beyond, emails, memoranda, reports, and client proposals all call for business writing that can impress the recipient. Little can make you look better today than being able to write well in the idiom of commerce. Learning how to write a good piece of business English has several other advantages. It will teach you how to organize your thoughts, which, in turn, will help you when it comes to oral presentations. You’ll also become a better writer in general: your social media posts will improve in quality and correctness, and who knows? You may even be able to write a convincing love letter that will capture the person of your dreams.

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

Certification and certificate are two words that sound alike, but they are by no means interchangeable. A certification is generally obtained by sitting for an exam administered by a third party (as opposed to the school you attended). Adobe, for example, offers certifications for its software programs. These assure potential employers that the candidate possesses sufficient knowledge of the software. The group administering the exam establishes objective standards for what it takes to pass the exam, so employers can be sure of exactly what knowledge you possess.

On the other hand, a certificate is bestowed by a school upon completion of a course of study, like a diploma. The shortcoming (if it can be called that) of a certificate, as opposed to a certification, is that there is no objective body overseeing the granting of certificates, so an employer cannot be sure exactly what a certificate represents. HR officers do, however, know a thing or two about IT schools, and a certificate from a well-known school such as Noble Desktop is going to be worth a bit more than one from Joe’s IT School and Chicken Shack.

Top Certifications & Certificates for Business Writing

Partly because so many intangibles are involved in business writing, and also because it’s so widespread across the entire business landscape, there are no official certifications for business writing the way there are for project management or the Adobe programs. Thus, as far as business writing is concerned, you don’t need to worry about certifications.

Certificates are a different matter, and many schools offer certificate programs in business writing. These are usually longer and more comprehensive courses of study than individual classes and testify to a wider body of knowledge than can be garnered in a quick class. Thus The Economist – to choose one example among many – offers a self-paced six-week Business Writing and Storytelling course that ends with a certificate from The Economist to testify to your studies. A live (in-person or online) program that offers a business writing certificate would be Noble Desktop’s Business Writing Bootcamp, a complete course in the essentials of business writing and mechanics that culminates in a certificate of completion that can be added to your list of professional credentials, as on LinkedIn.

Should I Get Certified in Business Writing?

As certification isn’t an option with business writing, this question boils down to whether it’s worth going through a certificate program. While a certificate in business writing isn’t going to be the first thing that prospective employers look for on your resume, it’s definitely not going to hurt your chances of landing a job. You should bear in mind that your cover letter will also tell the hiring director a lot about your business writing skills, whether you want it to or not. A well-written cover letter will probably be more valuable than a certificate in many cases. The catch here is that you’re likely to need a business writing class to be able to write a good cover letter, so, again, the certificate certainly isn’t going to hurt you.

How to Get Certified in Business Writing

As certification for business writing isn’t available, the question devolves into how you can get a business writing certificate. These are available from many tech and IT schools for completing a business writing class of some substance. When signing up for a class, be sure to check whether a certificate is available.

There can be no question that a certificate can’t hurt your chances of getting a job, and it will undoubtedly add a certain degree of luster to your resume and online profiles. On the other hand, it’s not essential for most opportunities, perhaps because of all the intangibles involved and the difficulty of measuring anyone’s business writing abilities.

Learn Business Writing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

An excellent way to learn business writing is to take an in-person course such as those offered by Noble Desktop, a tech and IT school in New York City that offers in-person and online classes. Noble provides its students with expert and experienced instructors who are always ready to answer students’ questions, whether they’re posed in the physical classroom or online. 

Noble Desktop’s classes offer several features, including small class sizes that guarantee you’ll receive ample attention from the instructor. The curriculum is hands-on, meaning that you’ll be making practical use of what you’re being taught while you’re still in class with exercises that allow your instructor to check on your progress. There is also a free retake option that enables you to repeat the class at no charge within a year of your first taking it. Far from just a means for those who fell behind to catch up, the free retake option makes it possible to cement what you’ve learned firmly in your mind. Classes are fast-paced, and you’re likely to discover that there’s some handy detail you missed the first time around.

Noble offers a Business Writing Bootcamp that begins by reviewing key points of grammar over which people are wont to stumble today. The course then delves into the hows and whys of written business communication in the contemporary world, be it for emails, reports, or other essential documents. And be aware that business writing is only one aspect of the business training classes offered by Noble Desktop.

Key Insights

• Certifications are issued by third parties that administer an examination creating an objective standard for knowledge of a particular topic. Certificates are diploma-like documents that testify that someone has attended a program that is generally longer and more in-depth than an individual class.
• There is no official certification available for business writing.
• Certificates are available from many schools that offer training in business writing.
• Noble Desktop offers an in-depth Business Writing Bootcamp that culminates in a certificate that you may add to your resume and online profiles.