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- 1. 1 Competency-Based Job Descriptions V exelle Manufacturing Inc. decided to build its second plant in a fairly small town in the Midwest. The new plant was going to have the best equipment, with all the latest technolo- gy. The first positions to be filled were for 15 maintenance workers. Sherri, the human resources manager for the new plant, was in charge of finding candidates to be interviewed by the maintenance and production managers. The response to an ad in the local paper was incredible: hundreds of candi- dates replied. After four days of interviewing, only three job offers had been made, and only one candidate accepted. What happened? Everyone had a different idea about what a “qualified” candidate looked like. The HR manager used an old job description to help her decide who to schedule for interviews. The maintenance manager felt that, with the new equipment, Programmable Logic Controls (PLC) experience was definitely a job requirement, and therefore eliminated all candidates without that particular skill. The production manager thought that training in PLC skills would be provided by the company, so he didn’t even ask about PLC knowledge. Instead, he focused on the candidates’ ability to work with others, 1
- 2. 2 Hiring Great People because he was planning to implement a team-based work environment. Since everyone was evaluating the candidates against different criteria, there was no agreement about who to hire. The end result was that Vexelle had devoted extensive time and resources to a selection process that yielded only one hire. In this chapter, you will learn the first step in developing a structured selection system that can help identify “qualified” candidates. Specifically, we’ll provide answers to the following questions: • How can a job description accurately define today’s “work”? • What does a competency-based job description look like? • How do you identify “critical competencies”? • How can a success profile help you select better workers? How Can a Job Description Accurately Define Today’s “Work”? Everyone needs a job! Millions of job seekers scan the employment sections of the Sunday newspapers regularly, seeking that perfect job. Headhunters spend their careers try- ing to fill jobs. The 1990s is the decade of too many “jobs” and not enough candidates who can actually do the “work.” Yet with all this talk about “jobs,” we are seeing a surprising trend away from discussing jobs in the traditional sense. Traditionally, companies defined a job by a specific set of tasks, duties, and responsibilities, listed in the form of a job description. The job description let employees know exactly what they were expected to do on the job. It also helped the company make hiring decisions. A candidate’s background and experiences were compared with the job description. Often, with this approach, “experience performing the tasks in similar settings” was a major criterion that managers would use. Although this approach has worked for many companies over the years, today it is becoming obsolete.
- 3. Competency-Based Job Descriptions 3 The world of work has gone through some dramatic changes. Many of us have experienced the trauma of some sort of a “sizing” (whether it’s downsizing, upsizing, or rightsiz- ing). The objective is always the same—to find more produc- tive ways to do the work! Increased productivity often requires a more flexible workforce—one that is multiskilled and able to perform more than one job. Yesterday’s singularly focused job descriptions just can’t capture the full array of skills, abilities, and motivations necessary for tomorrow’s workforce. Why Should I Develop Job Descriptions? Don’t misinterpret what we’ve said so far about job descrip- tions. We are not saying that you should do away with them. On the contrary, I strongly suggest that you do create job descriptions. However, the nature of today’s job descriptions should reflect the nature of today’s work. Let’s take a look at some reasons why we still need job descriptions. Ever try sending a friend to the grocery store without a list of exactly what you want? Breakfast cereals may be breakfast cereals, but there clearly are different types. Ever try to fill a position and have the hiring manager reject your top candi- date? You and the hiring manager need to be reading from the same list of job requirements. A good job description can serve as the basis for developing structured selection tools that will help you identify the best candidates. Candidates want to know what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated. A good job description is the basis of any performance evaluation system. The value of any job can be traced back to the job description. You will need information when presenting the case for how much a job candidate should be paid. Without the job description, your guess will be as good as anyone’s regarding how much to pay the new employee. The job description also serves as a reality check! Too often we ask for individuals who do not exist in our job market or in the job’s salary range. So we waste a lot of time search- ing for job candidates who, even if they did exist, would never
- 4. 4 Hiring Great People take the position at the salary we are offering. Run your job description by other HR professionals or headhunters. This will ensure that if the job candidates do exist, you will not be wast- ing your time by offering them noncompetitive wages. As you can see, the reasons why we need good job descriptions haven’t really changed that much over the years. What has changed is what makes a job description “good” (i.e., accurate and useful). What Should I Be Looking For? A good job description accurately reflects the work that employees will be expected to perform. In the past, a good job description specifically outlined the duties, tasks, and respon- sibilities that the employee would perform in the position. This made sense. Job duties were fairly static, and jobs were dis- tinct from one another. Today, it’s not unusual for companies to have 100 or more specific job titles, based on varying tasks and duties. The human resources department of such companies could spend months developing specific job descriptions for each of these titles. This doesn’t make sense. In addition, the duties and tasks of today’s jobs are more fluid and dynamic. Employees are expected to wear many hats—whatever it takes to help the company achieve its goals. This is another reason why job descriptions cannot be as narrowly defined as in the past. But how can we accurately define work without writing a descrip- tion for every position that involves different duties and tasks? First, we need to look at work in a broader sense than we have in the past. Traditionally, it was appropriate to ask, “What tasks, duties, and responsibilities are required to per- form the job well?” Today, it’s more appropriate to ask, “What competencies are required to succeed on the job?” For instance, “leadership” is a competency that may require knowledge of various management techniques, effec- tive verbal communication skills, the ability to inspire and empower others, and the motivation to be a change agent.
- 5. Competency-Based Job Descriptions 5 Knowledge The information that an employee must possess to effectively perform the required work. This should not include specific knowledge that will be learned on the job. For example, a Spanish transla- tor may need to have knowledge of technical vocabulary. Skills and Abilities A level of expertise reflected in perform- ance in relevant areas. Examples of technical skills and abilities are welding, tool and die work, drafting, technical writing, and accounting. Examples of nontechnical skills and abilities are planning and organizing, oral communication, interpersonal, decision making, and leadership. Motivations Characteristics that motivate an employee to perform well on the job. (This topic is covered in detail in Chapter 8.) For instance, a successful salesperson may need to find satisfaction in interacting with many different types of people, working on commission, and conducting presentations. Other Requirements If it doesn’t fit one of the other three categories, you can stick it here. Legal documents such as cer- tificates or licenses are included in this category. By including competencies and a broader range of respon- sibilities in the job description, a number of HR functions can benefit. To begin with, a competency-based job description will provide greater flexibility in assigning work to your employees, allow you to group multiple jobs that require simi- lar competencies under a single job description, and lengthen the life cycle of your job descriptions. What Does a Competency-Based Job Description Look Like? There are several key elements that make up a good job description. These include: • Job Title: The title normally found on the new employee’s business card or the term used to refer to his or her posi- tion. In a traditional or stable environment, the job title would be specific (e.g., Second Shift Supervisor, Cab Trim
- 6. 6 Hiring Great People Department). In a flexible environment, the job title could be used for all supervisors, regardless of shift or depart- ment (e.g., Team Leader). • Relevance of the Position: A statement about how the position supports the company business plan and its objectives. It would be much broader in a flexible environ- ment than in a traditional environment. • Major Responsibilities: A list of the primary work func- tions that the individual must do on a regular basis. In a traditional job description, this section would include a list of very specific tasks and duties to be performed regularly (e.g., review production goals with team members at the beginning of each shift). A more flexible job description would include broader responsibilities (e.g., facilitate team meetings). • Critical Criteria: The standards that all job candidates must meet to be considered for the position. This is a key area for selection purposes. In traditional job descriptions, this section would include only specific requirements (e.g., work 2:30 to 11:30 p.m., level 3 operator status, able to lift 20 lb). A more flexible job description would include critical competencies required for the job (e.g., excellent teamwork skills, technical knowledge, ability to learn mul- tiple jobs, demonstrated ability to successfully coach and develop others, flexibility to work various shifts). Operating Procedures The very detailed tasks and duties that make up the various parts of today’s multi-faceted positions can be captured in a separate document called Operating Procedures.These documents will allow you to have a small number of shorter competency-based job descriptions while still capturing the critical tasks and duties of each job. Operating Procedures are useful for training and maintaining consistent work behavior. Unlike job descriptions, Operating Procedures are designed to be continuously updated to reflect changes in how specific parts of the job are performed.
- 7. Competency-Based Job Descriptions 7 • Preferred Criteria: The qualities that you would like all candidates to possess, but that are not essential for suc- cessfully doing the job. These may look similar for a tradi- tional or a flexible job description (e.g., five years’ experi- ence in the automotive industry, computer literate). • Reports to: The position to which this hire would report (e.g., Group Leader). Make Sure Your Job Descriptions Are Accurate From a practical perspective, job descriptions are meaningless if they do not fit the job. This is where many companies get into trouble. If descriptions are not accurate, they can be mis- leading. Remember that the Critical Criteria section of the job description is the primary standard used in the hiring process. The best hiring systems use the competencies Make Them identified in the Critical Job-Related Criteria section of the job The law requires that all description as the basis criteria used for selection purposes be for developing interview job-related. If someone in your com- questions (see Chapters 6 pany rejects a candidate based on an and 7), identifying appro- inaccurate job description, your com- priate selection tests (see pany is a prime target for a lawsuit. Chapter 9), and making the final hiring decision (see Chapter 11). The bottom line is, if your descriptions are inaccurate, your selection criteria will be inaccurate; if your selection criteria are inaccurate, your selection decisions will be inaccurate. The rest of this chapter will show you the steps to take to build a solid foundation for developing a comprehensive and accurate selection system. How Do I Identify “Critical Competencies”? To get an accurate picture of the criteria that are critical to effective job performance, you must conduct a Competency Analysis. The results of the competency analysis will serve as
- 8. 8 Hiring Great People Competency Analysis the basis for developing a The process by which you success profile for the job. determine the competen- A single success pro- file is often applicable to cies (knowledge, skills, abilities, moti- vations, and other requirements) nec- multiple positions within essary to perform a job successfully. the same level in an Success Profile A description of the organization. For competencies that are required for instance, all first-level success in a particular job. leadership positions in a manufacturing plant (i.e., team leaders) will likely require the same critical competencies for success. The tasks and duties may differ, but the same competencies are required. Conducting a Competency Analysis The key here is that you don’t need to do a competency analysis for every job title in your company. In order to narrow your focus, you need to concentrate on job levels rather than job titles. Entry (e.g., hourly clerical and production posi- tions), Intermediate (e.g., supervisors, team leaders), and Senior (e.g., mid- to upper-level managers) are examples of organizational levels. Within each level, specific jobs are then grouped into “job families.” A job family is a group of posi- tions, within the same organizational level, that have similar roles in achieving the organization’s objectives. The focus of your competency analysis will be on a particular “job family.” Once you have identified your targeted job family, you can conduct the competency analysis. In order to conduct a thor- ough competency analysis, you will need to gather informa- tion from multiple sources—people who have a good under- standing of the positions that you are analyzing. Such people are called job content experts or JCEs. The first step in performing a competency analysis is to compile a detailed description of the tasks that make up the job. This is sometimes referred to as a “task analysis.” Several data collection methods should be used, including:
- 9. Competency-Based Job Descriptions 9 Analyzing Competencies A manufacturing company has 2,500 employees. Three levels of positions have been identified within the organization: Hourly, Supervisory, and Senior.Within the Hourly level positions, there are three job families: Clerical, Production Associate, and Maintenance Technician positions. The company is interested in developing a selection system to evaluate candidates for its Production Associate positions. It will conduct a competency analysis to determine the knowl- edge, skills, abilities, and motivations required for success as a Production Associate. Later, the firm plans to conduct compe- tency analyses for the Clerical and Maintenance Technician positions. Job Observation: Observe incumbents (i.e., people who are currently doing the job) performing their jobs. Watch what they are doing and ask them to describe what they are doing. Record their responses in detail. Incumbent Interviews: Conduct interviews with people who are currently doing the job. Each incumbent should be asked the same questions, so you will need to develop the interview questions ahead of time. Your questions should focus on learning about their key responsibilities, the types of problems they need to solve, the interactions they have with others, the most difficult part of their job, and the skills and abilities they feel are necessary for success. Critical Incidents Meetings: Facilitate meetings with job content experts (usually, the supervisors of the people in the target position). Ask them to provide specific examples of times when employees in that job demonstrated highly effec- tive and highly ineffective behaviors. Here, you are focusing on traits that distinguish high performers from low performers. Record their examples in detail. Competency Visioning Meetings: Facilitate meetings with people in the organization who are “visionaries”—people who really know the jobs, the organization, and, most important, the future of the jobs and the organization. Remember you are
- 10. 10 Hiring Great People Grouping Information To illustrate how knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivations are grouped, consider the following task analysis for the Production Associate position. Production associates were observed working together in small teams and rotating jobs. Incumbent interviews revealed that team members need to communicate to make sure that everything is done correctly. The critical incidents meeting produced this example of a high performer: “Last week, Jodi took the time to give a new teammate some tips for doing his job more efficiently. During her break, she talked to the new employee to see how things were going and offered words of encouragement. She has done this on multiple occasions with new employees.” During the visioning session, employees were told about a continuous improvement initiative to begin within the next few months. Employees would volunteer to form multidisciplinary teams to address inefficiencies throughout the plant.Teams that met their goals would receive rewards. The key knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivations gathered included “working together,” “communicating,” “offering encouragement,” and “volunteering to form multidisciplinary teams.” It was decided to group these competencies under the heading “Teamwork.” not only hiring for today. You want the people you hire today to still be around tomorrow. The purpose of this meeting is to gather information about the tasks that will be important for future success on the job, as well as to determine the knowl- edge, skills, abilities, motivations, and other requirements needed to accomplish those tasks. Once you collect the data using the various methods described above, you need to analyze what you’ve got. That means grouping similar knowledge, skills, abilities, and moti- vations under headings, or competencies. After analyzing all the data, you will have a list of compe- tencies. This is where you need to be reasonable. Managers tend to come up with a lot of competencies. Once the list gets
- 11. Competency-Based Job Descriptions 11 too long, there’s bound to Position be overlap. For example, Competencies the skills and abilities As a general rule of thumb, needed to plan a project, the following guidelines can help you schedule workers, and determine an appropriate number of organize inventory are position competencies. similar in that they can Entry-level hourly positions (cleri- cal, manufacturing, service) usually all be captured under a require about 5 to 8 competencies. single heading like Intermediate-level positions (super- “Planning” or visor, team leader, professional) usually “Organizing.” Your goal is require about 8 to 11 competencies. to minimize overlap Senior-level positions (mid- to among competencies. upper-level managers, directors, When competencies are advanced professionals) usually distinct from one another, require about 10 to 14 competencies. it is easier to measure them with various selec- tion tools. The easier they are to measure, the more accurate your results will be in terms of predicting job performance. The competency analysis generates the success profile for the position. This success profile can serve as the foundation for improving (and integrating) a variety of HR functions, including selection, performance evaluations, training and development, and compensation. How Can a Success Profile Help Me Select Better Workers? You’ll remember the opening scenario, in which Vexelle was opening a plant and everyone involved in the selection process had a different idea of what the critical competencies were for the maintenance technician position. Now let’s see how things could have turned out differently if Vexelle had done a thorough competency analysis and developed a suc- cess profile for the maintenance position. Four months prior to opening the second manufacturing plant, the human resources department at Vexelle decided to
- 12. 12 Hiring Great People take a good look at the jobs in the new plant. One major dif- ference between the two plants was the technology. The new plant was going to have the most up-to-date equipment avail- able. The new equipment would make the work less physically demanding than it was in the original facility. On the other hand, because employees in the new plant were going to work in teams, the production manager anticipated that other skills would be more important than in the past, such as communi- cation and problem-solving skills. The members of the human resources department decided to conduct a competency analysis for the maintenance posi- tions at the new facility. They observed maintenance workers, interviewed them, facilitated critical incidents meetings, held visionary sessions, and analyzed data from a survey that asked job content experts to rate the importance of various competencies for effective job performance. The resulting success profile was composed of seven competencies, includ- ing technical skills, safety orientation, problem solving, and teamwork. The success profile was incorporated into the Critical Criteria section of the job description and used as the basis for hiring maintenance workers. That is, each competency in the success profile was evaluated during the hiring process, using interviews and job-related tests. Each candidate went through a technical test (designed to assess PLC programming knowledge) and a problem-solving test. Those who passed the tests were interviewed by Sherri, the HR manager. Sherri’s interviews focused on several of the key competency areas. Those candidates who most closely matched the success profile were then interviewed by the pro- duction manager and the maintenance supervisor. Each asked every candidate a set of questions that focused on the critical competencies. Of the fifteen candidates who were granted final interviews, nine received offers and eight accepted! Now I can’t guarantee that you’ll get similar results, even if you do a thorough competency analysis. Hiring ratios (and the
- 13. Competency-Based Job Descriptions 13 success of those hired) depend on many factors, including your recruiting strategies (see Chapter 3), your selection tools (see Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9), and your job offer (see Chapter 12). However, structuring a selection system based on a thor- ough competency analysis will always help you achieve better results. “Better results” means hiring employees who are more likely to succeed on the job—and protecting your company against lawsuits! What does it take to be a successful salesperson with your company? A great supervisor? A skilled maintenance techni- cian? An outstanding customer service representative? Do you have a clear picture of the success profiles of the positions in your organization? Think of the success profile as the gauge by which all can- didates will be measured. Figure out the acceptable levels for each job competency, according to the requirements of the job and the selection tools used. When a thorough competency Determine Your Priorities The results of a competency analysis can be applied to a single function (i.e., selection system, performance evaluation, pay scales, training, etc.), or they can be used to integrate HR systems. Basically, ask yourself, “What do I plan to do with the success profiles?” The next step is to group jobs that have similar functions. Groups of jobs with similar functions are sometimes referred to as job families. Determine which job families are in need of selection sys- tem improvements. In which jobs are there problems with turnover, absenteeism, production, quality, or customer serv- ice? If you keep your eyes and ears open, you’re bound to know exactly where the problems are occurring. Conduct a competency analysis for your target position. Make sure your selection tools are capable of evaluating all of the critical competencies in the success profile. Update your job descriptions by including competencies from the analysis in the Critical Criteria section.
- 14. 14 Hiring Great People analysis is conducted and valid selection tools are used (see Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9), competencies can be powerful pre- dictors of performance on the job. Manager’s Checklist for Chapter 1 ❏ Job descriptions are still important in the hiring process, but the question “What duties, tasks, and responsibilities are involved in this job?” has become “What competencies are required to succeed on the job?” ❏ You need a competency-based job description that will provide greater flexibility in assigning work, allow you to group jobs that require similar competencies under a sin- gle job description, and lengthen the life cycle of your job descriptions. ❏ A competency-based job description includes the job title, the relevance of the position, the major responsibilities (general), critical criteria, and preferred criteria. ❏ Identify critical competencies by conducting a competency analysis, a process by which you determine the knowledge, skills, abilities, motivations, and other requirements necessary to perform a job successfully.