What is the Certified Penetration Testing Specialist?

The Certified Penetration Testing Specialist is a globally recognised professional certification by the Global Leadership Institute (GLI), designed to equip professionals with advanced competencies in Soft Skills & Personal Dev..

How long does this certification take?

The programme is 9 Week and can be completed at your own pace through our self-paced online option, or alongside live virtual sessions.

Is this certification globally recognised?

Yes. GLI certifications are internationally recognised and carry CPD credits, making them valuable for career advancement worldwide.

What level is this certification?

This is a Intermediate Level certification, suitable for professionals with relevant experience or background in the field.

You can enrol by emailing info@leadership.co.ke, contacting us via WhatsApp at +254 722 223 084, or filling the enrolment form below.

Certified Penetration Testing Specialist (CPTS) | Online Certification

Executive Summary

Certified Penetration Testing Specialist

Designed for today’s high-impact professionals, the Certified Penetration Testing Specialist (CPTS) delivers a rigorous Intermediate-level curriculum that equips participants with the knowledge, tools and frameworks needed to excel in human resource management, talent development and organisational effectiveness.

This 9 Week programme is structured around SHRM, CIPD and ILO Labour Standards, ensuring every graduate applies internationally validated methods to real-world challenges.

GLI’s CPTS holders are recognised by leading organisations across Africa, the Gulf, Europe and the Americas as qualified, results-driven professionals. Whether you are advancing your current career or transitioning into new responsibilities, this certification provides the competitive edge you need in 2026 and beyond.

Programme Overview

Certification at a Glance

Certification

Certified Penetration Testing Specialist

Acronym

CPTS

Who Should Enrol?

Designing Roles and Paying Fairly — applied to your own work
Managing Performance and Capability — applied to your own work
Discipline, Grievance and Fair Process — applied to your own work
Developing, Retaining and Exiting — applied to your own work
The HR Professional Remit — applied to your own work
Attracting and Hiring Well — applied to your own work

Programme Inclusions

Everything Included in Your Enrolment

All study materials and study guide
Access to GLI online learning portal
Online examination and assessment
Digital certificate and digital badge
Physical certificate (shipped to you)
CPD credits for professional bodies
GLI alumni network membership
Facilitator and tutor support
Resource downloads and reference library
Automatic enrolment confirmation

Certification Benefits

Why This Certification Matters for Your Career

Career Advancement

Accelerate your career towards CHRO and senior people-management roles

Professional Recognition

Credential aligned with SHRM, CIPD and ILO Labour Standards

Leadership Capability

Develop the strategic and operational skills to lead complex human resource management functions

Organisational Impact

Design and implement human resource management systems that drive performance and measurable results

Compliance Readiness

Master the standards, compliance and ethical governance central to human resource management

Global Employability

Qualify for human resource management roles across multinationals, NGOs and international organisations worldwide

Competency Framework

Core Competencies You Will Develop

✦Talent Acquisition, Resourcing and Onboarding

✦Learning, Development and Talent Management

✦Performance, Reward and Employee Relations

✦HR Strategy, Analytics and Workforce Planning

✦Employment Law, Compliance and HR Governance

✦Professional Ethics and Governance

Course Curriculum

Programme Modules

Click any module to explore the detailed curriculum topics included in this certification.

Foundations and Strategic Context of Certified Penetration Testing Specialist

Certified Penetration Testing Specialist: industry context, trends and professional standards
Security principles and protective concepts
The security profession, roles and standards
The threat landscape and security environment
Security governance and management systems
Physical, personnel and information security
Deterrence, detection, delay and response
Duty of care and legal framework
Ethics and professional conduct in security
Security as a business enabler
Career pathways and professional development

Designing Roles and Paying Fairly

Reward architecture and pay equity
Competency frameworks and skills taxonomies
Inclusion and the fairness of people decisions
Flexible and hybrid working design
Customer (employee/manager) satisfaction
Recruitment marketing and candidate attraction
Preparing financial statements
Health and safety legal duties
Cross-cultural and global inclusion
Embedding values and behaviours
Communicating and reporting to leadership
Managing HR projects and change
Team leadership within HR
Large-scale transformation and agile ways of working
Aligning HR strategy with organisational strategy

Managing Performance and Capability

Performance management that changes behaviour
Absence, capability and ill-health management
Employee engagement and what actually drives it
Financial reporting frameworks (IFRS/GAAP)
Interpreting financial statements
Business case, cost and impact analysis
Ratio and trend analysis
Management accounts and dashboards
Managing employment disputes and tribunals
Attrition, engagement and productivity analytics
Diversity and pay-equity analytics
Applicant tracking systems and recruitment analytics
Linking performance to reward and consequence
Process automation and workflow
Digital HR and the employee experience platform

Discipline, Grievance and Fair Process

Employee relations, discipline and fair process
Employment compliance and the HR risk agenda
Collective relations and union engagement
Budget vs actual and variance
Cost and profitability analysis
HR policies, handbooks and compliance
Forecasting and planning
Data visualisation for finance
Consulting skills and contracting with the business
Commercial awareness and organisational context
Decision support and insight
Employee and manager self-service
Data quality, integration and master data
Vendor management and system governance
Workforce reporting and storytelling with data

Developing, Retaining and Exiting

Learning transfer and capability building
Career architecture and internal mobility
Exit, offboarding and organisational memory
Reporting automation
Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic approaches
Attachment and developmental theory
Headcount budgeting and establishment control
Employer branding and employee value proposition (EVP)
Professional roles, boundaries and settings
Offer management, negotiation and pre-boarding
Time-to-hire, quality-of-hire and cost metrics
Instructional design and blended learning
Career development and internal mobility
Learning technologies and the LMS
Appraisal, calibration and managing underperformance

The HR Professional Remit

The HR operating model and business partnering
Employment compliance and the HR risk agenda
HR service delivery and case management
Cybersecurity and data protection in HR
Descriptive, diagnostic and predictive analytics
Evidence-based HR decision-making
Cost of workforce and ROI of HR interventions
Change management models (Kotter, ADKAR, Lewin)
Managing resistance and building coalitions
Culture change and behaviour embedding
Professional ethics and codes of conduct in HR
Whistleblowing and speak-up culture
Ethical frameworks and codes of practice
Employer brand and candidate experience
Onboarding and time to productivity

Attracting and Hiring Well

Employer brand and candidate experience
Selection validity and structured hiring
Onboarding and time to productivity
Duty of care and risk management
Diagnosis and evidence gathering
Implementation and change plan
Data protection and employee privacy
Record-keeping and data protection
Complaints, accountability and fitness to practise
Belonging, culture and employee resource groups
Stakeholder mapping and influencing
Coaching leaders and managers
Organisation development principles and practice
Diagnosing organisational readiness for change
Legal responsibilities and professional bodies

Change and Organisation

Organisational culture assessment and change
Future of work and workforce transformation
Communication strategy in change programmes
Restructuring, redundancy and organisational change
Organisational design principles and structures
Change leadership models (Kotter, ADKAR, Lewin)
Leading large-scale transformation
Organisational culture and behaviour change
Sustaining change and embedding new behaviours
Measuring change and transformation impact
Learning needs analysis at organisational level
Organisational change management
Change and adoption in projects
Agile and digital transformation projects
Measuring change and project impact

Leadership Practice

Stakeholder engagement and risk management
Absence, attendance and capability management
Discipline, conduct and fair-process management
Inclusive leadership and allyship
Costing methods and relevant cost for decisions
Fire safety management systems
Influencing and advising leaders
Team leadership in governance
Information lifecycle and records management
Enterprise risk management (ERM)
Ethical decision-making
Capstone scoping: a real financial problem or decision
Recommendations and decision support
Reporting quality and earnings management risks
Working capital management and the cash cycle

Communication and Influence

Professional writing and reports
Psychoeducation and public communication
Writing advisory reports that drive decisions
Reporting to boards and executives
Monitoring, control and reporting
Professional documentation and presentation
Communication planning and management
Reporting and dashboards
Managing expectations and influence
Negotiation and conflict management
Project data, reporting and analytics
Integrated and sustainability reporting
Reporting quality and governance
Communicating financial results
Professional case study and presentation

Stakeholders and Partnering

The business partner and centre-of-excellence model
Change, restructuring and consultation
The HR business partner role and mandate
Employment relationship and the psychological contract
Categories of spend and stakeholders
Strategic customer relationships
Managing boundaries and dual relationships
Peer support and consultation
Client feedback and satisfaction
The project environment and stakeholders
Stakeholder and sponsor management
Delivery, quality and stakeholder plan
Stakeholder identification and analysis
Stakeholder engagement strategy
Building project relationships

Learning and Training

Facilitation and difficult conversations
Evaluating learning impact (Kirkpatrick, ROI)
Training and capability building
Training needs analysis
Instructional design models (ADDIE, SAM)
Cognitive load and learning science
The learning and development profession
Learning strategy and business alignment
Learning cultures and the learning organisation
Facilitation skills and presence
Virtual and hybrid facilitation
Knowledge management and organisational learning
Inclusive learning and accessibility
Monitoring, evaluation and learning for accountability
Designing and facilitating groups

Financial Awareness

Cost, quality and cycle-time metrics
Total cost of ownership
Ration formulation and least-cost feeding
Financial inclusion strategy
The role of finance in organisations and value creation
Financial, management and cost accounting distinguished
Financial statements and the accounting equation
Stakeholders and users of financial information
Ethics and professional standards in finance
The finance function and digital transformation
Data gathering and financial analysis
Cost of accidents and prevention value
Legal, cost and feasibility analysis
Make-versus-buy and total cost of ownership
Cost and price analysis

Operations and Service

People analytics maturity and operating model
Process improvement and HR operating efficiency
Span of control, delayering and operating models
AI and automation in HR processes
HR function performance and service levels
The business case for productivity, quality and sustainability
Yield, productivity and profitability metrics
Data quality, analysis and reporting
Digital advisory, e-extension and mobile services
Traceability, recall and quality assurance systems
Quality management systems and audits
Quality planning and assurance
Quality control and continuous improvement
Integrated risk and quality control
Data quality and governance

Risk and Governance

Corporate governance and HR’s role
Regulatory compliance and audit
Risk assessment methodology and matrices
Dynamic and site-specific risk assessment
Residual risk and ALARP
Risk registers and monitoring
Communicating risk to the workforce
Evidence-based improvement
Managing risk and difficult cases
Contract types and risk allocation
Contract governance and compliance
Managing growth, risk and resilience
Lessons learned and development
Implementation planning and risk management
Governance of service standards

Technology and Systems

HR technology selection and implementation
Technology governance and change control
Digital credit and alternative data
Performance management systems and cycles
Safety management systems (ISO 45001)
Digital finance, mobile money and payment operations
Digital ethics and responsible AI
Safety management systems overview (ISO 45001)
Driving effective, ethical outcomes
Environmental management systems (ISO 14001)
Psychoeducation and workshops
Marketing technology stack
CRM and marketing automation platforms
Designing an intervention or programme
Ethical, risk and feasibility considerations

Projects and Delivery

Employee voice, surveys and action planning
Workforce planning and the capability gap
Account planning and whitespace analysis
Leading campaigns and sales projects
Nutrient management planning and the 4R framework
Land-use planning, capability and degradation management
Team leadership in field and project settings
Evidence-based practice
Goal setting and contracting
HACCP principles and prerequisite programmes
Innovation in service delivery
Emergency preparedness and response planning
Policy, planning and objectives
Scenario planning and foresight
Digital, blended and low-bandwidth delivery

Ethics and Professional Standards

Ethical use of AI and analytics in HR
HR competencies and professional standards (SHRM, CIPD)
Confidentiality and handling sensitive data
Conflicts of interest and integrity
Ethics and responsible leadership
Professional standards and ethics (CIPS)
Ethics and treating customers fairly in insurance
Regulation, ethics and misinformation in media and telecoms
Health records, data and confidentiality
Ethical principles and codes of practice
Sustaining ethical, effective practice
Professional ethics and banking conduct
Integrity, confidentiality and conflicts
Anti-corruption and financial-crime ethics
Data ethics and customer privacy

Health and Wellbeing at Work

Confidentiality and health data
Driving measurable safety improvement
Designing a safety programme or control
Job safety analysis (JSA) and task risk
Treatment planning and review
Contractor and visitor safety
Predictive safety analytics
Automation and safety technology
Toolbox talks and safety communication
Resilience, wellbeing and stress management
Event risk, safety and contingency planning
Risk assessment and safety planning
Wellbeing and resilience coaching
Health, safety and compliance in delivery
Brand safety and responsible marketing

Teams and Collaboration

Leading remote and hybrid teams
Team diversity and inclusion
High-performance team rituals and cadence
Productivity, collaboration and workflow tools
Facilitation in mixed-ability, multilingual rooms
Managing complexity and comorbidity
Workplace and organisational contexts
Working with referrers and multidisciplinary teams
Collaboration and teamwork
Servant leadership and self-organising teams
Virtual and distributed teams
Managing team performance and dynamics
Cross-functional and matrix teams
Team leadership and motivation
Leading project teams

Strategic Context

Retention strategy and turnover analysis
Marketing strategy and the mix
Brand strategy, identity and equity
Pricing strategy
Digital marketing strategy
Key account management strategy
Translating insight into strategy
Key global frameworks: FAO, GlobalG.A.P., SDGs and national strategies
Organic, inorganic and biological fertiliser strategies
Change talk and readiness
Goal setting and action planning
Digital transformation and IT strategy
Procurement’s contribution to organisational strategy
Category management and strategy development
Sourcing strategies and portfolio (Kraljic)

Diversity and Inclusion

Nomination, succession and diversity
The business case for diversity and inclusion
Gender, youth and social inclusion in agricultural development
Financial inclusion and agency banking
Digital accessibility and inclusion
Financial inclusion and serving underbanked markets
Diversity, inclusion and inclusive leadership
Assets, liabilities and equity reporting
Community engagement and equity
Brand equity and positioning
Financial inclusion and the evolving customer

International Practice

Global and comparative HR contexts
Cross-cultural communication
Transfer pricing and international tax
Global sourcing and international trade
International and cross-border tax
Habit change and behaviour design
Grades, standards and export certification (GlobalG.A.P.)
Global sourcing and trade
The agricultural sector: systems, actors and global food value chains
Job analysis, job design and role profiling
Accountability and follow-through

Standards and Improvement

Continuous improvement and lean HR
Service quality and turnaround metrics
Continuous improvement and lean banking
Driving measurable banking improvement
Quality assurance of audit
Assurance engagements and standards
Continuous improvement of delivery
Quality assurance and standards
Continuous improvement of programmes
Financial reporting standards (IFRS/GAAP)
Standard costing and variance analysis
Continuous improvement in service
Driving measurable service improvement
Designing a service or experience improvement
Coaching and quality monitoring

Workforce Practice

Talent review and succession in practice
Loyalty programmes and rewards
Workforce planning and scheduling
Employee experience and engagement
Customer and employee satisfaction
Career and talent development
Payroll, statutory deductions and employment cost
Employee engagement models and drivers
The employee lifecycle and HR value chain
Strategic workforce planning and demand forecasting
Succession planning and talent pipelines
Reward strategy and total reward frameworks
Talent sourcing channels and pipelines
High-potential identification and talent reviews
Workforce and shift management in retail

People Development

Building a personal HR development plan
Building a coaching culture
Measuring coaching and mentoring impact
Capability and skills frameworks
Leadership and management development
Coaching models and frameworks (GROW)
Competency framework development
Facilitation, coaching and mentoring
Knowledge management and capability building
Professional standards and continuing development
Personal leadership development planning
Coaching challenging situations
Measuring coaching impact
Assessment that measures capability
Coaching, mentoring and on-the-job development

Performance and Measures

HR metrics, KPIs and the HR scorecard
Objective setting: KPIs, OKRs and cascading goals
Leading and lagging metrics
Strategy execution and the balanced scorecard
Managing performance through coaching
Contract performance and exit
Retail performance metrics: sales densities, conversion and basket
KPIs and performance reporting
Psychometric and screening tools
Project KPIs and performance metrics
Quality and delivery metrics
Performance and dispute management
Performance scorecards and reviews
Investment principles and objectives
Metrics and reporting

Culture and Wellbeing

Building trust and engagement
Motivation and engagement
Measuring coaching outcomes
Strengths, flow and engagement
Policy, institutions and the enabling environment for agriculture
Advocacy and policy engagement
Meaning, purpose and values
Outcome and process measures
Evidence-based practice and research literacy
Data, records and confidentiality tech
Behaviour change and adoption of innovations
Buyer behaviour and the customer journey
Negotiation tactics and behaviours
Practice management systems
Working with organisations on wellbeing

Legal and Compliance

Employment law framework and contracts of employment
Designing an HR intervention or policy
Building a culture of compliance
Regulatory liquidity ratios (LCR, NSFR)
Governance, risk and compliance
Regulatory awareness (GDPR and beyond)
Contract law and formation
Contract exit and renewal
Ethics of technology in practice
Accounting concepts, principles and the regulatory landscape
Statutory compliance and filings
Compliance frameworks and programmes
Regulatory mapping and obligations
Compliance monitoring and testing
Regulatory change management

Evidence and Analytics

Benchmarking and external data sources
People analytics and HR measurement
People analytics tooling and dashboards
Market research design and methods
Qualitative and quantitative research
Emerging tools and innovation
Baseline surveys and data collection tools
Communicating with families and carers
Managing difficult conversations
Portfolio of evidence and reflective practice
Data-driven decision support and analytics
Influencing and presenting insights
Data protection and customer privacy
Data, analytics and customer insight
Data ethics, privacy and protection

Certified Penetration Testing Specialist

Certified Penetration Testing Specialist

Certification at a Glance

Who Should Enrol?

Everything Included in Your Enrolment

Why This Certification Matters for Your Career

Core Competencies You Will Develop

Programme Modules

What You Will Achieve

How to Get Certified

Common Questions

What Our Alumni Say

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