Managing Your Career

We value good employees and hope they find a satisfying long-term career with the State of Ohio. This section provides information about resources available to manage your professional development, measure your performance, and make sense of available career opportunities.

Performance Expectations
The Classification Plan
Learning and Talent Development
Employee Job Portal
Resources

Performance management is the systematic process by which an agency involves its employees, as individuals and members of a group, in improving organizational effectiveness in the accomplishment of agency mission and goals. This process is carried out in the form of individual performance evaluations. With regard to performance management, the State of Ohio measures two key evaluation criteria: Goals and Competencies.

A Goal…	A Competency…
Measures outcomes	Measures behaviors
Outlines performance expectations	Outlines knowledge, skills and abilities reflected in underlying behaviors
Determines what needs to be accomplished	Determines how to reach the goal more effectively
Both are based on job performance
Evaluated on outcomes	Evaluated on observed behavior

Although the performance evaluation meeting is typically an annual event, performance management is an ongoing process. Your supervisor will begin each review period by establishing a plan for your goals and corresponding competencies. Throughout the year, he/she will observe your progress toward achieving those goals. At the close of the evaluation cycle, your supervisor will assess your annual progress by assigning a rating to each pre-determined goal and competency. Finally, your supervisor will review the evaluation with you.

The performance evaluation process is tracked throughout each evaluation cycle using an online tool called ePerformance, which is available at myOhio.gov. You will use ePerformance to participate in your own performance review process as well. You will play a role in reviewing the goals and competencies assigned to you by your supervisor and by completing a self-evaluation. You also may choose to create your own Career Development Plans to set goals for education, experience, licensures and/or certifications that would develop or expand your skill set.

Please discuss any performance-related questions you may have with your supervisor, a member of your agency’s human resources staff or a member of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services’ Office of Talent Management team.

For more information about performance expectations, click here.

Congratulations on your new job with the State of Ohio. As you become proficient in your job, you may begin to explore other available opportunities for career growth and advancement. The State of Ohio Classification Plan contains more than 1,600 job classifications. A job classification system creates a distinct hierarchy within an organization based on the assigned value of each position. Ohio’s Classification Plan (or Class Plan) groups jobs within a classification based on shared or similar duties and responsibilities. Researching these classifications may seem like a daunting task; however, the following information will help you understand the organization of the Class Plan.

The State of Ohio Classification Plan is divided into seven divisions. The various divisions are distinguished by the first number of the five digit code assigned to each classification (also known as job specification) contained within. The divisions are listed below:

10000 – Clerical and Administrative Support Division
20000 – Enforcement, Protection and Licensing Division
40000 – Institution Services and Housekeeping Division
50000 – Maintenance and Trades Division
60000 – Managerial and Professional Division
70000 – Education Division
80000 – Technical, Engineering and Sciences Division

Within each family, jobs are further broken down into branches, groupings, series and specific job specifications. A job specification contains detailed information that includes the job title, job code, collective bargaining unit, essential job functions, illustrative job duties, major worker characteristics, minimum qualifications, training and development and any unusual working conditions. Additionally, the major agency field indicates which state agencies predominantly utilize the classification. Some job classifications are purposed for specific agencies while others are used statewide. Some also include the pay grade¹ assigned to the classification. The Class Plan Booklet contains a complete list of the state job codes, job titles and pay grades organized by job family.

Understanding the occupations within a job family will help you identify potential career paths of interest. Some job changes may require lateral versus vertical movement in order to gain developmental experiences that enable you to accomplish career objectives. By reviewing the information provided in the job specifications², you can establish your own career development decisions; for example, whether you are minimally qualified for a particular job, or what adjustments to your career planning may be necessary, including additional training and/or education.

You can continue to search for new career opportunities within the State of Ohio using the Ohio Hiring Management System (OHMS) website. To make your job search easier, you can complete Job Interest Cards that will email notify you any time a position of a specific category (e.g. Corrections, Human Resources, Real Estate, etc.) is posted on the OHMS website.

[1] The State of Ohio Salary Schedules are located here.

[2] Job Specifications are located here.

The State of Ohio values your ongoing professional growth and development and provides a variety of resources to foster a culture of life-long learning. Please visit the links below for more information about learning opportunities.

Training Resources: