You’ve begun your Certified Employee Benefit Specialist® (CEBS®) journey to positively impact your career and your organization. Taking a CEBS Online Study Group With Instructor Support is a great way to benefit from peer-to-peer learning, which can help you apply new knowledge and skills to your role and your daily work. Follow the set schedule to make steady progress toward exam readiness. Collaborative learning activities such as weekly discussion questions and expert-led live review sessions provide you with opportunities to share ideas and reflect on course content. Engaging with your instructor and classmates, who work in organizations in a variety of industries and sectors in different states, is a dynamic way to learn by sharing success stories and insights.
CEBS Online Study Groups are an optional educational resource designed to support the self-study approach. Offered over a 12-week session, Online Study Groups provide a timeline for your study efforts and are facilitated by established and experienced CEBS professionals.
What does an online instructor do?
Your online instructor has many roles, including:
- Designing all content and activities in your class to help you retain knowledge and study for your CEBS exam
- Facilitating live review sessions
- Monitoring the discussion forum to provide clarification and guidance to learners
- Creating discussion questions for each module and Benefits in Action Mini Case to stimulate engagement and enhance learning about employee benefits
- Sharing their real-world experience about being a benefits professional
- Answering questions that students submit via the discussion forum, email and private message.
A Chat With Elizabeth Allen, CEBS
Elizabeth Allen, J.D., CEBS
Employee Benefits Attorney
Allen Benefits Law
How has earning the CEBS designation enhanced your career?
“It’s worked to give me a well-rounded understanding of the benefits world and all that it means. While my job experience has given me the opportunity to learn quite a bit in the benefits realm, the CEBS designation has absolutely filled in some of the gaps that my experience didn’t fill. For example, as a lawyer and a prior regulator, I was familiar with the laws and the regulatory requirements imposed by ERISA; CEBS helped teach me a lot of benefits-related laws outside of ERISA and gave me insight into all the practical implications of benefits administration.”
What will benefits professionals learn from taking RPA 1?
“Benefits professionals will get an introduction to the retirement plan system in the U.S. They’ll learn foundational concepts, including the history of U.S. retirement plans, the two basic categories of retirement plans, the different retirement plan options available to plan sponsors and how the federal government regulates them.”
Are there any interesting current events, regulatory updates or industry trends related to concepts the RPA 1 course explores?
“As a society, we’re seeing a large conversation around the fact that individuals are not retiring with enough funds to last them throughout their retirement. The most recent retirement-related legislative acts—the SECURE Act and the SECURE 2.0 Act—were meant to address that issue head-on and are worked into the course materials in a meaningful way.”
What are your best study tips for CEBS students?
“Study how you study best. The CEBS program has done a great job of making so many different types of Study Tools available to students in the CEBS Online Study Groups With Instructor Support. Whether you are an auditory learner, appreciate the use of notes and/or flashcards or like to practice your knowledge using interactive games and quizzes, you’ll have the opportunity to use the tools that line up with those ways to study. Take advantage of the multiple ways to consume the information and do what works for you.”
Why would you encourage benefits professionals to earn the CEBS designation?
“In addition to the foundational knowledge and understanding that a CEBS designation provides, it’s also recognized as the premier certification in the employee benefits space. I’ve had students who have benefited from their CEBS designation within their current role and who have been fortunate enough to earn a promotion or get a new job. Many students even benefit from the information learned in their personal lives and with their family and friends. Overall, the benefits of the designation far outweigh the cost and time commitment to complete it.”
