Coming Soon: Courses by Name (A-E)

The Advanced Position Classification for HR Practitioners course is designed to teach participants the role of the position classifier in developing position classifications, writing position descriptions, evaluating position descriptions and complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Objectives:

• Learn the procedures used to evaluate positions under the Factor Evaluation System and the narrative system
• Use the references that guide the federal classification system
• Understand the concepts and apply the procedures to such technical issues as mixed grade/mixed series, interdisciplinary positions and one-grade vs. two-grade interval work
• Understand the General Schedule and Federal Wage System classification appeals processes
• Interpret and apply the General Schedule Leader Grade Evaluation Guide and the General Schedule Supervisory Guide
• Apply the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) categories to properly determine exempt/non-exempt status

Course Length: 2 Days

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Managers, supervisors and HR professionals in today's federal workforce must place significant emphasis on recruiting and retaining a high-quality workforce. While this has always been important, it is even more so in light of the President’s Memorandum on Hiring Reforms which requires managers and supervisors to be more fully involved in the hiring process. This course is designed to help the participant develop the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a wide array of staffing functions. The participant will explore current staffing laws, regulations, rules and procedures as they apply to job analysis, recruitment, qualification analysis and veterans' preference.

Objectives:

• Describe the benefits and services of automated recruitment systems
• Determine candidates’ eligibility and qualifications for FWS and GS positions
• Apply veterans’ preference rules and procedures
• Recognize Merit System principles and prohibited personnel practices
• List methods to establish credibility with managers and supervisors
• Develop job analyses and crediting plans
• Distinguish between the competitive and excepted services
• Use direct hire authorities to appoint candidates where appropriate
• Describe the features and advantages of an upward mobility program
• Select the most appropriate type of appointment and source(s) of recruitment when filling a job

Course Length: 4 Days

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Achieve confidence in your ability to prepare or decide adverse actions or performance-based actions. Learn to meet rigid standards of cause, penalty and proof-set by third parties that review removals, suspensions, demotions and furloughs before taking adverse and performance-based actions against employees. Explore disciplinary and non-disciplinary causes; unusual cause situations, such as medical problems or off-duty conduct; penalty factors; issues of proof; and pre-action investigations.

Objectives:

• Determine whether an action requires adverse action or unacceptable performance action procedures
• Decide when an adverse action or unacceptable performance action is justified
• Determine if enough proof is available to take an action
• Follow the correct procedures in taking either of the two actions
• List relevant factors in assessing penalties

Course Length: 4 Days

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Increase the operating efficiency of your production environment by developing troubleshooting expertise. Analytic Trouble Shooting (ATSSM) integrates quality and productivity efforts, and provides a logical framework for statistical process control, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, total productive maintenance, self-managed work teams, and other programs. Not tied to a specific machine or process, ATS helps troubleshooters solve problems in the production environments of today and tomorrow.

More than 70% of the workshop is spent on application and case study practice. This insures that skills are quickly transferred to the workplace. Training focuses on two principle activities finding cause and taking action.

Objectives:

• Sort out complex situations
• Separate problems from decisions or actions
• Set priority to choose what to work on first, and plan next steps
• Solve problems by first describing the problem in detail
• Identify and test causes to see if they explain the problem description
• Prove the true cause of a problem before making expensive fixes
• Use techniques to handle multiple problems, start-up problems, and recurring problems
• Make choices to resolve problems once the cause is known by considering objectives, alternatives, and risks to help select or recommend a fix
• Think ahead before implementing a fix or other action
• Anticipate potential problems and likely causes, recommend preventive action and plan contingent action

Course Length: 3 Days

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Learn about the federal hiring process, procedures that must be followed when hiring employees, and how to select and retain the best-qualified candidates for your agency's jobs.

Objectives:

• Use newly acquired research skills and understanding of staffing issues to effectively advise customers on Federal employment issues
• Recognize the legal basis and requirements for filling positions
• Identify roles and responsibilities of supervisors, managers and Human Resources in staffing procedures and activities
• Articulate the relationship between staffing and other Human Resources functions
• Identify sources of information on pertinent staffing laws, regulations, and guidance
• Identify recruiting authorities and methods that can be presented to agency management as options when filling positions
• Describe the steps required to conduct a job analysis
• Identify the Major Duties and KSAs of a General Schedule position
• Describe the content of a crediting plan and identify its function in the staffing process
• Develop a vacancy announcement under the agency’s merit promotion plan
• Determine minimum qualifications based on OPM’s Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions

Course Length: 5 Days

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Effectively and correctly use Category Rating, as required by the President's Hiring Reform initiatives, to rate and refer Federal job applicants. Learn how to develop quality categories that distinguish candidates, apply veterans' preference, prepare certificates for the selecting official, and select candidates from the certificate.

Objectives:

• Understand the elements and purpose of the President’s Hiring Reform Initiative
• Identify the impact of the hiring reform on current processes 
• Understand how the category rating approach is used
• Understand the importance of job analysis to define quality categories
• Understand how to create a crediting plan when using category rating
• Identify categorical competencies from resumes without KSAs 
• Understand how to read resumes for applicant screening 
• Evaluate resumes for placement of applicants in categories
• Correctly apply veterans’ preference using category rating

Course Length: 2 Days

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The Communicating Effectively course is designed to strengthen participants’ skills as effective oral and written communicators by equipping them with the tools and strategies needed to develop and deliver effective oral presentations; identify and overcome communication barriers; provide feedback; engage in ethical communication; plan, organize and edit written documents; correctly produce memoranda; and use email appropriately.

Objectives:

• Use strategies for effective planning and writing
• Utilize techniques for identifying types of information, organization, style, and audiences
• Identify the characteristics, skills, and techniques of effective communicators

Course Length: 1 Day

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Course topics include:

• Impact of using questions to think strategically about communication
• Strategic communication as a means to achieve desired actions
• Using strategic communication techniques to create alliances
• Building networks through strategic communication
• Improving cross-functional work initiatives using strategic communication techniques
• Developing a plan to communicate more strategically
• Selecting the best strategic communication means for different situations
• Creating effective strategic messages when communicating up, down, or laterally
• Shaping changes in behavior by using planned and targeted communication techniques and approaches

Objectives:

• Ask the right questions to think strategically about communication
• Use strategic communication to achieve desired actions
• Apply proactive communication strategies and techniques to create alliances, build networks and work cross-functionally
• Influence behavior change through intentional and targeted strategic communication
• Design effective strategic communication plans
• Choose the best communication medium for a situation
• Craft powerful strategic messages for delivery to different audiences — upward, downward, or lateral

Course Length: 2 Days

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Conflict is inevitable, but transforming it into positive outcomes is a skill. Learn how to shape even the most difficult circumstances into satisfying, win-win experiences. Discover a wide variety of proven constructive approaches that lead to productive resolutions and teaching moments. Develop the tools for quickly analyzing and responding to difficult situations and share them with you team to make conflicts approachable and productive.

Objectives:

• Resolve conflict with constructive confrontation and resolution skills
• Analyze conflict situations and select appropriate strategies to resolve the differences
• Create conditions that encourage cooperation
• Anticipate and prevent conflict
• Recognize attitudes and behaviors that create conflict

Course Length: 3 Days

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The Consulting Skills for HRM Professionals course enhances participants’ effectiveness as an organization's in-house consultant on human resource issues by teaching them to build partnerships, lead teams, establish personal credibility, improve communication skills, analyze problems, and use interest-based and group problem-solving techniques.

Objectives:

• Recognize and apply techniques for establishing personal credibility
• Analyze problems and use interest-based and group problem-solving techniques to find solutions
• Build partnerships and lead teams inside and outside of the workplace
• Recognize actions required to transition from internal consultant to change agent and strategic partner in mission accomplishment

Course Length: 2 Days

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Learn all you need to know to correctly counsel CSRS and CSRS Offset employees about their federal retirement benefits. This comprehensive workshop covers the Civil Service Retirement System rules and regulations and benefits, as well as CSRS and its retirement application procedures and benefits.

Objectives:

• Explain deposit service, redeposit service and post-56 military deposit service
• Explain CSRS retirement spousal elections, survivor benefits and death benefits
• Explain retiree aspects of FEHB and FEGLI, including eligibility and options
• Explain the special rules that impact Social Security benefits for CSRS retirees and surviving spouses
• Identify CSRS coverage and retirement eligibility requirements
• Compute creditable annuity and service estimates
• Use the appropriate CSRS retirement forms and accurately process retirement applications
• Prepare complete and accurate CSRS retirement applications

Course Length: 4 Days

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The Customer Service in Government course strengthen participants’ skills for providing exceptional customer service, dealing appropriately with difficult customer behavior, and using feedback to continuously improve the service they provide.

Objectives:

• Identify the elements of the President’s memorandum on hiring reform
• Identify the impact of the hiring reform on VA
• Identify how resumes and cover letters can be used to screen applicants for eligibility and minimum qualifications
• Identify how the category rating approach is used to assess and select applicants
  

Course Length: 1 Day

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Understand the basics of EEO laws as they affect federal employment. Learn about prohibited forms of discrimination; the federal sector EEO complaint process; techniques for identifying and avoiding workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; and supervisory responsibility for affirmative employment in the federal sector.

Objectives:

• Identify agency responsibilities for establishing and maintaining EEO and affirmative employment programs
• Recognize the evolutionary flow of EEO law
• Understand the role and responsibilities of EEO and human resources practitioners in the EEO program

Course Length: 3 Days

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The Employee Benefits course is designed to help the HR practitioner gain an understanding of the many benefits programs provided for the Federal employee.

Objectives:

• Identify information sources and materials needed for each of the discussed benefit programs
• Counsel employees on their entitlement to Federal benefits
• Help employees enroll or make changes to their Federal benefits

Course Length: 3 Days

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Develop the skills necessary to deal with common performance and conduct problems. In this practical, no-nonsense program, you explore day-to-day problems that face federal supervisors. Become adept at dealing with the following workplace issues: absenteeism, insubordination, an employee coming to work under the influence, threatening and intimidating co-workers, sick leave abuse, contentious conduct, poor performance and workplace violence.

Objectives:

• Distinguish between a performance problem and a conduct problem
• Determine when employee conduct is actionable
• Decide whether to take formal or informal action
• List the most common factors in assessing penalties
• Follow the correct steps in a performance counseling session
• Write a performance improvement plan
• Learn the steps in a performance-based action

Course Length: 2 Days

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The Employee and Labor Relations course helps the HRM Practitioner gain a sound understanding of the key aspects of Employee and Labor Relations in order to support managers in daily operations.

Objectives:

• Advise customers on employee and labor relations issues
• Identify the difference between conduct and performance-based issues
• Use appropriate corrective procedures to address conduct and performance-based issues
• Recognize basic management, employee, and labor union rights under the law
• Identify change situations that invoke the union’s right to bargain
• Recognize conditions that create a past practice
• Describe the supervisor’s role in formal discussions and investigative, or Weingarten, meetings
• Discuss the supervisor’s role in administration of the labor agreement
• Understand the basic steps in the grievance procedures

Course Length: 2 Days

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