Q: What is the purpose of the SBA Career Mapping System (CMS)?
A: The SBA CMS enables SBA employees to map a progressive career ladder of potential career moves for a given occupation within the agency and view position descriptions that detail the competencies and training required to progress within the career ladder.
Q: What is the View Career Maps feature?
A: The View Career Maps feature allows you to fill the career map for many series in SBA. The career map will display all positions within the series and allow you to view the position description for each position.
Q: What is the Compare Maps feature?
A: The Compare Maps feature enables you to learn about a career path and compare it against another path. To do this, you can select the “Series Transition” button below a career map to view any positions that transition to any other series currently programmed in the site or use the “Job Series” drop down menu to compare the displayed career map to the map of any other job series.
Q: What is the Create Career Map feature?
A: The Create Career Map feature allows you to create a customized career map beginning with your own position. The Career Builder automatically populates your map with the potential career choices from a selected position. There are times when there may be only one choice, or no choices available to populate the map, as this is a dynamic system that continues to grow, and not all positions are included at the time of this release. In these cases, the map will only populate out as far as it is able to with currently available branching positions. If possible, you can build your map to include up to four positions total. You can also save your career map if desired.
Q: Can I edit a completed career map?
A: Yes; you can remove and replace a position on your map. The removal of a position on the career map will cause the position to disappear and the branching position options to reappear on the map.
Q: Where can I find my saved career map(s)?
A: Any career maps you create and save can be found on the My Account page.
Q: I’m having trouble logging in. What should I do?
A: If you have technical problems including, but not limited to, logging in please contact the SBA Career Mapping Technical Support Team at: Support@usalearning.net.
Q: The screen has stopped responding and I am unable to: modify or delete saved career maps, select a position description, view career maps, etc. Why is this happening?
A: The CMS is designed to log out an individual after 60 minutes of inactivity. This can often come up when reviewing position descriptions or searching through the career maps. After 59 minutes of inactivity, you will get a message letting you know that you’re going to be logged off in 60 seconds if you do not interact with the system. If you are logged out, simply refresh the page, and re-enter your log in information when prompted.
Q: Why am I not seeing all the job positions/career paths available within my Agency?
A: The professional series and career maps currently built into the CMS reflect the bulk of the mission critical careers for SBA. The long term goal is for the CMS to include all SBA professional series, while striving to continuously revise the content of the CMS when necessary to ensure it reflects the most up-to-date SBA careers and professional duties.
Q: Other SBA employees have transferred to a specific position before, so why can’t I branch to that position using the CMS?
A: The career paths have been built based on general, occupational requirements versus individual situations. Remember to check in with your HR representative with questions related to career options.
Q: My job position does not branch to any additional positions; does this mean I can’t transition to a new position?
A: In most situations, no. The CMS is an assistive tool in determining a career path for you at the SBA. The career paths illustrated within the CMS show a likely career progression through a given series however, job opportunities exist across the organization. Always be sure to check with your HR representative to review additional career positions available to you.
