The forms a Washington credential takes
Washington says « credential » where most states say « license », and it is not a stylistic choice: it issues several different things.
| Form | Active credentials | Share |
|---|---|---|
| License | 304,441 | 55.0% |
| Certification | 145,796 | 26.3% |
| Registration | 74,135 | 13.4% |
| Permit | 883 | 0.2% |
| Endorsement | 197 | 0.0% |
| Trainee | 1,833 | 0.3% |
| Other credential | 26,630 | 4.8% |
Why anyone should care
Because the same job can exist under two of them at once. Nursing assistance is the clearest case: a certification (59,078 active) and a registration (25,386 active) run side by side, and in ordinary speech both are « a CNA ». An employer who checks for one and finds the other has not found nothing — they have found something different, and the difference is the route the holder took in and what they may do unsupervised.
It is not the only pair. Across the register, several occupations appear in more than one form at once, which is why a credential number tells you more than a job title does: the number carries its form with it, and the title does not.
The forms, side by side
| Form | Active | What holding it says | What it does not say |
|---|---|---|---|
| License | 304,441 | The state permits this person to practise a profession it has decided requires permission. | That they are good at it. A licence is a floor, not a recommendation. |
| Certification | 145,796 | The state has recognised them against a defined standard for the role. | That they may work independently. Much certified work is done under someone else’s direction. |
| Registration | 74,135 | The state knows who is doing the work, and can act if something goes wrong. | That they passed the kind of examination a licence-holder passed. |
| Permit | 883 | They may work now, while something else is still in progress. | That the position is settled. A permit is built to run out. |
| Trainee | 1,833 | They are learning the work under supervision. | That they are unqualified — and equally, that they are fully credentialled. |
If you are checking someone before hiring them
Three things are worth reading off a record, in this order. The form — is it the one the role requires, or a neighbouring one? The expiry date — Washington renews on the holder’s birthday, so a date can be a fortnight away without anyone having mentioned it. The continuing-education due date, where the Department records one: those hours have to be completed before the renewal, not after it.
And one thing worth not reading off it: this register does not rate anyone. It says what the state permits, and stops.
We describe the forms as the register shows them. What each permits in practice is set out in Washington’s rules for the profession concerned, and a question about scope of practice belongs there rather than here. The register also holds 197 endorsements — additions to a credential someone already holds — and 26,630 credentials whose title carries none of these words, which we leave under their own name rather than guess.