WorldatWork to Continue Offering HR Professional Scholarships

WorldatWork, a global human resources association, has announced it will continue its scholarship program for HR professionals around the world. The program was launched in January 2010 to help HR practitioners obtain designations as Certified Compensation Professionals, Certified Benefits Professionals, Global Remuneration Professionals or Work-Life Certified Professionals.  WorldatWork designations are known throughout the HR and rewards community as marks of expertise and excellence in all areas of rewards. WorldatWork Career Center data show that 83% of employers look for certification when recruiting HR professionals. WorldatWork has awarded more than 21,000 certifications since 1976.

A one-year scholarship package includes free WorldatWork Premier membership, access to e-learning courses and materials, and all related exam fees. Nearly 50 scholarships have been awarded to reward practitioners in various countries since the program launched last year.

“With the current state of the economy, we feel a responsibility to give back to the profession and help our colleagues retool,” said Anne C. Ruddy, CCP, president of WorldatWork. “Making the commitment to invest in professional development will surely help job seekers in a very competitive marketplace.  For rewards professionals, it’s an ideal time to pick up new skills, fine tune existing knowledge and develop new competencies.”

WorldatWork scholars may take any certification preparation courses offered under the new WorldatWork e-learning platform. This new modular-based format is self-paced and allows trainees to: a) skip and select content areas as needed, (b) pick up where they left off, and (c) go directly to specific sections of content for review before testing. Exams can be applied toward a WorldatWork designation.

Scholarship applicants must submit a 200-word essay describing the importance of certification to their HR career as well as an explanation of financial need. They must provide a letter of reference from their current supervisor, or if unemployed, their last supervisor or HR colleague, recommending the individual and the need for scholarship consideration. They also must have performed an HR practitioner role for at least two years. For a complete list of eligibility criteria, visit www.worldatwork.org/scholarship.

Applications for a WorldatWork scholarship are accepted on an ongoing basis year-round. Scholarships are open to both WorldatWork members and non-members practicing HR anywhere in the world.

To apply, visit www.worldatwork.org/scholarship.

CTCBA is excited to announce a new partnership between the Texas Total Reward Alliance (of which CTCBA is a member) and Mercer Human Resources Consulting, to provide our members with access to the 2010 Mercer Metropolitan Benchmark Compensation Survey – South Central Region.  Visit our "Survey" page to get full information on this new benefit to your membership!

In the spirit of giving back to the community, CTCBA sponsored a food drive at its November education meeting to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank.  Attendees were asked to bring non-perishable food or monetary donations.  CTCBA matched the monetary donations dollar for dollar.  We’re happy to report that with CTCBA’s match, we delivered a check for $609 and fourteen pounds of food to the food bank.  According to the food bank, every $5 donated provides $25 of nutritious food for hungry Central Texans.  CTCBA’s donation will go a long way to feed those in need this holiday season.  Thanks to everyone for giving from the heart!

 

 

 CTCBA is proud to announce that we recently granted a scholarship to University of Texas student, Ariel Reetz.  Ariel is in her third year at the Red McCombs School of Business, pursuing a Bachelors degree in Business Management.  While very busy with her studies, Ariel finds time to be involved in Phi Chi Theta, a business fraternity where she holds the role of Philanthropic Executive Chair, as well as the Texas Exes Student Chapter, SHARE Volunteers, and Texas Wrap, an organization promoting food recovery in the Austin area.  Ariel was extremely grateful to find out she was the scholarship recipient.  In her thank-you letter, Ariel writes:  “My family is very close; my Mom has bad health issues, and right now my parents are taking care of my grandparents.  We have a few financial strains that we did not anticipate having when I started to attend The University of Texas”.  Ariel has a passion working with people and hopes to one day work in human resource management in the service industry, the hotel industry, or a non-profit organization.  We were happy to have Ariel attend our November luncheon meeting and appreciate her heartfelt words of gratitude.  We wish her a very successful future!  Watch the newsletter in the near future for an announcement regarding our St. Edwards University New School scholarship recipient.

Did you know that WorldatWork now offers scholarships to HR professionals that want to become a Certified Compensation Professional, Certified Benefits Professional, Global Remuneration Professional, or a Work-Life Certified Professional? Year to date 44 scholarships have been given out to date that waives fees for WorldatWork e-learning certification prep courses and exams for 12 months. More information can be found at www.worldatwork.org/scholarship.

This promotional offer was introduced for the third quarter and has been extended to the end of the year with some modifications. The offer provides the option to purchase an e-learning course at ½ off the listed price when one course with an exam is purchased – (Traditional classroom, Live Online Certification Prep, or Self Paced e-Learning Certification Prep) and get a 60 day or 120 day Self Paced E-learning course for half price. The change from 3^rd quarter is that the Binder/Exam package purchase does not qualify as the initial purchase.

By Vicki West, VP Membership

 
Budgets are tight everywhere, so of course we all look for value when we spend our money. The rules recently changed at my place of employment. They no longer pay for any individual memberships in professional organizations.

Sadly my memberships with SHRM and World at Work are going to expire because they do not have institutional memberships available. I do not use them at home, and have no room for them in my personal budget at this time.

But my membership with CTCBA is a totally different story. I gladly renewed my membership this year. I really enjoy the educational presentations and chatting with Austin compensation and benefits professionals at the lunches every other month. I make it a priority to attend all the luncheon meetings. I take away knowledge that I can apply directly to the work I do. And I’ll have to admit, the lunches are pretty tasty!

CTCBA is a really great value. Annual membership is only $40 per year. The lunch deal is $160 and includes the annual membership and five lunches with their educational presentations. One lunch is free, thus the name “Free Lunch Membership”. When you average the $160 annual cost, it is only 44 cents a day. I lose that much in the bottom of my purse! At $3.08 the weekly cost is just over the price of an iced tea at most places. That’s value!

So, if you are trying to make your membership budget stretch further, consider the value CTCBA offers. This is my first year on the Board. I have already learned that the Board works really hard to bring you topics relevant to Austin’s compensation and benefits scene, and great presenters at each meeting. Is there more? You bet! You could win a gift certificate for bringing a friend to a meeting for the first time. Your friend could win one too! How wonderful is that?

If you have not already done so, join us or renew your membership today. If you have joined or renewed, well howdy, and welcome to CTCBA!

 

To better serve our members, CTCBA has upgraded and enhanced their website. The web address remains the same … www.ctcba.org.
Several enhancements have been made, including:

• New direct credit card payment option through Paymentech for events and membership renewals

• Improved job posting page

• Dedicated pages for Upcoming Events and Educational Events

• Enhanced event and membership registration process

• Members only area with the WorldatWork CTCBA on-line community

It’s free and easy to join the online community, so be sure to check it out. You will be able to connect with other compensation and benefits professionals in the Central Texas area.
Don’t forget --- check out the new website and take advantage of everything new it has to offer!

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Emily Guinn: Advanced Solutions International