[IPAC-List] Dealing with a progression of jobs in a job analysis

[Reindl, Kevin]

Jamie,

You are going to inevitably find similarities across these jobs, but
also differences that distinguish the levels. The differences might be
in terms of frequencies of performing certain tasks, or it may be a
qualitative difference that separates the leads from the III's and the
III's from the II's and so on.

Depending on how many incumbents you have, I would let the data be your
guide. In terms of the job analysis interviews with
supervisors/SME's...while these are important for generating tasks/KSA's
required...I would suggest using a more objective task/KSA questionnaire
with standard rating scales. I'd use a common job analysis questionnaire
(tasks, KSA's, etc.) that encompasses all of the tasks and KSA's across
all 4 job levels. Then, the average frequencies, importance, etc. of the
task ratings/KSA's will tell you a nice story about the differences and
similarities across the jobs.

The idea would then be to create a selection instrument that assesses
the skills and abilities that are critical to all levels...and if there
are additional, critical KSA's needed at higher levels (e.g., lead
skills for the lead job), then an additional assessment of those skills
for the higher levels might be appropriate.

You might even consider different cutoffs for the different job levels
(assuming you have data to support this). If hiring from within the job
progression, experience at the lower level might suffice for
demonstrating the appropriate KSA's. 


For example, 

JOB                  Widget Making Test            Lead Skills
Assessment
Widget Maker I       50 to pass                         No
Widget Maker II      60 to pass or exp. As WM-I         No
Widget Maker III     70 to pass or exp. As WM-II        No
Lead Widget Maker    70 to pass or exp. As WM-III       Yes


I realize this is a very simplistic example, and a lot will depend on
the actual jobs, what other selection criteria there are in place, the
number of incumbents/SME's, concerns for adverse impact, etc. But
hopefully this might give you some ideas.


Kevin Reindl
San Diego Gas & Electric
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: ipac-list-bounces at ipacweb.org
[mailto:ipac-list-bounces at ipacweb.org] On Behalf Of Madigan, Jamie J
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 9:23 AM
To: ipac-list at ipacweb.org
Subject: [IPAC-List] Dealing with a progression of jobs in a job
analysis

Hi all,

I have another question I thought I'd throw out to the list. Let's say
you have a group of jobs that are all in a progression: Widget Maker I,
Widget Maker II, Widget Maker III, Lead Widget Maker. People typically
get promoted up through the levels, but it's also entirely possible to
bring new hires in off the street at any level based on their
qualifications --they don't necessarily start at Widget Maker I.

Assume the differences between a Widget Maker I, II, III, and Lead deal
mostly with how much direct supervision they receive, the complexity and
importance of the projects they work on, and the degree to which they
are consulted on a strategic level about what kinds of widgets the
company should make. 

How would you approach this situation if you were to do a job analysis
aimed to eventually support the use of a selection test? Would you do
four separate job analyses and thus 4 separate studies? Would you try to
group them together into a Widget Maker job family?

If the latter, how do you deal with that and frame it in a job analysis
interview with supervisors and incumbents? Do you ask them to consider
all levels of the job simultaneously? How do you deal with the
inevitable argument that, for example, a Widget Maker I may do Task A
daily, but a Widget Maker III may only do it once every few months?

Any thoughts?

Jamie Madigan 
Assessment and Metrics Specialist 
Talent Acquisition 
Ameren Services 
 
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