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Jane Killings is the director of compliance training—HR with Hilton Worldwide and has been in hospitality for 25 years. She has worked for Hilton Worldwide for 16 years, starting at the storied Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. Prior to joining Hilton in 1999, Jane worked for Westin Hotels and Resorts in Chicago and Toronto, Canada.

Jane Killings

Tamra Chandler is founder and CEO of PeopleFirm LLC, one of Forbes 2018 "America's Best Management Consulting Firms." Tamra spent her 30-year career developing effective ways for people and organizations to perform at their peak. She is a nationally-recognized thought leader and speaker and author of How Performance Management Is Killing Performance – and What to Do About It. Her latest book, Feedback (And Other Dirty Words), was published June 2019.Tamra started PeopleFirm with a vision to deliver measurable, meaningful results using people-centered solutions. PeopleFirm has become a go-to partner in its field and consistently earns local and national recognition as a top place to work.Previously, Tamra was managing partner for Arthur Andersen's PNW Business Consulting practice, and executive in charge of People and Solutions at Hitachi Consulting. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Montana State University and a MBA from the University of Washington.

M. Tamra Chandler

June 2009 - TD Magazine

Filling the Leadership Pipeline

June 2022 - TD Magazine

Executives are looking beyond roles and focusing on skilling talent.

The Solution Is Multiskilling

In the public sector, the Competitive Service Act of 2015, enacted in March 2016, is meant to streamline the recruiting process by allowing agencies to share information on applicants and potentially fill positions more quickly with the most qualified candidates. But recruitment isn't just about filling positions when they become vacant. Government recruiters need to think ahead. Prepare yourself today to recruit tomorrow by thinking through these steps.Determine Present and Future NeedsThe key is to build your candidate pool before you need it. Waiting for a vacancy to occur creates the reactionary approach that many organizations fall under. Budgetary or personnel number constraints may prevent you from hiring ahead, but you can certainly predict some future areas of need by evaluating the tenure and ages of staff in your organization. How many are nearing retirement age or have 20-plus years with the agency and may be in a position to move on? Consider whether there any incentives coming in the next 18-24 months (such as early retirement bonuses) that may create a mass exodus. As you evaluate the need, you also must look at the multiple generations in the workforce. There are different triggers of success for each identified band of employees. Previous generations may have seen it as perfectly normal, understood, and accepted that young, new employees start at the bottom and work their way up in a very rigid hierarchical structure. That is not always the sentiment of new employees. You must plan accordingly.Identify Available ResourcesJoin professional trade associations and groups that align with your industry and specialized workforce. Create master lists of industry leaders and other potential employees from customers, colleagues, co-workers, and friends. Invest in your employees and pay for their participation and networking in industry groups, conferences, and trade shows. Create a listing of employees' areas of study and any collegiate allegiances (where they graduated from or potentially a family member attends or attended). This can be used for recruitment purposes later.Develop Candidate PoolsStart internally with your existing employees. Build a personalized recruitment section or board for them to learn of openings, and give potential internal candidates an interview. It's a chance for you to know them better and for them to learn more about agency goals and needs. Sometimes, a good fit is found between your needs and theirs.If no internal candidate exists and your search reaches externally, reach out first to passive job seekers. All good recruiters should have a pool of warm candidates they can contact when a vacancy occurs. These are a group of people that you've interacted with and cultivated relationships with over a period of time. The better the cultivation, the more applicants you may have to choose from during your next vacancy announcement. No matter if the new hire is internal or external, always hire for strengths. Don't expect to develop weak areas of performance, habits, and talents. Build on what is great about your new employee in the first place. Establish Criteria for SuccessOrganizations often measure success as a filled job, but recruiting success is so much more than that. Success does include finding the right talent, at the right time, at the right price, but it doesn't end at the fulfillment of a vacancy. It extends well into the new hire's employment. When determining your success, you must answer these questions:  How was the employee onboarding process?Was the new employee assigned a mentor to help with navigating the organization?How soon is the new employee contributing to the overall work?How is the new employee adding value to the culture?Has your new employee made it past the first 90 days, six months, or year? Recruiters also must understand internal relationship building and evaluate the process with the respective hiring managers and other internal constituents. What are more qualitative measures of success for each of these stakeholders? For more advice, check out my article, “Active Recruiting: Casting a Wide Net,” in the June 2016 issue of The Public Manager. You also can listen to the podcast interview with Jon Wolper. We define active recruiting and discuss how recruitment for government agencies differs from recruitment for the private sector.

4 Steps to Active Federal Recruitment

 In November 2013, I stepped into the vice president of HR’s office to let him know I wanted to be considered for the recently posted training administrator position. He immediately said, “What a great idea. Are you certified?” Not sure which certification he was referring to, I began to list all of my impressive certifications. He graciously allowed me to finish, then asked, “But are you a CPLP?” I lowered my eyes and responded: “No I am not, but I am willing to get it.”He was immediately supportive, telling me that my company, Noven Pharmaceuticals, would help with the time and money it would take to achieve the certification. I rushed back to my office to contact ATD to obtain the information on the certification and requirements, purchased the ATD Study Guide, and downloaded my copy.Getting StartedExcited but overwhelmed by the amount of training material in the ATD Learning System, I enrolled in the ATD Preparing for the CPLP Workshop, which helped me:define core concepts for each area of expertise in The ATD Competency Modelrefine my personalized study planapply test-taking strategiesdevelop an action plan to prepare for the Work Product submissionidentify a potential project that I could use as my Work Productlearn the scoring criteria and guidelines.Armed with new tools and knowledge, I began my journey to success. I partnered with a study buddy from the workshop and established a lunch-hour study time, when we took turns teaching back the materials in the learning system. Unfortunately, halfway through our study plan timeline, she had to withdraw from her test preparation for personal reasons. I was left with a void in my study plan.Finding Study BuddiesI researched online to identify alternative study groups, and found that the ATD South Florida Chapter was starting a CPLP study group that worked well with my study schedule and test window. I immediately became a member of the chapter and enrolled in the CPLP study group. In addition to attending the Saturday morning study group sessions, I continued to:read and study the ATD Learning System every day—one hour at lunch and two hours at nighttake chapter quizzes and develop my own questions to test my ability to apply the key conceptscreate visual study materials for each important concept, highlighting and developing visual pictures to help me recall key conceptscreate my own study materials using Microsoft Notes, rewriting each concept in my own words and revising the materials as I mastered the content.I also became a member of the CPLP Knowledge Owl to use the interactive games and quizzes, and rewarded myself with Sunday brunch after successfully passing the chapter quizzes without referring to my notes.I successfully passed the Knowledge Exam in early 2015. Thrilled that I had passed, I sent an email to my study group partners and VP of HR announcing my achievement and immediately began to prepare for my Work Product submission.Preparing the Work ProductBecause I had selected the training delivery area of expertise for my Work Product submission, I recorded every training session I facilitated at work, advising the participants of my requirements and obtaining their consent by having them sign the ATD participant consent form. However, before I began recording my sessions, I carefully read the CPLP Certification Handbook to know exactly what I needed to prove my proficiency in my area of expertise. Reading the requirements beforehand ensured that each video would meet the performance-related criteria: good lighting, a good view of the room setup, and a clear ability to hear and see my training delivery and the participants’ interactions.Next, I had to review my recordings. My daily tasks included several hours of viewing my previously recorded training sessions, while referring to the handbook to confirm the requirements. I carefully critiqued my training delivery and finally selected the recording that provided the best uninterrupted evidence of my delivery.After finally identifying which video best suited my Work Product submission, I began to write and rewrite my narratives. Once I identified the final version of each narrative, I edited the video according to the criteria in the handbook and compiled all my required and additional evidence and my leader’s guide of the training. I then packaged my Work Product exactly as indicated in the handbook and submitted it.I was exhausted after studying and preparing my Work Product, but I rewarded myself with a long weekend at the beach immediately after I submitted my Work Product. Not because I was sure I would pass, but because of my commitment to achieving the highest certification available for my career.Waiting for my Work Product results was an anxious time for me. But as soon as I received my “passing Work Product” email, I realized that the effort I put forth paled in comparison to the professional benefits I would gain.Moving Forward in My CareerOn June 15, 2015, I was promoted to associate training manager at Noven Pharmaceuticals. If I were asked whether the process was easy, I would say absolutely not! But if I were asked whether the CPLP journey was worth it, I would say absolutely! I strongly recommend that all training and development professionals obtain their certification. It has been a personal and professional accomplishment for me.

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