HRDG 4413 - Career Enhancement Program - Section B

Supervisors, in consultation with the SPO, may restructure current positions or establish new positions for use in the CEP. Supervisors may find it helpful to consider the following when identifying opportunities for CEP positions:

• The number and types of positions under his/her control,
• The number of positions in the same general field as the vacancy,
• The possible effect of redistributing duties if the position is restructured,
• Anticipated additional losses in the same line of work, and
• The number of employees who may already have the basic qualifications for entering this line of work.

To establish a position for the CEP, supervisors and/or the appropriate administrative office should work with the SPO to establish the entry-level, target, and full performance level (FPL) of the position. The following should be submitted to the SPO so that the position may be classified and announced:

• Request for Personnel Action, Form SF-52, annotated to reflect the CEP position;
• Position Description Cover Sheet, Form AD-332;
• Position description for entry level and target position; and
• Job analysis.

All CEP opportunities are advertised for competition in accordance with established merit promotion procedures (e.g., career ladders, areas of consideration, priority consideration, relocation expenses, etc.). Announcements may be issued for more than one position when there are several positions in the same series using the same evaluation criteria, provided the entry and target position and the promotion potential and/or career ladder of the positions are the same.

CEP announcements will be similar to regular merit promotion vacancy announcements, but they will also include:

• A statement that the position is being filled under the CEP,
• The job element criteria,
• The entry and target position,
• Promotion potential and/or career ladder of the position,
• A Self-Assessment Qualification Statement, and
• A Supervisory Assessment Qualification Statement.

Refer to Section D for a sample CEP vacancy announcement with the Self-Assessment and Supervisory Assessment forms (Exhibits A, B, and C, respectively).

Merit promotion procedures are followed in the evaluation and selection of candidates after the announcement has closed. The following table summarizes the steps involved in the CEP applicant evaluation process:

Promptly after the employee has been selected for the CEP, the supervisor should counsel the employee. The counseling session should result in the employee's thorough understanding of :

• His/her responsibilities as a CEP participant;
• The required personal investment of effort and time;
• The fact that selection into the CEP does not guarantee success (participants must be able to perform at the standards set for the target position);
• The performance standards which will be used (set in place within 30 days of the employee's assignment in the CEP position);
• Actions that will be taken upon withdrawal from the program or failure to meet the performance requirements;
• The process of progression; and
• The fact that the CEP is designed to develop participants up to the point where they can compete with other employees through regular merit promotion procedures for advancement beyond the target position.

An employee may enter the CEP through reassignment, promotion, or change-to-lower grade. If an employee fails to meet the performance requirements of the training program, he/she may be released from the program after due process and may be returned to the former position if it has not been filledor to another position of similar duties and grade.

Before entering the program, each participant must sign a statement acknowledging the following conditions:

See Section D for a copy of the Statement Regarding Promotions.

An employee entering the CEP at a grade below the target position must make up the difference in the qualifications he/she brings to the Program and the qualifications required for the target position as described in the OPM Qualification Standards Operating Manual. Upon successful completion of training and time-in-grade requirements, a participant may be promoted to the target position.

Example: An employee may be placed into the entry-level position as a Management Analyst, GS-343-5, with growth to the target position of Management Analyst, GS-343-7.

An employee entering the CEP by means of a “bridge position” also must make up the difference in the qualifications he/she brings to the Program and the qualifications required for the target position as described in the OPM Qualification Standards Operating Manual. This is a trainee position in a one-or two-grade interval series classified no higher than the GS-7 level. The purpose of the bridge position is to provide the experience and training for the participant to qualify for the target position.

Example: An employee is placed from a Secretary, GS-318-6, into a bridge position as a Veterinary Program Assistant, GS-301-5, with growth to the CEP target position of Veterinary Program Specialist, GS-301-7.