APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 1998-09 > 0906495285


From: nancy <>
Subject: Re: Re certification
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:14:45 -0400


Hello,

I'm a former APG member who is currently not working due to bipolar
disorder. I hope no-one minds that I signed on, but I do hope to go back
to work soon.

I don't think that most genealogy consumers take the time to educate
themselves on what the specific categories and types of certification
mean. They are just satisfied with anyone who has passed a certification.

I am hoping to do a CGRS soon, after I return to work. But I always found
that the fact that I had no "credentials" didn't bother people when they
hired me. They seemed to be more interested in my price and how long I had
been researching, my access to records, that sort of thing. My
communications degree (specialty: rhetoric) probably helped too. If I felt
a project was outside my skill or specialties, I said so and provided
referrals to someone who would be good for the project.

I know what you mean about really only needing a CGRS. Most of the
consumers don't understand the difference anyway, and they are not asking
for the kind of work that is required to get certified CG. Most of the
work I did was basic record searching. I would write a report on that
specific record. Some clients did ask me to find all the records I could
in a specific county about a certain person. In that case I would send all
the reports on the records, along with a cover letter that summarized and
put together the information I had found. If two records conflicted, I
would offer my opinion of the most reliable and why. But I was never asked
to do more than two generations (a couple and their children), which isn't
really a lineage. A lot of people would ask me to find a specific piece of
information (a death date, burial location, etc) and tell me what they had
tried. Then it was up to me to construct a research plan and execute it.

The only BCG certification besides CGRS I can see having any real
important weight in the average genealogist's career would be CGI or CGL.
If you want to teach on a college level, I imagine that helps a lot.
That's not to say I don't respect the other categories, just that I don't
think that they are neccessary for most of us.

I think other professionals are most impressed when someone achieves AG
status. But I can only speak for myself and the small number of
professionals I know personally. And I don't think that the average
consumer really knows the difference between AG and CG.

I hope the above makes sense. Just my $.02 :-)

Nancy Nally
Rochester Hills, MI

Listowner:

Brian Mavrogeorge wrote:

> I was going to go for CG but was recently told by someone I admire
> greatly that I should do CGRS instead. Because that is more applicable
> to the type of things customers want - questions to specifics rather
> than full-blown genealogies. So Im leaning towards doing the CGRS.
>
> In professional terms - is there any implicit "one is better than the
> other" ranking of certifications?
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====

This thread: