Respect writer

HR TOOLS FOR LINE MANAGERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES: Using O*NET

Without their own job analysts or even HR managers, many small business owners face two hurdles when doing job analyses. First, most need a more streamlined approach than those provided by questionnaires like that in Figure 4.4 . Second is the concern that, in writing their job descriptions, they’ll overlook duties that subordinates should be assigned. What they need is an encyclopedia listing all the possible positions they might encounter, including a list of the duties normally assigned to these positions.

The small business owner has at least three options. The Standard Occupational Classification, mentioned earlier, provides detailed descriptions of thousands of jobs and their human requirements. Websites like www.jobdescription.com provide customizable descriptions by title and industry. And the Department of Labor’s O*NET is a third alternative. We’ll focus here on how to write a job description using O*NET ( www.onetonline.org/ ).35

O*NET

The U.S. Department of Labor’s online occupational information network, called O*NET, is a popular tool. It enables users (not just managers, but workers and job seekers) to see the most important characteristics of various occupations, as well as the experience, education, and knowledge required to do each job well. Both the Standard Occupational Classification and O*NET list the specific duties associated with numerous occupations. O*NET also lists skills, including basic skills such as reading and writing, process skills such as critical thinking, and transferable skills such as persuasion and negotiation.36 An O*NET job listing also includes information on worker requirements (required knowledge, for instance), occupation requirements (such as compiling, coding, and categorizing data, for instance), and experience requirements (including education and job training). Employers and career planners also use O*NET to check the job’s labor market characteristics, such as employment projections and earnings data.37

The steps in using O*Net to facilitate writing a job description follow.

· Step 1: Decide on a Plan. Ideally, the jobs you need should flow from your departmental or company plans. Do you plan to enter or exit businesses? What do you expect your sales to be in the next few years? What departments will have to be expanded or reduced? What new positions will you need?

· Step 2: Develop an Organization Chart. Start with the organization as it is now. Then produce a chart showing how you want it to look in a year or two. Microsoft Word includes an organization charting function.38

· Step 3: Use a Job Analysis Questionnaire. Next, gather information about each job’s duties. (You can use job analysis questionnaires, such as those shown in Figure 4.4 and Figure 4.8 ).

· Step 4: Obtain Job Duties from O*NET. The list of job duties you uncovered through the job analysis in step 3 may or may not be complete. We’ll therefore use O*NET to compile a more complete list. (Refer to the A, B, and C examples pictured.) Start by going to www.onetonline.org/ (A). Here, click on Find Occupations. Assume you want to create job descriptions for a retail salesperson. Key Retail Sales in the Keyword drop-down box. This brings you to the Occupations matching “retail sales” page (B). Clicking on the Retail Salespersons summary produces the job summary and specific occupational duties for retail salespersons (C). For a small store, you might want to combine the duties of the “retail salesperson” with those of “first-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers.”

· Step 5: List the Job’s Human Requirements from O*NET. Next, return to the summary for Retail Salespersons (C). Here, click, for example, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. Use this information to help develop a job specification for your job. Use this information for recruiting, selecting, and training your employees.

· Step 6: Finalize the Job Description. Finally, perhaps using Figure 4.8 as a guide, write an appropriate job summary for the job. Then use the information obtained previously in steps 4 and 5 to create a complete listing of the tasks, duties, and human requirements of each of the jobs you will need to fill.