Agenda for Job Analysis Workshop

Competencies/Proficiencies

This agenda will take more than one day to accomplish. Edit it and insert breaks as needed depending on your start and ending times each day.

Length Activity
15 minutes Welcome, Introductions and Overview of the Day
1 hour Job task exercise (may use online platform for a remote workshop)
  • Explain exercise and example tasks (5 min)
  • Group writes post-its of tasks (10 min)
  • Discuss and group post-its on board (15 min)
  • Identify and name competency groupings (30 min)
1 hour Dot voting and discussion of most critical competencies (1 hour)
  • Time required will depend on SME alignment
1 hour 15 min Define Competencies
  • Break into small groups to create drafts
    • Leverage example competancies
    • Definition should be 1-3 sentences, not a list of job tasks
    • Include the 4-5 most critical job tasks for each group.
  • Come back together as a group to validate drafts
5 min Explain Proficiency Levels
1 hour 15 min Create proficiency levels for each competency
  • Break into groups as before and divide competencies between groups
  • Reference examples and have proficiencies build on each other
45 min Discuss and finalize proficiency levels with group
  • Time required will depend on SME alignment
15 minutes Confidentiality agreements
  • SMEs sign privacy agreement on testing materials
    • HR should talk about importance of confidentiality test materials
    • Use this time to ensure everyone knows who is saving/storing the test materials
30 min Review job tasks against competencies
  • Only needed if you are on day 2 of the workshop at this point and need to refresh SMEs
1 hour 30 minutes Resume review exercise and competency/proficiency refinement
  • This is the most important exercise so far - the group will check its work to date
  • Give SMEs sample resumes (ideally, a mix of long/short and strong/weak/borderline resumes) and have them review the resumes against the current draft competancies/proficiencies
  • Privately record SME responses, then show results
  • Group should go over results and iterate on materials to achieve:
    • Clarity on if any competancies should be listed first
    • Clarify on recency relevance for any competencies
      • Only alllowed if job is in an industry where skills can become outdated
    • Clarity on number of resumes pages to review (2-5)
  • If SMEs agree about all of the resumes, you likely need more borderline resumes to ensure calibration.
  • May take more or less time depending on revisions needed.
15 minutes Overview of assessments and tentative selections of assessment types
  • USDS suggests a first-round written assessment and second round oral interview
  • the two assessments need to measure different things since you will eliminate applicants between the two rounds
  • For example, breadth vs depth of knowledge, or core competencies then parenthetical competencies
  • IO psychologist or HR specialist w/ measurement experience discusses ensuring that assessments align with grade level
2 hours 15 minutes Create assessment materials
  • Break out into different groups to brainstorm question options
  • Bring group back together to choose specific questions
  • Split up again to draft attributes of answers at different proficiency levels
  • Exact materials will depend on assessment strategy
1 hour Groups present questions and answers for feedback
1 hour Group talks through the draft job announcement (put together during the workshop)
4 hours Assessment validation
  • SMEs who can stay longer split up and test assessment materials on each other for wording and time taken
  • SMEs confirm the questions allow assessors to distinguish between proficiency levels
  • IO psychologist or HR specialist w/ measurement experience works with SMEs to ensure assessments align with grade level
15 min Wrap up and Next Steps. Discuss timeline moving forward.