1106 - Job Analysis (JA)

Category

Selection

Audience List

• Equal Employment Opportunity Officers
• Human Resources Chiefs
• Labor Relations Officers
• Personnel Officers
• Return-to-Work Coordinators
• Selection Managers
• Training Officers

Synopsis

This policy:

• Defines JA
• Explains why we must conduct JAs
• Provides information about conducting sound and legally defensible JAs
• Provides the required elements of a JA

Introduction

The State’s civil service testing activities shall ensure that individuals hired and promoted in the civil service are selected solely on the basis of their job-related qualifications. Such selection decisions shall be free of illegal discrimination and political patronage. Through the use of sound, job-related examination processes, individuals who possess the requisite qualifications to perform successfully on the job will be identified and considered for hire and promotion in the civil service without regard to non-job-related or illegally discriminatory criteria. The JA is the foundation for developing and administering job-related examination processes.

Statement

In accordance with California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 2, section 79, the JA is a systematic process used to identify the essential tasks and functions performed in a job classification and identifying the competencies or the knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs) and other personal characteristics that are required to perform those essential tasks and functions. The JA allows for the standardized collection and analysis of information about a job.

In accordance with CCR, Title 2, section 89.1, JA methods shall be consistent with civil service laws and regulations, other legal requirements, including the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and generally accepted professional standards, standard textbooks, and journals in the field of personnel selection and JA methods, including the federal Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures (1978) and any updates and/or amendments to those guidelines.

The JA shall serve as the primary basis for demonstrating and documenting the job-relatedness of examination processes conducted for the establishment of eligible lists within the state’s civil service. Further, JAs conducted by agencies and departments shall adhere to the legal and professional standards outlined in this section, and agencies and departments shall ensure that the following elements are included in JA studies conducted:

• The JA must be performed for the job for which the subsequent selection procedure is developed and used.
• The JA methodology utilized must be described and documented.
• Final data from the JA must be presented in writing.
• The JA data should be collected from a variety of current sources (e.g., literature review, incumbent input, supervisor input).
• The sample size and group of Subject Matter Expert participants in the data collection activities must be representative of the jobs within the job classification for which the JA is conducted, as well as be of sufficient size to yield adequate data.
• Job tasks must be specified in terms of their importance or criticality and their frequency of performance, as well as a determination of the essential job tasks.
• Job tasks must be sufficiently detailed to derive the requisite KSAs.
• The important or critical KSAs required upon entry for successful job performance must be specified.
• The KSAs must be operationally defined; for example, the general KSA “typing skill” should be expanded to “skill to type general business correspondence at a rate of no less than 60 words per minute using a computer and word processing software up to six hours per day”.
• There must be a linkage between the essential tasks and the important, required-upon-entry KSAs.

It is incumbent upon agencies and departments to ensure that their JA studies comply with the aforementioned requirements to ensure the integrity and job-relatedness of their departmental civil service examination processes.

Application

The JA process results in the identification and documentation of the essential functions of a job classification, the specific task requirements of the job classification, and the KSAs required to perform those tasks and essential functions. Completed JA data provides the foundation for a variety of human resources activities surrounding a given job classification, including:

• Classification and pay – JA data can inform the development of new class specifications.
• Recruitment and selection – JA data serve as the basis for developing content-valid personnel assessment instruments.
• Training and development – JA data can support the identification of training and development needs for job incumbents.
• Performance appraisal – JA data can inform performance appraisal systems about critical performance factors.
• Reasonable or return-to-work accommodation – JA data illuminate essential functions of a job and thus support decisions about reasonable accommodation.
• Human resource/workforce planning – JA data can help inform succession

Authorities

• California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 79
• California Code of Regulations, title 2, section 89.1
• Code of Federal Regulations, title 29

Resources

Web Pages

• American Psychological Association: Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing

Authorized By

Chris Dainard
Chief, Selection Division

Contact Person

Selection Division
CalHR
Phone: 916-909-3757
Email: SDPolicy@calhr.ca.gov

Superseded Policies

History

View History