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PAO to Senior Level

Started by Falling Hare, June 28, 2020, 05:14:13 PM

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Falling Hare

  We have an excellent and quite overqualified Squadron PAO, who is currently at Technician level.  In the Duty Assignment Module I have put him in for Senior level PAO.

However,I get a message saying "This member has not met the following requirement for this specialty track - must be Public Information Officer trainee". But, I have searched the entire Specialty track module and the Duty Assignment Module (all drop-downs) for this job title with no luck. The PAO Specialty Track Study Guide does list in its "objectives" for senior level..."Become a Public Information (PIO) trainee".

Still, I cannot seem to find anything about this job title anywhere in eServices, at least as a CAP title. The squadron commander has no idea. Is this a non-CAP ES job title?   How would this member be assigned to this position or get credit for this function?  Am totally confused.

Eclipse

PIO - is an ES Qualification, not a job title.

He must complete the pre-requisites and be approved by the CC as a PIO-T.

This is found in Operations Qualifications.

Pre-requisites (before you can be a "-T"):
GES
18 Years of age
Qualification as an MSA

PIO FAM/Prep Requires the completion of:

GES
IS-100
IS-200
IS-700
IS-800

If he's in a wing doing covid relief missions, it's possible to
complete these now, otherwise he'll have to wait until normal
missions and operations are back up and running.

Obviously SETs will be required for the taskings, etc.

Further to this, his required and assigned PAO mentor should be
working him through the Specialty Track, which is especially important
when these sorts of questions come up.

"That Others May Zoom"

Falling Hare

Thank you Eclipse!  You saved me a lot of time and grief!

Capt Thompson

To add on to what Eclipse said, the technician checklist states:

QuoteContact the next higher echelon PAO to introduce yourself; review procedures,
policies, and training opportunities; and be assigned a mentor. 

If the member already has a technician rating, they should have done this and should have a mentor assigned.

The mentor should be signing off on the training checklist items, and you shouldn't be putting someone in for a rating without a complete and signed training checklist.
Capt Matt Thompson
Deputy Commander for Cadets, Historian, Public Affairs Officer

Mitchell - 31 OCT 98 (#44670) Earhart - 1 OCT 00 (#11401)

TheSkyHornet

Ensure that when you assign someone as an ES trainee, that they're actually working on the training curriculum. Do not assign anyone as a trainee just to check the box and get them their PD rating.

Capt Thompson

Quote from: TheSkyHornet on June 29, 2020, 03:25:15 PMEnsure that when you assign someone as an ES trainee, that they're actually working on the training curriculum. Do not assign anyone as a trainee just to check the box and get them their PD rating.
This is good advice anytime an ES trainee status is required for a PD rating. For PAO, the Master rating does require him to follow through and become a qualified PIO before obtaining the rating.
Capt Matt Thompson
Deputy Commander for Cadets, Historian, Public Affairs Officer

Mitchell - 31 OCT 98 (#44670) Earhart - 1 OCT 00 (#11401)

Eclipse

^ They can't be approved as a PIO-T unless an SET approves the tasks and the CC approves both FAM / Prep and Trainee status (and in this case the member first completes the MSA rating).

"That Others May Zoom"

Capt Thompson

Quote from: Eclipse on June 29, 2020, 03:45:03 PM^ They can't be approved as a PIO-T unless an SET approves the tasks and the CC approves both FAM / Prep and Trainee status (and in this case the member first completes the MSA rating).
I think he was more saying don't let them get to trainee status and then stop training, if they are going to become a trainee they need to follow through, but of course they will need to complete the prerequisites and F&P's to get to trainee status, and if they want to ever achieve the Master rating for Public Affairs, they will have to follow through and finish out the PIO qualification, which will require completion of advanced tasks, FEMA courses and two missions.
Capt Matt Thompson
Deputy Commander for Cadets, Historian, Public Affairs Officer

Mitchell - 31 OCT 98 (#44670) Earhart - 1 OCT 00 (#11401)

Eclipse

The mandate is PIO-T, which by design requires the member be "working on the training curriculum" (up to the point of the mandate), not "pinky swear you'll finish this qualification".

"That Others May Zoom"

swodog

Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on June 28, 2020, 06:48:27 PMIf the member already has a technician rating, they should have done this and should have a mentor assigned.

The mentor should be signing off on the training checklist items, and you shouldn't be putting someone in for a rating without a complete and signed training checklist.

What's a mentor?

Holding Pattern

Quote from: swodog on June 29, 2020, 05:07:08 PM
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on June 28, 2020, 06:48:27 PMIf the member already has a technician rating, they should have done this and should have a mentor assigned.

The mentor should be signing off on the training checklist items, and you shouldn't be putting someone in for a rating without a complete and signed training checklist.

What's a mentor?

In CAP, also known as the Unicorn, a mentor is a person who is highly knowledgeable in the field a person is seeking a rating for and who is willing, able, agreed upon, and signed off by your commander to help you achieve your rating in said field and become a more valuable member of CAP.

Capt Thompson

I can honestly say that working on the PAO side of things, there has been no shortage of mentors if only I reach out and ask. I realize it's not like that in all Wings, but at minimum the Wing PAO should be able to answer questions in a timely manner as they come up.
Capt Matt Thompson
Deputy Commander for Cadets, Historian, Public Affairs Officer

Mitchell - 31 OCT 98 (#44670) Earhart - 1 OCT 00 (#11401)

Holding Pattern

Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on June 29, 2020, 05:36:55 PMI can honestly say that working on the PAO side of things, there has been no shortage of mentors if only I reach out and ask. I realize it's not like that in all Wings, but at minimum the Wing PAO should be able to answer questions in a timely manner as they come up.

As a commander and deputy commander I had the job of mentoring PAOs since there was no abundance of PAOs to mentor us.

If that has changed, great, but that wasn't my experience over the prior 3 years.

TheSkyHornet

Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on June 29, 2020, 03:57:43 PM
Quote from: Eclipse on June 29, 2020, 03:45:03 PM^ They can't be approved as a PIO-T unless an SET approves the tasks and the CC approves both FAM / Prep and Trainee status (and in this case the member first completes the MSA rating).
I think he was more saying don't let them get to trainee status and then stop training, if they are going to become a trainee they need to follow through, but of course they will need to complete the prerequisites and F&P's to get to trainee status, and if they want to ever achieve the Master rating for Public Affairs, they will have to follow through and finish out the PIO qualification, which will require completion of advanced tasks, FEMA courses and two missions.

Quote from: Eclipse on June 29, 2020, 04:49:57 PMThe mandate is PIO-T, which by design requires the member be "working on the training curriculum" (up to the point of the mandate), not "pinky swear you'll finish this qualification".

Right, but inherent knowledge should be applied. And this should be considered for any rating or qualification, really.

Checking the box is technically fine from a policy standpoint. But from the Core Values standpoint, you should be striving to actually learn and progress in the role and not just to check the box off.

It's like when I see an individual want to earn a rating in Cadet Programs, and they know they have to attend TLC. Then they show up, sit in the back, and have zero participation in the class; and when they walk out, you ask what they learned, and they say "Meh, I didn't really care; I just wanted the credit." Then don't go and waste people's time.

Eclipse

For whatever reason you're mixing CAP career management with requirements and wanted
to add some "sugar on top" to turn the latter into the former.

The "inherent knowledge" required for PIO-T are the IS classes (plus whatever you garner from MSA),
beyond that it's just talk or "maybe.

The conjecture of the PD Qual is that they want Senior-level to have an indoc to ES, nothing more,
and certainly a Senior-level PAO who is PIO-T could do whatever is needed during missions and unit ops,
but may have no interest in going beyond that.

"That Others May Zoom"

Capt Thompson

Quote from: Holding Pattern on June 29, 2020, 05:40:28 PM
Quote from: 1st Lt Thompson on June 29, 2020, 05:36:55 PMI can honestly say that working on the PAO side of things, there has been no shortage of mentors if only I reach out and ask. I realize it's not like that in all Wings, but at minimum the Wing PAO should be able to answer questions in a timely manner as they come up.

As a commander and deputy commander I had the job of mentoring PAOs since there was no abundance of PAOs to mentor us.

If that has changed, great, but that wasn't my experience over the prior 3 years.

Two of the tasks on the Technician checklist are to reach out to the National PAO and also next higher echelon PAO, introduce yourself, and request a mentor from the next higher echelon PAO. If the next higher echelon PAO isn't assisting with assigning a mentor or taking on that role, that needs to be addressed. Again, I know things aren't the same in all Wings, but I've never had an issue getting mentoring from Wing all the way up to National PAO over the last 5 years if I asked. Also, there is a public affairs Facebook where PAO's can ask questions and reach out for assistance.
Capt Matt Thompson
Deputy Commander for Cadets, Historian, Public Affairs Officer

Mitchell - 31 OCT 98 (#44670) Earhart - 1 OCT 00 (#11401)

TheSkyHornet

No disagreement to the above.

But I expect the mentor to ensure that these things actually happen (since there isn't any recorded evidence). The commander should have a conversation with the mentor (or delegate the professional development officer to have that conversation) to ensure that the mentor can back it up.

JohhnyD

Mentoring is a wonderful thing, when it happens.