Consider the employee’s future career path.
Don’t just focus on the specific role in question. Organisations often prefer to source talent internally, promoting staff whenever possible. However, this approach only works when existing staff have the capability to advance, displaying the requisite abilities, skills, and knowledge. By considering likely career trajectories, HR practitioners can ensure that staff are well equipped to advance past their existing roles, saving them from seeking talent externally.
Job analyses help identify the behavioural competencies required for success.
A job analysis helps identify the behavioural competencies required for job success, including personality traits, values, and motivations. By identifying these competencies, you can develop job-specific assessments that measure an employee's job performance effectively.
These job-specific ability tests can evaluate an employee's job performance based on objective measures, which helps to minimise bias and subjectivity. By assessing the behavioural competencies required for job success, you can develop targeted training and development programs that enhance these competencies, leading to better job performance and employee engagement.
This also helps you to create better job descriptions.
By outlining the specific requirements of the role, you are better able to draft accurate job-descriptions, and thus assess for those specific skills, abilities, and competencies. Without a job-analysis, many key components go unacknowledged, and are thus not considered during the recruitment process. This inevitably reduces the quality of hire, bringing staff who are both lower performing and are less engaged with the role.
After conducting a thorough job analysis, HR practitioners can optimise their recruitment funnel; maximise the quality of hire by asking targeted interview questions, incorporating appropriate recruitment tests, and sourcing candidates with the requisite experience.
This can be furthered by using targeted sourcing strategies, focusing on attracting candidates who possess the required competencies and avoid wasting time and resources on applicants who are not a good fit for the role. Leveraging social media or partnering with relevant organisations would be an application of this.
As an example, I conducted a job-analysis for a graduate scheme at a large multinational engineering firm. I focused on the cognitive and behavioural requirements of the role, with the aim of improving the screening process. In doing so, I identified the specific aptitudes and personality traits which underpin both performance and role-fit, allowing those to be measured directly using psychometric tests. Consequently, the organisation was able to halve the number of applicants invited to the final assessment centre, as the earlier stages of the recruitment process had identified twice as many high potential candidates.
Help in identifying the physical and environmental requirements of a job.
I have found that a job analysis often reveals that a job requires a significant amount of physical exertion or exposure to certain environmental conditions, such as loud noise or extreme temperatures.
This information can be used to ensure that the organisation is providing a safe and healthy work environment for its employees. Employers can take steps to minimise any potential health risks or hazards associated with the job by providing appropriate safety equipment, implementing procedures to reduce exposure to hazardous materials or conditions, and modifying the work environment or tasks as necessary.
In addition, understanding the physical and environmental requirements of a job can help organisations design and modify job tasks to accommodate employees with disabilities or limitations. This can increase diversity and inclusivity in the workplace, leading to improved employee morale and productivity.
