If your employer has requested that you obtain a foreign credentials evaluations, ask for a summarization of his or her requirements. This will help you determine what type of evaluation to order so that you can show whether your foreign degree is the U.S (EMAILWIRE.COM, June 09, 2009 ) June 9, 2009 Sunrise, FL Were you surprised when you went to apply for a job and the organization to which you applied told you that you would need to have your academic credentials evaluated before you could be considered for hire? If you didn’t know that you needed a foreign credentials evaluation in order to apply for a job in the United States, you aren’t alone. While not all employers require foreign degree evaluations, many larger companies do, especially when the available position is one that requires a Bachelor’s Degree or higher. Why? Because the wide variety of higher education programs offered in the United States and abroad make it difficult for most employers and universities to look at a degree and determine the U.S. equivalency of the education it represents. One problem that many companies have encountered in the past is unaccredited education. This may be because a college degree program is not recognized as accredited in the institution’s country. Occasionally, someone will attempt to pass a fake degree off as a real degree. For this reason, employers don’t want to take chances with their organization’s reputation. Another reason that your prospective employer may request an academic credentials evaluation is that your degree may be a different number of years or require a different number of credit hours than a U.S. degree. Most employers are aware that a difference exists between U.S. degrees and foreign degrees, and so prefer to have foreign credentials evaluated by experts skilled in the interpretation of these degrees. In certain situations, the organization may require educational qualifications in a certain specialty area or field of academic study. For example, a certain number of credits in accounting may be required to demonstrate that a person has sufficient education to meet the requirements of the job for which he or she is applying. Sometimes, an employer may request that you have your degree evaluated by a specific credential evaluation service. This may be an agency with whom the employer has worked in the past. Generally, however, any credential evaluation service whose evaluations are accepted by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or for government employment, can offer an accurate evaluation of your educational credentials. This is because most credential evaluation services, such as Career Consulting International (CCI), have extensive expertise in the evaluation of foreign academic credentials. This expertise involves years of training, extensive research databases, and files of information about university degree programs and educational organizations worldwide. For more information about degree evaluations, or to determine the U.S. equivalency of your degree, visit www.thedegreepeople.com or call 1-800-771-4723. Don’t risk being employed in a job below your education credentials; make sure you get full credit for your hard-earned education today!]]>