Job Analysis Discussion List

Welcome to the beginning of the job analysis discussion list!

Many of you were at the Exam Supervisors Forum meeting this morning, but for those of you who were not: The purpose of this list is to discuss issues relevant to job analysis--challenges, innovative solutions, and resources. Topics may range from how to decide which jobs to analyze all the way to what to do with exam results. The intent is to both go "beyond" what is formally taught in the job analysis class at SPB and serve as a way to help people new to job analysis.
 
There are several ways to send an e-mail to the group. For those of you using GroupWise, it is quite easy to create a group in the Address book; I believe Outlook is similar. The attached Word document has all current member e-mails as recorded this morning (please let me know if there are typos). I encourage everyone to spread the word about this resource and make sure to let us know when new individuals join us or if you would like to un-subscribe.
 
The amount of expertise and experience with job analysis in the State is significant--I hope this list provides an opportunity for us to prevent "reinventing the wheel" and share success stories with one another. In this time of budget cuts and increased job stress, I think we can all use the opportunity to vent (within limits) and be recognized (limitless).
 
I leave you with several "tidbits":
 
1. There is no "magic" number of task statements required to describe a job. I've seen recommendations range from 30 to 500. Personally, I feel uncomfortable with fewer than 100, but this obviously varies with the job.
 
2. Many of us are interested in "non-traditional" types of exams, such as personality exams. I often find that the highest rated KSAs are those such as "integrity", "sociability", etc. Be wary of taking this information and searching for an "integrity" or similar test. There are several steps that should be taken before using an off-the-shelf exam (certainly something we can discuss on this list).
 
3. As we all know, part of any proper job analysis is a literature review. In the interest of sharing information, attached is also a bookmark file of my personal list of State and other HR department web sites that contain class spec information (Note: O*NET is not included but is essential). This list may be imported into Netscape or Internet Explorer.
 
Good luck to everyone, and happy holidays!
 
Bryan Baldwin
Personnel Analyst
California Dept. of Justice
(916) 322-0934