Imagine that hundreds of job applicants completed an online application to fill two positions and you are tasked with hiring for those two positions. What do you do? Do you interview every single job applicant? That can be quite costly and time consuming. How do you determine who progresses in the hiring process? Well, you could use an online assessment that measures the key competencies to help aid you in making informed decisions.

That of course raises the question, what assessment is best for the given position and how important each competency is for the position? This is where a Job Analysis Expert could help. Their role is to conduct a thorough job analysis to determine the key competencies that a job candidate would need to be successful at your organization. A job analysis is used to gather information about the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that are needed upon entry in the position.

There are 5 main part of any job analysis:

1. Identifying and obtaining information from subject matter experts who know the job well..
2. Gathering information regarding the various duties and responsibilities.
3. Determining several critical incidents or examples of poor performers as well as critical incidents for above average performers.
4. Differentiating between poor performers, average performers, and above average performers
5. Observation of current workers in the position.

During every part of the job analysis, the data gathered helps determine the relative importance of each competency, if the competency is needed upon entry into the job, and the level of competency required for the job. All the different information from the job analysis can be utilized in helping to determine which competencies should be measured and how much importance should be placed on each competency. Validity evidence would of course also be helpful when determining the amount of weight or importance that should be placed on each competency for the given position.

You can see that a job analysis isn't a waste of time by any means. The data gathered is crucial to helping you make the best hires possible with the aid of your online assessments. Keep that in mind next time you start your search for a new online assessment -- the ones that include a job analysis will be the most accurate for your organization.