Job Analysis Running Heading: Job Analysis

The Vital Step of Job Analysis Regent Brown MGT410- Unit 1IP American Intercontinental University

Job Analysis In a company of any size, the path to their success begins with the hiring of employees which reflect the ideals, ethics and work goals of the organization. The hiring process has become one of the main focuses of many business consultants as companys search for resources to help in an ever changing work place. Before employees can be hired, the job duties that need to be filled must first be identified and grouped into a description. This job description then can be used to develop a group of candidates. The process of developing job description often begins with the crucial step of job analysis.

A job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of person to be hired for it. (Dessler, 2008). Today we look to develop a Job Analysis and Description needed for a Telephone Customer Service Representative. This particular job has such a vast wealth of resources about the topic. Any Human Resources Department would have plenty of research materials available when setting out on this project. The goal from our Job Analysis will be to: create a job description; list job specifications; and establish job performance standards. (Meglish, 2009). This will not only make the analysis a key tool for hiring, but also serve as a resource during training and performance review. There are several different methods used to obtain data for a job analysis, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. For analysis, I believe a combination of collection methods would be beneficial. In looking at what would be cost effective and efficient for a smaller HR department like my own, we are using the methods of observation, work diary and an internet-based job analysis. These processes would require little cost to our department but also provide us with information that combines traditional customer service jobs and specific needs of our company; allowing us to produce a description that is more detailed to our needs and will help us find an individual that is a good fit for our work environment. Being our office only consists of 55 persons, its important that the right personality and work ethic be present in any candidate.

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We would begin our data collection process by asking those that due job duties we fill lay under the customer service umbrella to make a brief diary of their daily activities for two- three weeks. This time frame is to allow for certain monthly tasks to occur and what duties are required at those times. Included in the log would need to be a detailed list of activities, the frequency of the tasks and the time and resources needed to perform each task. (Meglish, 2009). This method allows for information to be gathered that may be specific for our work environment, along with tasks that may be missed during the observation process. It is relatively cost free method, however it requires an employee to be committed to the noting of duties and can be burdensome. Selecting employees with the time and performance level able to be effective for this task would be key. For the observation step, we would again chose employees that historically are performing the duties that would be expected of a customer service representative. This could be an employee already in that position or a collection of employees that do the duties that would become those of a new position. This step can be combined with a brief interview of the employee being observed. Once you have taken notes of all the job activities or during your observation, you can ask the employee to clarify duties and the importance to the job that duty may be. (Dessler, 2008). For our particular job analysis, it will allow the HR representative to watch the duties being performed which will help in a detailed description and also the skill sets needed to perform the duties. Finally, we look at internet-based job analysis. This step can easily be done at any stage of our process, as research is vital to any HR duty. There are several sites that provide summaries of endless amounts of data collected for job analysis. Finding a site that is valid, reliable and efficient for your needs would need to be part of the research process. Once a provider, or two, is established, this step would be easy and timely to accomplish with something as simple as a term search and printing out the results. Regularly for our company we rely on standardized job analysis performed by the US

Job Analysis Department of Labor and available online at O*Net. O*Net combines mass information into a

condensed analysis that provides information on all aspects on a certain job title. Even though the titles may be generalized they cover a wide range of types of a specific title. These analysis give our HR department a great starting point for tasks and skills for a position, and allow us to combine the information gathered from the other two steps to create a description that is personal to our company. After a brief search for our customer service representative, we were able to get an extremely detailed and precise summary of skills, knowledge, tasks and even national wage standards for the position. http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/43-4051.00 (O*Net, 2009). This information, along with our work diaries and observation notes would be combined to determine which duties are key to our position and will fit the needs of the duties needed in new employees. It also can be used to specialize jobs of those already doing the duties observed. It will also be a key tool for determining job performance and direction of training for the position. As the Hiring Coordinator, for my company I have the duty of doing job analysis quite often. These are then used in our hiring process which usually starts with posting the position once a job description is written. We do are continuously looking for employees to fill this exact job description and have it posted as part of our online application process. Our Call Center Customer Service Representative job description can be found at: http://www.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/CallCenterAgent_Final.pdf (Costco.com, 2009). The hiring process is the basis for developing a workforce that works together to meet the goals of your company. Hiring individuals that bring skills, talent, diversity and ethics helps the strive for success be efficient and fun. As our company grows country wide, we find that our employees are reflections of the communities in which they work and help our corporate culture grow as a singular community. Without the job analysis process, positions would go unfilled and tasks would go undone or done incorrectly. As an HR employee I am tasked with matching the right candidate to the tasks needed

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done. Without tools such as a job analysis I couldnt meet those needs. Job analysis processes continue to grow in use and need, giving us abundant resources to meet the need of our ever changing work force.

Job Analysis References Dessler, G. (2008). Human Resource Management. 11th edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Meglich, P. (2009). Job Analysis. Retrieved February 10, 2010 from http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/Job Analysis_FINAL.pptx O*Net Online. (2009). Summary report for: Customer Service Representatives. Retrieved February 10, 2010 from http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/43-4051.00 Costco.com. (2009). Call Center Agent. Retrieved February 10, 2010 from http://www.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/CallCenterAgent_Final.pdf