2008 MM Procedures
From Extension Collaborative Wiki
5. Have you made any recent changes in employment procedures or new Agent training?
Oklahoma
New Educators are required to attend a 3-day New Educator Orientation on campus. They are also required to visit with 2 to 4 more seasoned Educators to discuss topics assigned by the district director or district program specialist. A day with the district director and appropriate district program specialist is scheduled after the completion of the county visits to debrief and answer any questions that may have arisen. Formal mentors are assigned to new educators for a one-year mentoring program. Core curriculum is in place for 4-H & FCS, but not for Ag.
Arkansas
Applicants now complete an online application through People Admin for all positions. Core curriculum is in place for all new agents.
Virginia
Yes. Applicants for Extension Agent positions in Virginia now complete an online application that places them in a pool of applicants in a particular program area such as 4-H, Ag, or FCS. Applicants no longer apply for a specific county position. Once a month, applicants are screened at the university level and selected to interview at the university. Qualified applicants are then forwarded to the District Directors who have job vacancies that match the applicants credentials and geographical work desires. Interviews are then held at the local level before a hiring decision is made.
New Agent training has changed from a "training agent" system where the new employee is paired with a tenured Agent for a period of 3 months. In this old system the Training Agent also received additional compensation for taking on this role. In the new system, Virginia Cooperative Extension is utilizing a "mentor" system. In this system, the new employee is paired with a tenured Agent, but is closely monitored by the District Program Leader as well. No additional compensation is given to mentor agents in this new system.
Florida
Equity Compliance Report indicates ethnicity and gender of qualified candidates, and reasons for selecting applicant and rejecting others.
Viable Outreach Report requires higher level approval (Assistant Director of Extension) for which applicants will be invited for interviews.
North Carolina
NC State has initiated background checks for all employees including those seeking new positions within the organization. Prior to this, only positions working with youth had them. Background checks include criminal and financial.
We have been actively working on a change management and marketing initiative for the past 4 years. As part of this we have a new agent orientation process. In the new process, greater emphasis has been placed on learning the educational program model. This has become a necessity as our funders and supporters are seeking greater impacts and accountability and our employees who are more technically trained have little adult or youth teaching training.
Georgia
Background checks for employment were initiated on 1/1/08 under the directive of the Chancellor of the University System. The background checks are for state and federal criminal history for the past 7 years, a nationwide sex offender search, academic credential verification, Social Security verification and a credit check on positions of financial responsibilities. The requirement covers all position levels and has gone well.
We continue to offer comprehensive foundations level trainings. These trainings are evaluated annually by our district program area coordinators for possible updating. All new Agents are assigned an experienced Agent as a program area mentor and all new County Coordinators are assigned an experienced CEC as a CEC mentor. There has been a focused effort by District staff members to increase the frequency and quality of mentoring visits with new Agents.
Georgia has introduced the IPAWS (Integrated Position Application Workforce System) system for personnel/job advertising/job application. The comprehensive online system allows for an automated approach to advertising and hiring. It automatically initiates the background check process.
In districts with large numbers of new hires over the past year, we have held one day district retreats with these new Agents to address their concerns, experiences, and give them additional orientation on the mode of operation of Cooperative Extension. We routinely assign new agents to a day in another county with an Agent experienced in a particular ag enterprise.
Kentucky
We have reduced the number of people doing the interviewing . District Director, Program and Staff Development Personnel, Assistant Director and representative from Office of Diversity are present. We are considering adding a representative from the County Extension Council.
New agent training has changed to a 2 day orientation plus 3 core training sessions spreadout with the first year. Each program area has a suggested In-Service training design for year 1,2, and 3. Some of the trainings are now being conducted using centra, phone conferencing and blackboard.
Alabama
There have been changes in the process we use to fill County Extension Coordinators (County Directors). The position is announced internally first. If internal applications/s applies, the Three Extension District Directors (EDD) interviews the applicants and the EDD with the vacancy makes the recommendation to fill the position. If it is announced externally, then others are added to the committee to insure the external applicants has the program skills. In an effort to simplify the hiring process for non-tenured faculty positions, this year we stopped requiring an official transcript and three written letters of reference for 'faculty' positions that include agents during the recruitment process. We now ask for a copy of transcripts and names, addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers for three references; among other forms during the recruitment process. Transcripts of all academic work (unofficial/copies acceptable during recruitment process; however, official transcripts will be required at time of hire).
We have created a wiki with topics for new employee orientation that include vignettes of various members of the system program team and system administrative team. This is continuingly being updated and worked on.
Meetings with Program Priority Team groups, District meetings of County Extension Coordinators, and other meetings are being encouraged to be held using the technology that we have available in Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
Texas AgriLife Extension
Completed first full year of the "First Step" program in which new incoming agents serve the first 30 days in a neighboring county shadowing members of the county staff. Initial evaluation results indicate this has been a very positive addition to the overall On-Boarding activities for new employees.
LSU AgCenter
Expanded staff orientation through the first year. All new hires are on a one year probation requiring quarterly meetings.
Tennessee Extension
Some of the new agent orientation has been moved to online training. Other than that, there are no changes.
