An Employer Update on the SHRM
Assurance of Learning® Assessment
Agenda
 How does SHRM encourage students to prepare for a career
in HR?
– Career Development Pathway
 What is the Assurance of Learning Assessment?
 Why is it important for employers to be familiar with the
Assurance of Learning Assessment
– Capstone to Graduation: The SHRM Assurance of
Learning® Assessment
 The Employers Guide to the SHRM Assurance of Learning®
Assessment
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Career Development Pathway
Your path to a successful career in HR
Education
Competencies,
Life-long Learning
& Certification
Working and
Staying
Connected
Internships
Assessment
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And WHY SHOULD EMPLOYERS CARE?
What is it?
A knowledge-based, capstone exam designed to:
– provide HR students with an achievement, by passing a national exit
exam, to help them differentiate themselves in the job marketplace;
– show potential employers that the student has acquired the
knowledge required to enter the HR profession;
– help universities meet their accrediting body’s requirements by
showing that the HR degree program teaches its students what it
says it will teach them
– Replace the PHR for traditional students
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Content Areas Covered
 Employee & Labor Relations
– Employee and Labor
Relations
– Negotiation Skills
 Employment Law
– Employment Law
– Risk Management:
Occupational Health, Safety,
and Security
 Strategic HR
– HR and Globalization
– HR and Organizational
Strategy
– HR Mergers and Acquisitions
– Leadership Skills
– Managing Diversity
 Total Rewards
– Employee Benefits
– Total Rewards
 Training and Development
– Career Planning
– Training & Development
 Workforce Planning and Talent
Management
– HR Information Systems
– Measuring HR Outcomes:
Metrics and the Bottom Line
– Performance Management
– Staffing: Recruitment and
Selection
– Workforce Planning & Talent
Management
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Exam Basics
 Knowledge Exam
 160 multiple choice questions
– 70% recall
– 30% application of knowledge
 Pass rate = 62%
 Certificate of Learning awarded to those who
pass.
 Three(3) 30-day test windows annually.
– Spring, summer, fall to coincide with
commencement
 Costs
– Members $135 / Nonmembers $210
– Review materials available
Apply online @ www.shrm.org/assessment
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Who is eligible to take the assessment?
 Undergraduate students and graduate students
with little to no HR work experience
 Must be earning an HR or HR-related degree in a
school of business or I/O psychology program
 Must be studying HR-specific courses.
 Must be studying HR-related content areas tested
on the exam.
 May take the exam beginning 1 year before
graduation and ending 1 year after graduation
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What does passing the exam show an employer?
 Over time, test has proven to be both reliable and
valid
 Difficulty measures show that the test is difficult
but fair
 Differentiation measures show the test items
appropriately differentiate between those students
who know HR and those who do not
 Slightly more difficult than PHR exam because it
includes 30% application questions
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Employers Guide to the SHRM Assurance of Learning
Assessment
 Shows details of how test was developed
– Test specifications
– Quality control measures
– How scores are determined
– What passing means to a potential employer
Get your free copy by emailing
Academics@shrm.org
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Assessment―Contact Us/Important Dates
 E-mail and telephone Hotlines!
– assessment@shrm.org
– 1-800-283-SHRM x3926 (EXAM)
 To get your free copy of the Employers Guide to the Assurance of
Learning Assessment
– academics@shrm.org
 Encourage students to apply
– www.shrm.org/assessment
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QUESTIONS?
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