What to Collect during Job Analysis

Gathering job-related information involves lots of efforts and time. The process may become cumbersome if the main objective of it is not known. Any information can be gathered and recorded but may be hazardous for health and finances of an organization if it is not known what is required and why.

Before starting to conduct a job analysis process, it is very necessary to decide what type of content or information is to be collected and why. The purpose of this process may range from uncovering hidden dangers to the organization or creating a right job-person fit, establishing effective hiring practices, analyzing training needs, evaluating a job, analyzing the performance of an employee, setting organizational standards and so on. Each one of these objectives requires different type of information or content.

While gathering job-related content, a job analyst or the dedicated person should know the purpose of the action and try to collect data as accurate as possible. Though the data collected is later on divided in to two sets - job description and job specification but the information falls in three different categories during the process of analyzing a specific job - job content, job context and job requirements.

What to Collect ?

• Job Content
• Job Context
• Job Requirements

1. Job Content: It contains information about various job activities included in a specific job. It is a detailed account of actions which an employee needs to perform during his tenure. The following information needs to be collected by a job analyst:
   • Duties of an employee
   • What actually an employee does
   • Machines, tools and equipments to be used while performing a specific job
   • Additional tasks involved in a job
   • Desired output level (What is expected of an employee?)
   • Type of training required
   

   Fig 1.1 Categorization of Job Analysis Information

   The content depends upon the type of job in a particular division or department. For example, job content of a factory-line worker would be entirely different from that of a marketing executive or HR personnel.

2. Job Context: Job context refers to the situation or condition under which an employee performs a particular job. The information collection will include:
   • Working Conditions
   • Risks involved
   • Whom to report
   • Who all will report to him or her
   • Hazards
   • Physical and mental demands
   • Judgment

   Well like job content, data collected under this category are also subject to change according to the type of job in a specific division or department.

3. Job Requirements: These include basic but specific requirements which make a candidate eligible for a particular job. The collected data includes:
   • Knowledge or basic information required to perform a job successfully
   • Specific skills such as communication skills, IT skills, operational skills, motor skills, processing skills and so on
   • Personal ability including aptitude, reasoning, manipulative abilities, handling sudden and unexpected situations, problem-solving ability, mathematical abilities and so on
   • Educational Qualifications including degree, diploma, certification or license
   • Personal Characteristics such as ability to adapt to different environment, endurance, willingness, work ethic, eagerness to learn and understand things, behaviour towards colleagues, subordinates and seniors, sense of belongingness to the organization, etc

For different jobs, the parameters would be different. They depend upon the type of job, designation, compensation grade and responsibilities and risks involved in a job.