diff --git a/examples/run_sft.py b/examples/run_sft.py
index 2b7dd9489f..9377a32fcf 100644
--- a/examples/run_sft.py
+++ b/examples/run_sft.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 from nemo_rl.data.interfaces import TaskDataSpec, DatumSpec
 from nemo_rl.data.llm_message_utils import get_formatted_message_log
 from nemo_rl.distributed.virtual_cluster import init_ray
-from nemo_rl.utils.config import load_config
+from nemo_rl.utils.config import load_config, parse_hydra_overrides
 from nemo_rl.utils.logger import get_next_experiment_dir
 
 
@@ -40,10 +40,7 @@ def parse_args():
     )
 
     # Parse known args for the script
-    args, remaining = parser.parse_known_args()
-
-    # Convert remaining args to OmegaConf format
-    overrides = OmegaConf.from_dotlist(remaining)
+    args, overrides = parser.parse_known_args()
 
     return args, overrides
 
@@ -154,7 +151,7 @@ def main():
 
     if overrides:
         print(f"Overrides: {overrides}")
-        config = OmegaConf.merge(config, overrides)
+        config = parse_hydra_overrides(config, overrides)
 
     config: MasterConfig = OmegaConf.to_container(config, resolve=True)
     print("Applied CLI overrides")
diff --git a/tests/functional/sft.sh b/tests/functional/sft.sh
index f3474fb0fd..d107d1599f 100755
--- a/tests/functional/sft.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/sft.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ python -u $PROJECT_ROOT/examples/run_sft.py \
     logger.log_dir=$LOG_DIR \
     logger.wandb_enabled=false \
     checkpointing.enabled=true \
-    checkpointing.save_every_n_steps=10 \
+    checkpointing.save_period=10 \
     checkpointing.checkpoint_dir=/tmp/sft_checkpoints \
     $@ \
     2>&1 | tee $RUN_LOG