WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Missouri State University’s Management Development Institute (MDI) will offer a 36-hour review course this summer in West Plains for area residents interested in taking the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) or Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification exams offered through HR Certification Institute, www.hrci.org.
The sessions will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday from June 10 through July 22, excluding July 1, on the Missouri State-West Plains campus in Gohn Hall Room 109. Area residents planning to take the SPHR exam will meet for an additional hour of training on July 8, 15 and 22.
The fee for attending the program is $849 for individuals interested in taking the PHR exam and $949 for individuals interested in taking the SPHR exam. The fees include all course materials. For more information or to register for the course, visit www.mdi.missouristate.edu/phr-sphr or call 417-837-2615. Interested individuals also can contact Deanna Smith, coordinator of the Missouri State Outreach office on the Missouri State-West Plains campus, at 417-255-7931 or at DeannaSmith@MissouriState.edu to register. A free informational session about the program will be offered at 2 p.m. May 3 in Gohn Hall Room 214.
Organizers said the MDI has exclusively developed preparation materials for these exams, including content review, test tips and over 750 sample exam questions. Course content is structured using lecture, case studies, and individual and group exercises. Although no one course of study can guarantee a passing score, MDI’s review course has been successful in preparing PHR and SPHR exam participants for over 20 years.
The PHR and SPHR exams are both based on U.S. laws, regulations and practices and are generalist in nature (i.e., they assess all the functional areas of the HR field). They differ in terms of focus and the cognitive level of questions. PHR questions tend to be at an operational/technical level, while SPHR questions tend to be more at the strategic and/or policy level, organizers explained.
Once the review session is complete, eligible participants will have a few months to study before the fall exam window, which runs from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31, 2017. There is an additional fee to take the exam, and the deadline to register is Sept. 30 to avoid a late registration fee. The exams are administered by computer at Prometric testing centers. To determine eligibility for taking the exam, to register for the exam, or to locate a testing site, visit www.hrci.org.
The MDI’s focus is to provide professional, managerial and executive education programs that provide the knowledge and skills necessary to compete and win in today’s competitive marketplace. MDI strives to create learning opportunities that lead to professional and personal success.