In a new report from PayScale, Inc., called Professional Development: What Employees Want, the nearly 38,000 workers surveyed by the compensation software firm were asking for two things:

In case you are not aware, the Data Licensing Specialist exam (DLS) is a comprehensive, industry-wide exam designed to test in the broadest sense every facet of data licensing across the industry. I mention this because it is incredibly important that anyone planning to sit the exam understand that it is “industry-wide”. I am aware of people with decades in the industry who failed it first time because their experience wasn’t as wide as they felt it was. It’s very important that anyone looking to sit the exam fully understand and appreciate that if you haven’t worked both sell-side and buy-side; had to deal with exchanges, indices, fixings & benchmarks, ratings, platform providers; had exposure to data governance scenarios end-to-end, licensing models, “what if” scenario analysis on data flows across the enterprise etc. well then you might not pass. The exam has a very high pass mark and the questions are tough for a reason; this exam is an ... more

One of the most common questions I get from candidates for the FISD FIA is, "what study materials are available?" In order to keep the exam fair and true to its purpose, FISD has walled itself from training. We want qualified FIAs to have learned the syllabus material well enough to apply it, not just to memorize test answers. So, we rely on third-party trainers to help candidates acquire and reinforce the knowledge they need to succeed on the exam and in their jobs. While this has proved a good solution for many test takers, not everyone has the budget for formal training or the need. Some of you come to the FISD FIA with decades of industry experience and want only a little review before diving into the exam, not structured training. Until now, FISD has been empty-handed in the face of requests for study material that's short of a full course but still imparts important information. No longer! Enter the 416-slide digital flashcard deck created by a dedicated FISD member. A ...

When Bob Coleman needed a name for his now, two-plus, year-old training program, he chose Coleman Certified Training. "We've been in the [small business banking and loan] space for 20 years," he said at the time. "I struggled with [what to call it] but we are perceived as the experts in the space—people understand our brand. Do we want institute of professionals or Coleman certified? Let's try Coleman Certified Training."