Michael knew what he wanted to do and, moreover, knew he’d be good at doing it. He had the knowledge, and he had the skill. Michael even had the people who wanted to hire him to do it. He just didn’t have the license. And he didn’t have anyone with the license under whom he could work, or for whom he would want to work, to satisfy the licensing requirement. Michael knew of a couple of individuals who did the work anyway, without the necessary credential, but he didn’t like how they had to operate to escape detection, and he didn’t want to live that kind of life with the risk of unauthorized-practice penalties constantly hanging over him. Michael needed to get the credentials in place, and he knew it. The only question was if he would be able to qualify and how long it was going to take.
Credentials
States and locales license everything. Of course, that’s an exaggeration but unfortunately only a slight exaggeration. Have you tried to hunt or fish, fly a drone, fill in the damp ground at the back of your lot, redo the siding on your house, sell your extra tomatoes from a curbside stand, or own a dog or chickens? In many jurisdictions, to do those or a thousand other things, you’d need a license. Licensing, certification, or permitting of trades, professions, and vocations is among the most-common and most-onerous of things that our state and local governments do, although ostensibly for our own good and the good of consumers and the public. Credentials can be a huge obstacle to entering a career field. Consider carefully the credentialing requirements for your field before committing time and resources toward entering it.
Fields
Most everyone knows that physicians, dentists, lawyers, and a few other prominent and traditional professions have strict licensing regimes, requiring at least formal approved education and examination, perhaps also with a clinical experience requirement. Physician assistants, nurses, nurse aides, dental assistants, therapists, psychologists, counselors, pharmacists, and social workers, all in the medical or social-service fields, and engineers, architects, accountants, financial advisors, real-estate agents, teachers, and insurance agents in other professional fields, also require licensure. But so do barbers, cosmetologists, masseuses, builders, electricians, plumbers, and others in common trades and vocations. Again, before diving into preparing for your career field, ensure that you can meet its licensing requirements.
Qualifications
A state statute will likely set the qualifications for licensure in your career field, often supplemented with the licensing agency’s administrative regulations. Basic licensure requirements typically include education from a program the licensing authority has approved. Don’t enter an educational program without ensuring that the state licensing agency for your career field accepts its degree or other credential. Licensure requirements often next include an examination requirement. Prepare for your examination as the examiners recommend. Pay attention to limits on re-examination attempts. Don’t exhaust your re-take limits with further unprepared attempts. Licensure may further require a supervised clinical experience, such as a residency, clerkship, internship, or apprenticeship, for a period of months up to a year or two years. Confirm the requirements in your state or locale.
Disqualifications
State licensing schemes also typically have disqualifying conditions. If you have suffered certain criminal convictions, especially felony convictions, convictions for dishonesty or other moral turpitude, or convictions related to your practice field, you may not be able to get a license or keep your license. Incompetence, insubordination, theft, or malpractice in your field, such as in a required clinical experience, can be other disqualifying conditions, as can be denial of your license application or revocation of your license in another jurisdiction. Substance dependency or addictions, or mental or physical impairments and disabilities, can also be disqualifying conditions, especially when demonstrating your unfitness for safe and competent practice in the field. Ensure that you have no disqualifying conditions when choosing your career field.
Sanctions
State and local licensing schemes routinely authorize sanctions for their violation by unlicensed and therefore unauthorized practice. Getting a professional or vocational license doesn’t just prove to consumers that you have the qualifications for the field. Getting a license also keeps you from paying the penalties for practicing without a license. Those penalties can include fines, court injunctions, contempt of court including jail for violating injunctions, and even criminal conviction and prison. Discipline for practicing without a required license will also generally keep you from gaining the license. You can’t generally just go ahead with unlicensed practice until they catch you and then get the license. The licensing agency may disqualify you from licensure based on your prior violation. Avoid unlicensed practice in your career field.
Authorities
The agencies and authorities issuing professional and vocational licenses can vary somewhat. Often, the licensing authority is a state board formed specifically to license and regulate your career field. Your state may have boards of medicine, nursing, dentistry, accountancy, and so on. Sometimes, states bundle licensing authority in a single bureau, so that workers of all kinds deal with the same state licensing officials. Other times, states delegate licensing authority to a private nonprofit professional or vocational association. Your license may be through a private trade or professional association having state authority, like a state bar association. Cities or counties requiring a license, certification, or permit may take similar approaches. Identify the correct licensing body for your career field in your locale, to confirm its requirements.
Processes
Licensing bodies routinely have formal processes to accept, investigate, evaluate, and act on license requests. Your licensure may require significantly more time, effort, expense, and steps than you at first imagined. Your licensing process may require opening an online account, completing an online application, acquiring and submitting certified documentation, authorizing release of records and conduct of criminal history background checks, fingerprinting, and even special interview before a board or designated panel if your application raises questions of your fitness. Prepare to roll up your sleeves and labor through an elaborate application process, depending on your career field.
Applications
Take special care in completing your application for licensure. You need to do more than simply supply all the information that your field’s licensing body requests. Your information must be accurate, truthful to the best of your knowledge, and consistent with your submitted documentation or authorized records release. Don’t wing it in your answers. Check every date, address, or other detail against its documentation to be sure that you don’t misrepresent anything. Also, don’t leave out any requested material information. If you do make application mistakes, your licensing body may construe your errors and omissions as intentional credential fraud, denying your license accordingly.
Multistate
Keep in mind when applying that your license application in one state may affect your ability to obtain or retain a license in other states. Some fields, like nursing, have multistate licensing compacts with reciprocal licensing opportunities in participating states. Get a license in one state, and you can readily get another license in another state. But failing to get a license in one state can likewise lead to your failure to get a license in another state. Beware multistate licensing impacts. Make only accurate license applications, and see those license applications through to proper completion. Don’t abandon a license application, see it denied, and then have to report its denial when you apply in another state, frustrating your licensure in that other state.
Issues
Don’t give up your licensing attempt if issues arise in the licensing process. Make reasonable attempts to resolve licensing issues. Begin by learning the alleged deficiency in your application and working with licensing officials to correct it. If you are unable to satisfy licensing officials after diligent efforts that you believe should have been successful, your licensing body should have a formal dispute resolution process for you to challenge the denial of your license application. That process should provide you with clear notice of the deficiency and an opportunity to challenge the decision in a hearing before an impartial decision maker. You may also have a right to appeal a hearing decision to the full board, a higher state administrative panel or official, or a state civil court.
Representation
You may have an enormous amount riding on your licensing application, including everything you invested in your professional or vocational education and every reward you expect to earn in your career field. Don’t gamble that interest in a licensing proceeding. Get qualified license defense attorney representation. Some attorneys focus their practices on helping individuals qualify for licensure or defend disciplinary charges against their license. Those attorneys will generally have the knowledge, skill, and experience to obtain your best licensing outcome. They may also know the licensing officials and have relationships of trust and confidence with those officials that will facilitate voluntary workouts through remedial or other measures not reflected in the formal processes.
Discipline
Be aware of the risk of license discipline once you enter your career field. Licensing bodies generally have state legislative authority not only to issue licenses but also to suspend or revoke licenses, or refuse to renew a license, when the licensee gives grounds for discipline. State statutes and administrative regulations generally list both generally applicable disciplinary grounds and grounds specific to the field. Generally applicable grounds may include criminal conviction, domestic violence restraining orders, failure to pay income taxes or child support, substance abuse and addiction, or child abuse or neglect. Grounds specific to the field may include incompetence, malpractice, breach of confidentiality, and embezzlement of client, customer, or patient property. Once you obtain your license, conform your practices to the rules and standards of your field. And don’t ignore disciplinary allegations and charges. Preserve and protect your license.
Defense
If you face allegations that you committed acts warranting your license discipline, promptly retain qualified license defense attorney representation. Don’t fool around with disciplinary investigations and charges. Whether you did anything wrong or not, you need skilled and experienced license defense representation for your best licensing outcome. License revocation or long-term license suspension isn’t your only concern. Even as little as a brief license suspension, reprimand, or probation can cost your job, reputation, and relationships. Get the defense help you need. Even if you committed misconduct or have a concerning addiction or impairment, remedial measures may be available that avoid discipline and preserve your license, practice, and reputation. Preserve and protect your career credentials to preserve and protect your career.
Journal
Title My Credentials the next section of your Career Journal, after the Markets section. In that new section, first record any credentials you have, beginning with education and moving forward through clinical experiences, examinations, and licensure or certification. Then research and confirm the credentials you need for the career field you’re thinking of entering. Analyze the steps you’d need to take to get those credentials, including the time doing so would take and the costs you would incur. Judge whether you are currently able to take those steps, including whether you might take an interim step to move closer to credentialing while waiting for an opportunity to complete all steps. Keep assessing whether you can obtain the credentials you need. If you already have the necessary credentials for your career field, ensure that your credentials remain in good standing. Renew credentials as necessary to keep them active. A failure to timely renew a credential may mean starting over with burdensome licensure requirements.
Key Points
Career fields often require licensure, certification, or other credentials.
Confirm the credentialing for the career field you wish to enter.
Evaluate whether you have or can obtain qualifications for your field.
Investigate whether you have any disqualifying conditions.
Do not enter your career field without a necessary credential.
To obtain a necessary license, first identify the licensing authority.
Next, confirm the licensing authority’s application process.
Ensure that your license application is accurate and complete.
Resolve licensing issues with the help of attorney representation.
Respond to disciplinary allegations, with attorney representation.
Timely renew, preserve, and protect your licenses and certifications.