Management Companies Support CMCAs
In the growing and increasingly competitive field of community management, clients are demanding skilled managers who can provide superior service.
The Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) is the key to your company's success as being the only internationally recognized credential designed for community association mangers. Supporting your managers to get CMCA certified will offer your company a competitive edge in the field by providing yourt manager with confidence demonstrating your managers' knowledge and proficiency for your clients.
Many companies are already supporting their managers' professional development according to data from CAI Research Foundation's Community Association Manager Compensation and Salary Survey, which shows that 90 percent of survey respondents indicated their employers paid for some or all of their training and education.
You can support your manager by giving them the time and resources they need to fully absorb all the different aspects of the profession. Encourage your manager to visit the www.camicb.org website for resources designed to help prepare new managers to successfully pass their CMCA Exam the first time:, and consider the following:
1. Encourage your new manager to enroll in The Community Associations Institute (CAI)'s M-100: The Essentials of Community Associations course, which also fulfills the educational prerequisite.
This course is designed as an overview of the community association management profession as a whole and will give your new manager the foundation of knowledge they will need to build on.
2. Give your managers time to review and study the exam prep materials available on the www.camicb.org website.
A list of all preparatory materials is available on www.camicb.org by selecting Get Certified >> Exam Preparation. From games and puzzles to glossaries and definitions, these study materials cater to a variety of learning styles.
3. Emphasize to your manager the importance of learning standardized test-taking strategies
Because the CMCA exam is designed to evaluate a community manager's knowledge of industry best practices, more than one multiple choice answer may, on an initial reading, seem correct. From an industry best practices perspective, however, there is only one correct answer.
4. Develop study sessions for new managers that include experienced staff.
With so much information to take in, your manager will likely have many questions while studying for their exam. Consider pairing the new manager with other CMCAs in your office to give them the opportunity to ask specific questions and learn important skills they will need to apply their knowledge.
5. Offer the new manager up to a year to study and gain experience for the exam.
The CMCA Exam tests both the manager's knowledge and the manager's understanding of the application of best practices. That understanding will best be gained from hands-on experience.Giving the manager enough time to understand and apply knowledge in practice will dramatically increase their chance of success on the exam
If your management company already has in place an avenue for managers to earn professional credentials, like the CMCA, tell us how you do it! Share your insights; what works and what doesn't work to help other new managers find success.
