COOL (Credentialing
Opportunities On-Line) explains how Army Soldiers can meet civilian
certification and license requirements related to their Military Occupational
Specialties (MOSs).
Use COOL to
Get background information about civilian licensure
and certification.
Identify licenses and certifications relevant to Army MOSs.
Learn how to fill gaps between Army training and experience
and civilian credentialing requirements.
Learn about resources available to Soldiers that can
help them gain civilian job credentials.
Credentialing requirements information currently includes enlisted and Warrant Officer MOSs. Current plans do not include adding MOSs
for officers; however, officers can obtain general information on credentialing
from the following U.S. Department
of Labor Web sites:
Soldiers who want to know what civilian
credentials relate to their MOS and
how to obtain them.
Education, Career and Transition Counselors providing
guidance on education, professional growth, and career requirements
and opportunities.
Army Recruiters who want to show
potential recruits the opportunities for professional growth and
civilian career preparation available through Army service.
Employers and Credentialing Boards interested
in how military training and experience prepares Soldiers for civilian
credentials and jobs.
If you are visiting COOL for
the first time, follow these steps to get the most out of your experience:
Review Credentialing
Basics to understand different types of credentialing (licensure
and certification), how credentialing affects Soldiers, and
what Soldiers need to do to get credentials.
Perform a Credential
Search to see what certifications and licenses pertain
to a given MOS.
You can search on the MOS or
the civilian equivalent. Search results include:
Civilian Equivalents – Civilian
jobs that are similar to a selected MOS.
Click on the civilian job titles for extensive career information
(typically from the U.S. Department of Labor) including
nature of work, working conditions, job outlook, and earnings.
National Certifications – These
certifications are organized into two categories:
Common Certifications – Certifications
that are directly related to the MOS or
are related to a particular skill set acquired through MOS training
and experience. You can click on the certifications to see if
there are gaps between Army training and experience and civilian
certification requirements.
Advanced/Specialty and Other Certifications – Additional
certifications that are also related to the MOS,
but are more advanced or specialized and therefore require additional
education or training. Although details about these certifications
are not included here, you can click on them to link to the certifying
board for more information.
(Special thanks to America’s Career Kit Consortium for
providing a database containing certification agency contact
information. The Career Kit Consortium serves as an advisory
group for the U.S.
Department of Labor’s America’s Career Information
Network Web site, which provides extensive career information.)
State Licensure – Shows if the civilian
occupation is licensed by any states and provides links to additional
information on state licensure.
Read Costs
and Resources to see what costs might be associated
with licenses and certificates, and what resources are available
to help Soldiers pay for them.
In addition, Related
Sites provides other links on credentialing and related
topics. Note that many of these links lead to external sites that
are not necessarily endorsed by the Army.
What’s
New lists recent updates and additions. COOL is
updated frequently, so be sure to add it to your bookmarks.
For enlisted MOSs, a stair icon is displayed next to each certification shown under
Common Certifications on Credential Search summary pages. These icons
represent the estimated ability of a first-term Soldier to
obtain a particular credential:
Icon
Definition
Credential is attainable within first term of service.
Credential is possibly attainable during first service term,
but may require approval of experience by the credentialing board,
additional coursework, and/or an associates degree.
Credential is probably not attainable within first
service term because it requires education, training, and/or experience
likely not attainable during first term.
Credential is not attainable within
first service term because it requires education, training, and/or
experience not attainable during first term.
On the credential summary pages, you can click on the icons to display
this icon legend.
Keep in mind that these icons relate to a Soldier’s first term.
If you have additional experience or training, you may already have
additional qualifications for a particular credential.
Although the icons on the credential summary pages always represent
one of the four “levels” described above, you can get a
short explanation of a certification’s rating by hovering your
cursor over its stair icon.
On credential summary pages, resource icons representing the resources
available for a certification are displayed next to the certification
name. When displayed, you can click on the icon for more information
about the resource as it applies to the certification. There may be
multiple resources available for the same certification.
The resource icons are described in the following table.
Icon
Meaning
Certification and licensure exam fees and related training will now be paid for through the AVOTEC program. Click on the icon to the left for more information.
Reimbursement for certification fees has been approved for payment
through the GI Bill. Click on the icon to the left to see the information
page.
The certification exam is offered on or near military installations
through the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support
(DANTES). Click on the icon to the left to go to the DANTES home
page.
Army e-Learning – Certification preparation courses
are provided, at no cost to the Soldier, through Army e-Learning.
Click on the icon to the left to go to the Army e-Learning Program
page.
College credit recommendations for this certification
have been made by the American Council on Education (ACE). Click
on the icon to the left to go to the ACE College
Credit Recommendation Service.
The certification has been approved for Promotion
Points for enlisted Soldiers. Click on the icon to the left to go to the U.S. Army Human
Resources Command Web site for more information.
This certification program has been accredited
by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Click
on the icon to the left for more information from the NCCA Web
site.
This certification program has been accredited
by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Click on the
icon to the left for more information from the ANSI Web
site.
COOL uses “hover
text” to provide additional information as you use the site.
For example, most acronyms are also spelled out—just “hover” your
cursor over the acronym, and it is spelled out for you. The stair
icons on the search summary pages contain hover text explaining
the credential’s rating. The links on this site include hover
text as well, to let you know where the link goes.
Some basic navigation shortcuts are described below. COOL also
incorporates Alt key combinations you can use to move around the site,
which are described on the Accessibility/Download page.
To return to the COOL Home
Page, click on the “Home” button or the COOL logo
at the top of each page.
To go to the top of any page, press the Home key on
your keyboard.
To return to the previous page, press the Backspace
key on your keyboard, or use your browser's “Back” button.
Use the navigation menu on the right side of each
page to go directly to topics on that page, or to search for credentials
related to a particular MOS.
The links from the top navigation menu are repeated at the bottom
of each page for your convenience.
COOL contains
links to external Web pages. Clicking these links opens a new browser
window; you can close or minimize the window to return to COOL.
For additional information on external links, see our disclaimer.
