Associate Professional in Human Resources ® (aPHR ®) Exam Prep

MSB120 / Hours: 135 / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced
Retail Price: $1,599.00 / Materials Included

Course Overview:

Learn about the exciting world of today's Human Resource Management and prepare for the aPHR ® 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.  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 aPHR ® exam. 

This course prepares a student to take the HR Certification Institute ® aPHR ® certification exam.  The cost of the course INCLUDES the cost of the HR Certification Institute ® aPHR ® certification exam.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: Business Management/Leadership and Strategy

In this unit students will learn Human Resource management as it relates to establishing HR policies and an employee handbook, the difference between HR generalists and HR specialists, and commonly used methods of budgeting. Students will have knowledge of company mission statements and business plans, as well as organizational design and development. This unit will discuss HR budgets and metrics, as well as the benefits of an HRIS and outsourcing HR functions. Finally, students will learn HR ethics and how it relates to the Sarbanes Oxley Act and how to conduct HR research and analytics.

Lesson 2: Talent Planning and Acquisition

This unit will discuss all aspects of employee discrimination including the Civil Rights Act, age discrimination, Americans with Disabilities Act, reverse discrimination, and more. Students will learn Human Resource planning, job analysis, job descriptions, and information contained in a job specification. By the end of this unit students will have a clear understanding of recruiting, to including employment interviews, pre-employment tests, background checks, and the retention of employee records.

Lesson 3: Learning and Development

This unit discusses the relationship between compensation and other human resources functions (i.e., staffing, performance evaluation, training and development, and employee relations). Students will learn both compensation and benefits laws and regulations, as well as how to create employee benefits programs. Finally, students will compare and contrast managed health care plans and be able to give examples of the various options.

Lesson 4: Total Rewards

In this unit students will learn various training methods and the comparative advantages of conducting employee training. Students will also learn successful orientation training and an effective onboarding program. Finally, students will gain the required knowledge of the role that performance evaluations can play in an organization, as well as effective strategies for improving employee retention.

Lesson 5: Employee and Labor Relations/Employee Engagement

This unit will focus on the employee life cycle and how it can be used as a tool for evaluating employee relations using methods to evaluate job satisfaction. Students will learn labor relations as it applies to grievance and employee discipline systems and workforce behavior problems. In addition, this unit will discuss individual employment rights as it relates to employment at-will, constructive discharge and an employee’s departure from an organization.

Lesson 6: Safety, Health and Security

In this unit students will learn risk management. Students will gain knowledge of the process of assessing and measuring risk and developing strategies to protect the financial interests of a company, including safety, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, security, loss prevention, and emergency preparedness. Students will have a clear understanding of employee health and wellness, data management, and privacy protection.

All necessary materials are included.

Certification(s):

This course prepares a student to take the HR Certification Institute ® aPHR ® certification exam.  The cost of the course INCLUDES the cost of the HR Certification Institute ® aPHR ® 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 aPHR ® you must meet one of the following conditions for education and experience:

  • A high school diploma or global equivalent. No HR experience is required since this is a knowledge-based credential.

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. **