As described in my first article link on the CCXP certification, there are 3 important steps related to the CCXP exam:
- The first one is to write the application
- The second one is to prepare the exam
- The third step is to do the exam. After the exam is like before the exam: continue focusing on this “science”!
I would like to support other candidates achieving this important step in order to continue making this “science” more and more accessible. At the end, the customer experience is the engine of our businesses.
Today, I want to focus on the first step: “How to write the application”
You will find the complete description of the application process for the CCXP exam here: http://www.ccxp.org/application/
source: http://www.ccxp.org/application/ (November 9th, 2019)
The application process
You need to complete the details about your education, working experience (including the number of “Total years of CX experience”) and your relevant CX experience for each of the six competencies (you really have six free text boxes to fill-in).
Putting the emphasis on the latter, you need to answer 2 questions. The first one is to evaluate (checkbox based) your “highest level of involvement” for each of the six competencies. You have three options: i) “Supported Execution” ii) “Managed Execution” or iii) “Developed Strategy”. Additionally, you need to write a short summary of your relevant experiences, for which I suggest to follow the principles:
a) Use a mindmap
Before you start writing the application, define with a small mind-map the examples / experiences you want to write for each competency. You will quickly find out if you have enough bullets for each competency. The best strategy is to spread the best ones through all the competencies.
b) Be completely honest
It is not probable, that you are THE expert in all competencies (the reviewers know that) therefore, provide your answers honestly and describe what you really did. You could exaggerate when you describe your achievement but ultimately you will do the exam and you need to prove your proficiency. If you do not have enough experience you will fail the exam.
Remark: It does not make any difference if you write your sentences with “I did, I defined, I …” or if you use “We did, we defined, …”. A customer experience transformation is a company / team / department effort and not your individual journey.
c) Select the relevant experiences
Even if you have already had a lot of different CX experience, select the most relevant ones. During each CX transformation and each CX career there are some key events where and when something significant happen: use these moments! Your moments of truth. I think that the reviewers do not want to read the complete (CX) life history.
d) Avoid too many repetitions
In your daily job you are not working based on one of the six competencies. However, you need to structure your application based on those. Therefore, you can smoothly mix the same experiences when you are writing the application. However, ensure that you have enough examples for each of the 6 competencies and make sure that you do not always repeat the same stuff. You should stick to the official description of the six competencies which you find on the CCXP webpage (link).
e) Put yourself in the reviewers shoes (in this case not in the customer shoes)
This is an “obvious” one. However, remember that the reviewers (perhaps) neither know your company nor you. You can be the greatest CX expert however, you need to be able to put your success story into text. I know that it is not so straightforward. Hence, spend some time to phrase and rephrase your sentences in a way that everybody can understand what you are writing.
f) Find somebody that reviews your application
Before you hand-in your, ask for a review. The reviewer should challenge you and find the white spots. I had the honor to have Ian Golding as a reviewer of mine and he provided to me some advice how to improve quality.
THE CX GOALKEEPER 