Job Analysis: Targeting Needed Skills

Employment Relations Today Autumn 2001 85

Job Analysis: Targeting Needed Skills

Helen Palmer, PhD, isdirector of industrial/operational psychology atACT Inc., an independent,not-for-profit organizationthat provides more than 100assessment, research,information, and program-management services inbroad areas of educationplanning, career planning,and workforce development.Her primary responsibilitiesconcern the job-profiling(analysis) component of theWorkKeys system. She canbe reached [email protected]. WillValet, an award-winningjournalist, is an editorialassistant for ACT Inc. Hecan be reached [email protected]. For moreinformation on WorkKeysand occupational and jobprofiling, visit www.act.org/workkeys/profiles/index.html.

© 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

JOB ANALYSIS: TARGETING NEEDEDSKILLS

Helen Palmer and Will Valet

What businesses don’t know about training and hiringcould cost them. Just ask Bill Cordial. He works as amanufacturing manager for Creative Extruded Prod-

ucts, an automotive parts manufacturer in Tipp City, Ohio, a smalltown about 20 minutes north of Dayton. The company, whichemploys 240 workers in a town with a 6,000-plus population,makes parts for some of the automobile industry’s biggest names,including General Motors and Ford.

In 1994, the company was suffering from a high annual turn-over rate—33 percent—along with skyrocketing overtime andhigh recruiting costs. One of the priciest problems, however, washigh scrap expenditure. “Extrusion is a continuous process,” Cor-dial says. “And some of the lines run between 80 and 100 feet ofmetal per minute. If you’re doing something wrong, you can ruina lot of scrap. There’s a lot of art, a lot of handwork, involved. It’snot like setting up a stamping machine that stamps out the samething over and over.”

Cordial had a big problem. He needed to get people with theright skills on the extrusion lines—and the right people to trainthem—so that when they did run the line, they were not runningscrap. And he had to do all of this in a difficult hiring environment.“We just couldn’t attract anyone at the skill level we needed,”Cordial says. “In this area, anybody who wants a job has one. It wasextremely difficult trying to recruit.”

A company was hired to analyze the skills needed for jobs at theplant. A new training and employment system emerged, and in theseven years that have passed, these results followed:

• Job-training time has fallen from six months to two months.• Overtime hours have dropped 95 percent.


86 Autumn 2001 Employment Relations Today

• Turnover has fallen from 33 percent to 2 percent.• Scrap expenditures have decreased 65 percent.

Two years after the new system was introduced, the companyhad a total cost reduction of $548,000.

It is a major goal for a lot of employers: finding a system thathelps them retain desirable current employees and weed outundesirable hires while keeping costs at a minimum. Reachingthat goal is not easy. But when it is reached, the rewards are ample.“We had a dramatic turnaround in quality people,” Cordial says.“It’s been one of the best things we’ve ever done.”

IMPROVING A WORKFORCEAlthough many would agree that the United States is in the

middle of a workforce crisis, the cause of the situation appears tobe changing. A November 7, 2000, online poll by Workforce Maga-zine asked participants whether they agreed that a skill shortage,not labor shortage, is plaguing the United States. Seventy-sevenpercent responded “yes.” One of the top pieces of evidence is,according to participants, the following observation: “Our organi-zation rarely lacks résumés; it just gets the wrong ones.”

Schools nationwide are being asked to respond by teachingbasic skills to students. In June 2000, Rutgers University, in NewJersey, and the University of Connecticut released a joint reporttitled “Making the Grade? What American Workers Think ShouldBe Done to Improve Education.” Among the top skills respon-dents thought should be taught in school were communicationskills, basic literacy, critical thinking, and teamwork.

But employers, who cannot wait for current grade-schoolersto grow up and fill these positions, are responding in their ownway. With all of the worries about making sure students areprepared for a skills-hungry workplace, companies all over thecountry are taking steps to ensure their current workforce satis-fies those needs now.

“As tight as the market may seem now, five years from now,we’re going to look back on this as the good ol’ days,” says Dr.Barry Nathan, an industrial/organizational psychologist fromPittsburgh. “We’ll see the baby-boomer generation retiring, andwith that goes a significant number of skilled workers. You’ve gotpeople who have been there 10, 15, or 20 years who know all theins and outs of the job. When they retire, there’s going to be a hugevacuum in understanding the work that’s going on. So, job analy-sis is the only way to capture that.”

Job analysis brings the specifics of a job position into focus. Ithelps employers identify the skills and levels of skills current

“Our organizationrarely lacks résumés;it just gets the wrongones.”



employees need to be successful on a job. This knowledge iscrucial when employers are trying to find and train the rightperson for the right job.

Employers are not the only group that benefits from jobanalysis. For employees, both prospective and current, job analy-sis provides a clear picture of the skills and skill levels they needto be successful in the jobs they seek. Job analysis breaks down thetasks of a job and then determines what skills are needed toperform those tasks.

Dr. Nancy Haller, an organizational psychologist in SanDiego, California, says that using job analysis in today’s work-place is simple common sense. “It is the foundation for any kindof pre-employment or pretraining testing,” Haller says. “Be-fore assessing candidates, you have to know what characteris-tics are required for specific job performance. Look at it as youwould a house blueprint. You don’t want to build a housewithout a blueprint.”

All of this comes down to a modern truth: today’s good-to-greateconomy is being paired with a slim hiring environment. Thatleaves employers with the exceedingly difficult duty of puttingskilled workers into positions without a wealth of new hires.

But how can employers determine which workers are right forpositions that require the highest skills, or which workers are thebest candidates to receive additional training? That is where jobanalysis comes in. “It’s needed to ensure that an employment testmeasures an individual’s characteristics as they relate to the taskincluded in performing a specific job,” says Dr. Edward Hane,who has been an independent consultant for testing and selectionprograms for more than 30 years. Through his company, Person-nel Consulting Group, based in Woodland Hills, California, he hasdeveloped tests for private firms and public agencies. “It’s anessential concept, I believe, and it should be used with anyinstrument that is used to evaluate a person to determine whetherthat person should be in a position,” he says. “A test for anyonebeing considered for a position or promotion should be related tothe requirements of a job.”

ACT’S EXAMPLE: JOB PROFILINGOne company performing job analysis is ACT Inc., the

company best known for the ACT Assessment test taken bycollege-bound students. The company developed the WorkKeyssystem in the early 1990s in response to the growing demandfor skilled workers.

The late 1980s and early 1990s were packed with media andacademic reports stating that the U.S. workforce lacked skills.

Using job analysis intoday’s workplace issimple commonsense.



Much of the uproar came in the wake of “A Nation at Risk”—thelandmark national report released by the U.S. Department ofEducation in 1983 about the crisis of education in the UnitedStates. It stated that “the educational foundations of our societyare presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity thatthreatens our very future as a nation and a people.” In response,WorkKeys was born when groups of companies came to ACTseeking a skill test similar to that of the ACT college entranceassessment, according to Dr. Ann Stamps White, director ofWorkKeys development: “Businesses and industrial people cameto ACT independently and said, ‘Could you do for us what you dofor colleges? We don’t have reliable measures for pinpointingemployees’ skills.’”

The challenge for WorkKeys developers was to determinewhat should be tested. “This is the issue we were grappling with:so many employment tests are personality tests, testing people onpersonal traits, as opposed to testing people on their skills,”Stamps White says. “Most of us can’t change our personalities, butwe can change our skill levels.”

WorkKeys measures employees’ skill levels to make sure theyare suitable for a given job. There are currently eight WorkKeystests that assess the basic workplace skills found in most jobs in theUnited States:

1. Applied mathematics measures an examinee’s skill in apply-ing mathematical reasoning to work-related problems.

2. Applied technology measures an examinee’s understandingof technical principles (mechanics, thermodynamics) asthey apply in the workplace.

3. Listening measures the ability to listen to and understandwork-related messages.

4. Locating information measures the ability to use informationfrom such workplace materials as diagrams, floor plans,tables, forms, graphs, and charts.

5. Observation measures an examinee’s skill in paying atten-tion to and noticing details in workplace instructions anddemonstrations.

6. Reading for information measures the ability to comprehendwork-related reading materials, from memos and bulletinsto policy manuals and governmental regulations.

7. Teamwork measures judgment in choosing behavior thatfurthers workplace relationships and accomplishes worktasks.

8. Writing measures skills in writing work-related messagesand summaries.

“… so manyemployment tests arepersonality tests,testing people onpersonal traits, asopposed to testingpeople on theirskills,” Stamps Whitesays. “Most of uscan’t change ourpersonalities, but wecan change our skilllevels.”



The assessments are scored on a grading scale from 1 (lowest)to 7 (highest), although the acceptable score range varies. Thescores represent test takers’ mastery of each skill.

Through WorkKeys job analysis, employers are able to deter-mine which skills (such as applied mathematics or reading) arerequired for a job and the level of each skill needed to perform thejob successfully. This helps employers determine the standardsfor how an applicant must score in a particular skill assessment tobe qualified for the job.

Both occupational and job profiles can ensure that the appro-priate skills are linked to specific jobs. An occupational profile worksas a starting point for companies, setting skill levels in ways thatcan be applied across the workforce, not just at a specific company.The company can take the occupational profile’s recommendedskill levels and tailor them to the company’s needs. For example,an accountant for an architectural company must know about thecosts and finances involved with building, but his or her skills inmathematics and locating information need to be the same asthose for an accountant in most other industries. Occupationalprofiles take advantage of this similarity by combining the resultsof job profiles among specific companies into one report. Desir-able skill levels, and how they can be measured by assessments,are then determined. Another way to derive an occupationalprofile is to conduct a profiling session with employees whoperform similar jobs at different companies.

Many employers, however, want job analyses for specificjobs at their specific companies, to improve employee selectionand retention. The WorkKeys job-profiling process begins withan ACT-authorized job profiler. Profilers are trained in jobanalysis, test validation, and hiring standards. Dr. Edward Hane,who has worked with ACT in profiling and training profilers,says this training gives the profilers a full picture of the impactof their duty. “They’re sometimes not human resources profes-sionals, so they need training on how to perform the profilingprocess,” Hane says.

WorkKeys job profilers work on group exercises in which theprofiling process is explained, demonstrated, and then practicedby the trainees. “When they leave, each one of them will have gonethrough a thorough profiling process so that we feel confident inauthorizing that they have learned it well,” Hane says.

When authorized, the profiler’s first step is to visit with theclient company and determine background information on the jobto be profiled and how specifically the job relates to the company.The profiler tours the company and collects materials (trainingmanuals, annual reports, company newsletters, etc.) that help

Both occupationaland job profiles canensure that theappropriate skills arelinked to specificjobs.



define the company. The profiler then compiles an initial list of thetasks most relevant to the job being profiled. To help refine that listand to get a fuller picture of the job, the analyst pulls together agroup of those who know it best. These subject-matter experts arelocal employees who

• Currently hold the job• Know the job well• Are representative of those holding the job, meaning they

represent a mix of gender, ethnicity, age, and other factors

The group refines the analyst’s initial task list and rates eachtask keeping two factors in mind: importance of the task to the joband the relative time spent on it.

Next, those tasks are linked to the WorkKeys system. Thesubject-matter group is also heavily involved in this process. Thejob profiler defines each WorkKeys skill category and determineswith the group whether it applies to the job at hand.

Having analyzed the skill, the subject-matter experts thenmust decide, as a group, what minimum level of each basic skill isrequired to perform the job successfully. When taking a WorkKeystest, the skill level at which an employee scores corresponds tohow prepared he or she is for the job, or how much training anemployee needs.

RESULTS OF JOB PROFILINGThe immense impact of job analysis and WorkKeys basic skills

profiling spreads beyond a better knowledge of the job at hand. Italso affects work output, employee morale, and turnover rates.And despite the expenses involved with analysis and testing, theypay off handsomely.

Returning to the case of Bill Cordial: In the midst of high scrapexpenditures and employee turnover, his company hired ACT-trained profilers to identify the basic skills and skill levels neededfor jobs to be performed successfully. Employees were testedusing the WorkKeys system, and it was found that about 25percent of employees needed certain kinds of retraining. Almostall of them went on to achieve the desired skill levels.

Other WorkKeys successes include

• Rutgers University, in New Jersey. The Facilities andMaintenance Operations Department has always investedheavily in training, but management officials saw a needfor higher skills during strategic planning. With a goal inmind to create a workforce utilizing a culture of lifelong

The immense impactof job analysis andWorkKeys basic skillsprofiling spreadsbeyond a betterknowledge of the jobat hand. It also affectswork output,employee morale, andturnover rates.



improvement, the department worked with WorkKeysanalysts to profile 17 positions. Employees took WorkKeysassessments, and management created semester-longcourses open to all test takers using both traditional class-room study and self-guided training via computer. Now,more than 200 employees use the program on an annualbasis (with waiting lists for each class), computer literacygoals are on target, and a work-related training curriculumis in place.

• Oral-B Laboratories, in Iowa City, Iowa. The companywent through an expansion that required a change in theskills needed in certain positions. Oral-B needed employ-ees who understood the principles of electricity, mechan-ics, and teamwork to work successfully. The positions wereprofiled, applicants tested with WorkKeys, and Oral-B wasable to select 300 suitable workers out of 1,500 applicants.

• The Dixie Group Inc. One of the largest carpet companiesin the country, Dixie’s motto is “Building people while webuild our business.” Yet technology advances rapidlychanged the carpet industry, and the company neededskilled workers to keep up. “We can teach our associateshow to operate a tufting machine, but we need them to beable to solve problems, analyze production data, trouble-shoot, work on a team, quantify results, and learn newmaterial fast,” says Alan Artress, development director.More than 80 jobs were profiled at sites in Georgia, Ala-bama, and California, and WorkKeys became a foundationfor employee education and development. As a result,employee self-esteem rises with each improved score level,and better performance and lower rates of operator errorbenefit the company’s bottom line.

• Equistar, in Dubuque, Iowa. Equistar makes plastics forsuch products as grocery bags, dashboards, and shampoobottles. That means working with potentially dangerouschemicals—and satisfying OSHA requirements. ProcessControl Technologists work with those chemicals and highlycomplex machinery. The job is so demanding, it takes fiveyears of work and training before a technologist is consid-ered fully skilled. An incorrect hiring decision could lead tostaggering costs. Working with WorkKeys job profilers,the job was analyzed and found to require high levels ofmath, technology, and teamwork skills. Applicants weretested, and assessments revealed that many of them lackedthe right skills. Also, documentation of the technologists’skills helped to satisfy OSHA requirements.

Employee self-esteem rises witheach improved scorelevel, and betterperformance andlower rates ofoperator error benefitthe company’s bottomline.



CHANGING WITH THE TIMESJob analysis often involves an analyst or profiler researching,

interviewing job incumbents, getting supervisors’ opinions, andwriting up reports. This requires a significant but worthwhileinvestment, the size of which depends on how many incumbentsare interviewed, the complexity of the job, the number of skillsanalyzed, and the company’s geographic distribution of locations.

Today’s market is such that even a single job at a single companycan be constantly in flux, with needed skills and skill levels bobbingwith demand. Job analysis can help companies keep up, but theprocess itself must also be able to change with trends.

Current trends are leading toward quicker ways of performingjob analysis. Information technology, such as the Internet, makes itpossible to analyze a job faster and more efficiently to keep up withthe market. Typically, job analysis looks at how a job is currentlydone. But the ever-changing business market makes it difficult tokeep a job analysis up to date. Also, companies are asking employeesto do more and more, so there is sometimes a question of whether“jobs” as we know them are obsolete. This means we must do ananalysis of work as quickly as possible, leading to more emphasis ontechnology-related options, such as Web-based job analysis.

Although the investment required for a job analysis could besubstantial, job analysts say that not performing analysis can befar more costly to a company. “You can hire people for years andthink you’re hiring accurately, but instead you’re making all sortsof errors, and that can be incredibly costly,” Haller says. “The costsof hiring people hit-or-miss can be huge. Take, for example, hiringsomebody to answer the phone. You’ve tested that person onwhether he or she can answer a phone, but not on good customerservice. The person handling the phone should answer it on atleast the third ring but, instead, lets it ring ten times. Then youwonder, ‘Why are we losing customers?’ You would have foundthat out in a job analysis.”

Job analysis also can help provide a cost-efficient workforce.“When you don’t use analysis, you run the risk of either usingunder-qualified people, which means that the learning curve forthem is greater. Or you could be stuck with an under-performingemployee, and then you have to deal with turnover costs,” saysNathan, whose company Keys2Work LLC uses WorkKeys withits clients. “Conversely, you could use an overqualified person,but then you’re paying for the person, not the skills needed to dothe job. And you’re probably overpaying. So, job analysis makesyour employment system more efficient. It’s like a Goldilocks test:not too high, not too low.” �

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Job Analysis: Targeting Needed Skills