5 Underrated Certifications That Employers Love

Here's something that most people don't know. There are underrated certifications out there that can land you high-paying jobs. And no, these aren't just generic certifications that everyone else talks about on YouTube. I'm talking about specific certifications that employers are actively looking for right now. And in this video, I'm gonna show you exactly which certs are worth your time, what kind of salaries you can expect, and the specific job titles that you should be applying for. And I've analyzed these job listings and market trends for these certifications. And the salary ranges I found might surprise you. Now, I know these certifications are going to be a powerful addition to your resume, but you'll also need a strategic approach to stand out in today's competitive job market, which we'll go over here in a moment. But with that being said, if you appreciate me making this type of video, let me know by gently tapping that Like button, and let's jump into it right now. But as a quick obligatory disclaimer, these salary figures I mentioned come from sources like Glassdoor. These are average estimates, not guarantees. So your actual salary can vary depending on your experience, location, the company you work for, and many other factors. So use these numbers as a general guide, not a promise of what you'll earn. And also make sure you always do your own research. With that being said, the first cert we're gonna talk about is the ITIL4 Foundation. And this is from PeopleCert. Now, here's why it's underrated. Most candidates chase A+, Network+, or Security+, certifications, and they skip IT service management completely. And this is though, even though many mid and large organizations run on ITSM processes. So why do employers love it? Well, ITIL is the de facto ITSM framework used in enterprises and in the government. And it maps to real workflows like incidents, changes, and SLAs. And it helps teams align with modern cloud and DevOps environments. But don't just take my word for it. Take the words of someone who just got certified. It's a nice checkbox on your resume for getting past HR scants. And to be honest, that's really important in this day and age, because that checkbox translates to real money. Now let's talk salary. According to Glassdoor, service desk analysts make about $47,000 to $73,000 a year. And that's just the starting point. With experience, you can move into roles like IT service manager, and those pay significantly more. And you can get this certification directly from PeopleCert. And to help you pass the exam, there's a great Coursera course called ITIL V4 Certification Preparation Specialization. That's a bit of a mouthful. But yeah, this can actually help you to get ready and pass the exam. And overall, I'm gonna rate this certification a solid nine out of 10. It provides strong employer signaling, and it is an ATS keyword. And ATS is basically the system that scans your resume to make sure that you actually pass so a real human being sees you. And I have all kinds of different strategies to get past the ATS keywords. One thing you could possibly do, for instance, is say that you're in the process of taking the cert. But yeah, it's a pretty fast one to take as well, which adds to the value, which is another reason why I gave it a nine out of 10. And the only downside is PeopleCert fees can be a bit pricey, but the ROI makes it worth it. Now, one of the absolute best ways of standing out, and this is one thing I've been teaching my students. For instance, Josh was able to get his dream job and get a job offer from two different fame companies using this strategy, is to simply start creating content online about your industry, right? So literally just create helpful content online that has to do with your industry. And then you can actually link that on your resume, your portfolio, and your LinkedIn. And it makes a massive difference when it comes to helping you land a job. Now, additionally, on top of this, you can actually use your YouTube channel to start a side hustle, make a few thousand dollars a month, and then 5,000, maybe 10,000, and eventually turn it into a full-time business. That's exactly what Josh did himself. And if you wanna know exactly how to do this and how to utilize AI to make the entire process 10 times easier than it used to be, that's exactly what I'll be talking about this Tuesday, 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. All right, quick break. This Tuesday, 9 p.m. Eastern Time, I'm hosting a free live workshop called Make Money With YouTube, YouTube Secrets. If you've been struggling to find your YouTube niche or you don't wanna spend months or even years building a channel around something that isn't profitable or just doesn't work for you in general, then this workshop is for you. Because for everyone who shows up live, I'll be giving away the 60-Second Niche Validator GPT 2.1. This is the most advanced version of my GPT-powered niche validation tool yet, and it's designed to help you instantly test and uncover profitable YouTube niches before you invest your time, money, and effort into the wrong one. And it's the most refined, data-driven version so far, and I'll be giving it away completely free, but only during this live workshop. So attend the free live workshop by clicking that link down in the description and the pinned comment below to grab it. You'll also be able to ask me questions live, so I look forward to meeting you. Oh, and just a heads up, this'll be probably one of the last times I'll be giving away a version of the Niche Validator for free, so make sure you click that link and show up to the workshop. Make sure you put it in your calendar, and I look forward to seeing you there. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. All right, number two is the Salesforce Certified Administrator. And here's why it's underrated. Non-tech folks completely overlook it, yet CRMs run revenue operations for most companies. And Salesforce is one of the biggest CRMs. An admin is a concrete, hireable skill with a massive ecosystem. Now, why do employers love it? Well, IDC projected the Salesforce economy will create 9.3 million jobs by 2026, and that underscores why certified admins are in such high demand. And you can check out this Reddit success story just as an example. During the interview, they appreciated my motivation and effort in earning certifications. This person just landed their first Salesforce admin job, and the salary range is impressive. According to Glassdoor, Salesforce administrators make 80 to $126,000 a year. That's a significant jump from entry-level IT roles. Now, you can get certified through Salesforce Trailhead. It's their official learning platform. And to boost your chances of passing, there's an excellent Coursera specialization for Salesforce admin certification. And by the way, all of these will be linked in the description and the pinned comment below. You can check them out down there. Both the original certification as well as the Coursera specializations. And yeah, I give the certification a solid nine out of 10. I think it's super overlooked. I think there's an excellent ROI with a clear job pathway. I think it doesn't have much hype behind it, so not a lot of people know about it. I'd say the only downside with this one is markets do tend to feel saturated at pure entry level. However, if you have a little bit of experience, even if it's just in something like IT help desk, for instance, which is quite easy to get into, or even in some cases like unrelated careers, it's quite easy to kind of horizontally shift to getting into this one. But yeah, portfolio projects, networking, it all still matters, which by the way, YouTube helps a ton with. And I'll be talking about that Tuesday 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Check it out in the description and pinned comment below. But yeah, really good one. I like it a lot. Number three is Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt. And this is from ASQ. And here's why people underrate it. They assume it's only for factories. In reality, LSS, Greenbelt, powers process, operations, and quality roles. And this is across tech, healthcare, finance, and services, and actually many other types of industries as well. So why do employers love it? It's a toolbox for measurable cost, quality, and time wins. And you learn DMAIC, root cause analysis, and statistics. And employers value candidates who can document improvements, as well as standardizing processes. And here's what someone said on Reddit. And by the way, guys, I get comments sometimes like, why are you just showing people on Reddit? Well, Reddit tends to be like probably one of the most negative places on the internet. And so if they say good things on Reddit, it tends to be like a really good search. I'm just being honest here. But anyways, this Reddit person said, can take a so-so candidate to an interview. That's the power of this certification. Process improvement analysts make about 88 to $135,000 a year. Now, one thing I'll say about this, and this actually goes for this one, the Lean Six Sigma, but also for the Salesforce one that I mentioned before, obviously you're gonna have a better chance of getting into companies that actually use these, right? So you can actually research relatively easily online which companies use Lean Six Sigma, which companies use Salesforce. And obviously when you're applying to those companies, it's better to talk about these certs. But yeah, 88 to 135,000 a year, that's great growth potential. And you can get certified through ASQ for the CSSGB. Now, to help you prepare and pass the exam, Coursera offers Six Sigma Green Belt Exam Preparation Specialization. So yeah, Coursera helps get ready for a lot of these different ones. But overall, I'm gonna give this one an eight out of 10. I think it has broad cross-industry appeal and it has tangible business impact. And the value spikes when you pair it with real projects. Purely theoretical study is not gonna impress employers as much, but combine it with actual process improvement work and you become incredibly valuable. Oh, and by the way, I just wanted to tell you that certifications are great, but most likely that's not enough for recruiters to come and chase you. And I have to say the job market right now is very tough. And that's why for one time only, I will be inviting you to the live workshop this Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It'll be down in the description in the pin comment below where we will talk about the best way to stand out both short-term and long-term, right? This will be a new way to promote yourself so that you'll be able to raise the eyebrows of recruiters from big companies, just like Josh was able to do. And the crazy thing is in many cases, they actually reached out to him. All right, number four is the Certified Associate in Project Management or CAPM. And this is from PMI. Now here's why it's underrated. It's overshadowed by the PMP certification. Yet CAPM is a lighter, resume-friendly way to prove PM fundamentals. And it covers predictive, agile, and business analysis early in your career. Now, why do employers love it? Well, it standardizes vocabulary and execution across teams. And it's a great signal for a coordinator and analyst roles when PM discipline matters. Now, check out this success story from Reddit. Once I added CAPM, I started getting interviews. Another person said CAPM got me career opportunities and three DMs from recruiters. And that's the kind of impact this certification can have immediately. And salary-wise, project coordinators make about $60,000 to $95,000 a year, according to Glassdoor. So it's a solid starting salary with clear advancement paths. And you get certified through PMI directly. And the member price is 158 and the full price is $210. So yeah, this one's, I'd say, is a little bit more better known. But the reason I wanted to mention it is because it's such a flexible cert to get. You can get it across so many different industries and it's gonna be super valuable. So I'd say, generally speaking, I'm gonna give this one an eight out of 10. For certain types of careers, it would get a higher score. All right, next one is the ServiceNow Certified System Administrator, or CSA for short. Now, here's why it's underrated. I think it's overshadowed by cloud and security certifications. But many enterprises literally run their IT workflows on ServiceNow, and CSA validates the core platform skills. So why do employers love it? Multiple hiring threads note CSA as a baseline, often with CAD or Certified Application Developer. And many employers look for this when staffing ServiceNow roles. And here's a real success story from Reddit. I was able to land a role with just my CSA. It's possible. And that shows the direct hiring impact. And the salary range is pretty impressive. According to Glassdoor, ServiceNow administrators make about That's enterprise level compensation. And you can get certified through ServiceNow Now Learning. And to help you prepare, Coursera has a ServiceNow Basics IT Automation and AI Powered Workflows specialization. So yeah, I rate this one eight out of 10. I think it's very strong. It's very niche as well. You know, if you get it, you wanna make sure you're getting it for a company that you plan on actually working at. But yeah, really good one. A lot of people get jobs from it. So yeah, guys, really good stuff. Getting all these certs is great, but if you wanna make it to where you basically can just have your pick of the litter, you can get any job you want for the rest of your life, build a personal brand, make content on YouTube, and then we teach you how to actually syndicate it to other platforms. And that way you're not just getting a job once and you'll basically be able to pick any job that you want. And that's exactly what we're gonna be teaching Tuesday, 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in a live training. Check it out in the description in the pinned comment below. And also check out this video I did on some of the best certifications out there by clicking right here.