What is Job Analysis?
Organizations routinely invest considerable time, effort, and resources to select, develop, and maintain an effective workforce.
In fact, the American Society for Training and Development estimates that organizations spend over $100 billion annually on training initiatives. However, for such efforts to be successful, they must be clearly linked to critical job requirements. The techniques used to identify such requirements are known collectively as job analysis.
The typical job analysis seeks to answer two key questions:
- “What tasks do job incumbents perform?”
- “What knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) do workers need to perform these tasks effectively?”
Our Experience and Approach
HumRRO has conducted hundreds of job analysis projects for organizations in the public, private, and non-profit sectors and the military.
The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures as well as considerable legal precedent highlight the importance of grounding human resource systems in high-quality job analysis data. Therefore, when we work with our clients to develop assessments, our work is rooted in data collected through a rigorous job analysis study.
HumRRO follows a systematic data collection for each job analysis we perform. We typically begin by reviewing existing job information (such as job descriptions, prior job analysis data, and job postings) to develop preliminary task and KSAO lists for each job. We update and refine these lists through a series of iterative focus groups with job incumbents. Once lists are finalized, incumbents and supervisors complete surveys to rate the tasks and KSAOs on relevant metrics (e.g., importance, time spent performing a task, when a KSAO is acquired). The survey results are used to identify critical tasks and KSAOs.
What I’ve sincerely appreciated and admired about working with you all is that you’re dedicated to the mission, the service and to the contribution that you make. It’s about serving your customers, providing the best possible service or product. It’s about making a difference.
Manager of a Federal Government Coaching Pool
Using Job Analysis Information
Our clients have used job analysis information in multiple ways to enhance their personnel management and assessment systems.
Selection of Candidates for Promotion
HumRRO conducts a job analysis for selection and promotions systems. For example, a Federal law enforcement client asked us to develop a work simulation called an “assessment center” to identify candidates for promotion to managerial levels. We conducted a large scale job analysis to identify critical KSAOs for front line supervisors and above. A client in the safety industry needed to update physical requirements for their selection and training systems, so HumRRO participated in a job analysis that focused specifically on physical abilities and medical standards.
Credentialing Examinations
HumRRO manages test development for occupational credentialing programs, such as the Certified Manager of Community Associations and the American College of Healthcare Executive Fellow. Because criterion- or predictive-validity studies are not often feasible in the credentialing arena, we conduct job analysis studies and use the results to develop test specifications that are clearly linked to job requirements.
Performance Feedback
HumRRO uses job analysis to identify core leadership competencies and develop multi-source assessment systems for leadership development and performance appraisals such as Girl Scout Council CEOs and COOs.
Performance Feedback
HumRRO has also conducted job analyses to identify how the job or occupational requirements may look in the future. In one such project, the U.S. Army Research Institute used future-oriented job analysis data to develop experimental measures to select new recruits.
Compensation
Job analysis can be used to develop or compare compensation systems. HumRRO designed and implemented a large scale job analysis of every position in the U.S. Courts Federal Defenders Organization, framed around OPM’s compensatory factors, to conduct a compensation parity study.
