Professional in Human Resources ® (PHR ®) Exam Prep with Exam Included

Hours: 135 / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced
Retail Price: $3,109.00

Course Overview:

SPHR SealPHR SealLearn about the exciting world of today's Human Resource Management and prepare for the PHR ® Exam throughout this online course. This HR management course weaves together solid human resource principles, timely research and recent events, such as the latest rise in unemployment and financial problems facing the U.S. and other countries. This course highlights important challenges facing managers and employees in today's business climate. Interesting case studies explore real companies and organizations in-depth and delve into some of today's most effective, unique approaches in dealing with HR issues. In addition, this course provides study materials to help prepare for the PHR ® Exam.  The PHR ® Exam Study Guide will be utilized throughout the course to supplement the Human Resource Management textbook and provide review materials for exam prep.  Upon completion of this course, students will have the skills necessary to serve as Human Resource Managers, as well as the preparation needed to sit for the PHR ® exam. 

Course Objectives:

Students will:
  • define Human Resource Management (HRM) and each of its major functions and processes.
  • identify the aspects of strategic HR planning, including environmental scanning, labor market analysis and forecasting, internal analysis and forecasting, gap analysis, HR plan and strategy development, and HR strategy and implementation.
  •  conduct a job analysis and write a job description and specifications that are conducive to recruitment, selection, training, evaluation, and compensation.
  • identify sources for attracting and recruiting talent, internal and external applicant sources, laws pertaining to recruitment, and recruitment strategies.
  • Students will describe and evaluate employee selection tools, laws and regulations governing selection, and the benefits and risks of effective and ineffective selection.
  • Students will define and identify the dimensions of work performance using a holistic approach, list the outcomes of effective appraisal, and describe commonly used appraisal method.
  • define the terms "training" and "development", describe a systematic approach to theraining and development oncluding its features, list and describe various forms of training, and identify factors and decisions that should be consdiered in creating and implementing training.
  •  apply motivation theories, structures and types of pay, and HR laws to design a pay and reward system.
  • list and describe types of benefits that organizations offer.
  • Identify laws and policies that directly relate to equal opportunity, diversity, and the role of unions.

Curriculum Developer Biography:

Willow Nolland is an expert in education and eLearning, with more than ten years of experience in curriculum development and instructional design. She has worked in higher education for over twelve years, and has developed numerous courses and has been involved in curriculum development across disciplines. She has experience with academic program development and coordination, curriculum development, student learning outcomes, educational partnerships, and student development. In addition, she has developed and administered professional development programs for various groups, including teachers, counselors, healthcare workers and members of private industry. She is a certified Quality Matters Reviewer and has taken graduate courses in online course development. She designs and teaches online courses at the college level and is proficient in a variety of course management systems. She has helped educators redesign their courses to transition them from a face-to-face format to an online format, and has provided course editing assistance to others. As a freelance instructional designer and curriculum developer, her projects have included course editing and redesign of online continuing education courses for nurses, CEU curriculum development for healthcare workers and teachers, and course review and editing for various colleges and universities.

This course prepares a student to take the HR Certification Institute ® (HRCI ®) PHR ® (or SPHR ®) certification exam.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: HR's Roles, Strategy, and Planning

This lesson will provide an introduction to Human Resource management, and the various roles of the HR professional.  In addition, this lesson will explore aspects of strategic HR planning, including environmental scanning, labor market analysis and forecasting, internal analysis and forecasting, gap analysis, HR plan and strategy development, and HR strategy and implementation.

Lesson 2: Equal Employment and Discrimination

This lesson will provide an overview of equal employment and discrimination issues.  In addition to an overview of the primary issues related to equal employment and discrimination, this lesson will discuss legal considerations, health and safety, diversity, demographics, and globalization.

Lesson 3: Workforce, Jobs, and Retention

This lesson will discuss job analysis and job design and how they are used to allow an HR Manager to design positions and tasks, recruit, compensate and evaluate, and supervise.

Lesson 4: Staffing: Recruiting and Selection

This lesson we will explore a variety of recruitment sources, discuss the importance of effective recruitment, and link recruitment to strategic HRM. Additional topics include effective employee selection, employee selection tools and their validity and reliability, legal issues in employee selection, and trends, opportunities, and challenges in employee selection.

Lesson 5: Training, Talent Management, and Career Development

This lesson will explore the concepts of training and development, HRM approaches to training and development, and the various forms of training and development.

Lesson 6: Performance Management and Appraisal

This lesson will discuss the use of a holistic approach to defining and assessing work performance as well as the outcomes, trends, and methods of performance evaluations.

Lesson 7: Total Rewards and Compensation

This lesson will discuss pay and benefits as critical factors in the attraction, motivation, and retention of talent. Specifically, this topic will discuss several psychological principles at work in the motivational role of pay and rewards, including Content Perspectives, process and equity perspectives, and behavioral perspectives. This lesson will also discuss the most frequently used types of pay, including hourly pay, piece-rate pay, competency-based pay, outcome-based incentives, salaries and exempt positions, team-based pay, independent contractors, and executive pay.

Lesson 8: Variable Pay, Executive Compensation, and Benefits

This lesson will explore the types of benefits organizations may offer, the legal issues and policies impacting the provision of benefits, and how benefits impact the pay/benefits package.

Lesson 9: Risk Management, Worker Protection, and Employee Relations

This lesson will provide a comprehensive overview of risk management, worker protection, and employee relations.  In addition to a discussion of health, safety and security, individuals will learn about disaster preparation, recovery planning, and employee discipline.

Lesson 10: Union/Management Relations and Grievances

In this lesson, participants will learn about union/management relations and grievances.  Labor laws and the unionization process will be discussed.  In addition, this lesson will provide an overview of collective bargaining issues and the collective bargaining process. Upon completion of this lesson, individuals will be prepared to perform union-related human resource functions.

All necessary materials are included.

Certification(s):

This course prepares a student to take the HR Certification Institute ® (HRCI ®) PHR ® (or SPHR ®) certification exam.

The HR Certification Institute® (HRCI®) does not endorse any particular preparation program or offering. We encourage prospective certification holders to use a variety of resources that reflect their learning styles and needs. Purchasing a certification product is NOT required and HRCI does not guarantee that an individual will pass based on the purchase of a certification preparation product.

To be eligible for the PHR ® you must meet one of the following conditions for education and experience:

  • Have at least one year of experience in a professional-level HR position + a Master’s degree or higher,
  • Have at least two years of experience in a professional-level HR position + a Bachelor’s degree, OR
  • Have at least four years of experience in a professional-level HR position + a high school diploma.

To be eligible for the SPHR ® you must meet one of the following conditions for education and experience:

  • Have at least four years of experience in a professional-level HR position + a Master’s degree or higher,
  • Have at least five years of experience in a professional-level HR position + a Bachelor’s degree, OR
  • Have at least seven years of experience in a professional-level HR position + a high school diploma.

aPHR™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™ and SPHRi™ are all registered trademarks of HR Certification Institute.


System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:

  • Cable, Fiber, DSL, or LEO Satellite (i.e. Starlink) internet with speeds of at least 10mb/sec download and 5mb/sec upload are recommended for the best experience.

NOTE: While cellular hotspots may allow access to our courses, users may experience connectivity issues by trying to access our learning management system.  This is due to the potential high download and upload latency of cellular connections.   Therefore, it is not recommended that students use a cellular hotspot as their primary way of accessing their courses.

Hardware Requirements:

  • CPU: 1 GHz or higher
  • RAM: 4 GB or higher
  • Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher.  1920x1080 resolution is recommended for the best experience.
  • Speakers / Headphones
  • Microphone for Webinar or Live Online sessions.

Operating System Requirements:

  • Windows 7 or higher.
  • Mac OSX 10 or higher.
  • Latest Chrome OS
  • Latest Linux Distributions

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:

  • Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
  • Latest Mozilla FireFox
  • Latest Microsoft Edge
  • Latest Apple Safari

Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):

  • Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
  • PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
  • Courses may require other software that is described in the above course outline.


** The course outlines displayed on this website are subject to change at any time without prior notice. **