I just started the traineeship for the HR specialist title and I am concerned because my office hasn’t trained me on anything. I understand the office is severely short staffed so I try not to push for the training/study sessions I was promised but I am becoming increasingly concerned. Any helpful tips/material you would recommend looking into?
Posted Sep 28, 2023, 7:14 PM UTC
SLMS and your internal website should have resources. I would push for more training and staffing with your supervisor though. Don’t be scared! That’s why I feel the probation, IDP and other employee evaluations are so one sided and solely based on what the supervisor says with no backing and evidence. I also feel that I’m performing full grade 18 level work esp. because of staff shortage but that’s another topic within itself. Trainees/people on probation should be able to send paperwork up with ratings on if they are being properly trained, if they have the right tools and materials and who is actually training them or not. Not appeal only when it is a bad rating. I’m in the same situation at my job and in HR as a trainee. And as a trainee, we have IDP evaluations were we should be meeting certain requirements every 6 months in our traineeship. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about your career regardless of all of us being short staffed and super busy. Also I would ask your agency/supervisor if the CS Institute qualifies for additional credits/training under your IDP. For my agency it didn’t as the agency wants specific internal agency HR/NYS CS training not general civil service HR training.
Traineeships aren't actually training. They're an excuse to pay you less for the same work for up to 2 years.
Great thought! Still doesn’t answer the question!
So, the traineeship focuses on giving you a warm up period to do the full level work for a position.
The exam, while attempting to make it relevant to the job, is not a job test, it’s a fairness/mental acuity test.
So, that’s great news and not so great news.
The great news is you really are just looking for resources. Look on our website (should be at the bottom of our main page, if not try the bottom of the job seekers page) and find ANY study guide that has the same TEST MATERIAL as the one you are using. You won’t find many questions this way but they do a good job of framing your mind for an exam. Which leads me to….
You really want any and all test prep resources. Libraries have old CSEA booklets. Maybe old testing guides, etc. anything that gets you in the mindset of taking a multiple choice test. You MIGHT also find similar materials and questions in another state. I used a practice test from another state and holy shit I felt like that made my testing easier.
It’s not so great because it makes you feel like it doesn’t matter (your service) and in a way, it’s true. You serve your time in title and then we have to organize people in a fair way (testing).
Also if you feel like your agency isn’t training you you could use your higher management to try and get more involved in Civil Service Institute. It’s a program where we train HR staff in the state to learn more about the civil service system and the laws rules and regs. Might be something you’ll be interested in.
I hope this helps somewhat.
Thanks you, this is great information!!!!