What is job analysis and what is it for?

Before you can create a precise job description of the position to advertise a vacancy in your organisation, you need to carry out a job analysis. This analytical process will allow an assessment of the need and purpose of the position and how the work is to be performed.

A job description should include a list of essential functions and this is where the analysis comes in, ensuring that the work to be performed in a given job is accurately described.

Is a job analysis the same as a workplace analysis?

No, they are two different concepts because, While job analysis focuses on tasks, responsibilities, skills, training and experience, a workplace analysis is an assessment of your operations, procedures, processes, physical environment and individual workstations.

Conducting a workplace analysis helps to identify hazards and risks, greatly facilitating the subsequent implementation of control methods. The benefits of conducting an analysis include:

• Prevent accidents and incidents that may cause injury to employees or damage to property.
• Create and maintain a safe environment in which to work.
• Identify and eliminate or control hazards in a timely manner.
• Support an ongoing safety culture in your workplace.

How is a job analysis carried out?

There are a number of questions that job analysis will need to answer. The intention of asking these questions is to determine whether the tasks can be accomplished in a new or different way from what is known or usually employed.. Among the issues that cannot be missing in this analytical process are the following:

• What is the purpose of the job and what should be the essential functions of the person filling the vacancy? What skills will the recruited person need to have?
• What would happen if this post were not filled? Would it be possible to transfer essential functions of that position to other roles within the same department or other departments/units of the company?
• What can we learn from our experience over the last five years with this position? Has it been marked by high turnover or has it been an ongoing problem area? What explains the current vacancy?
• What does this information tell us about the job - does it need to be redefined or perhaps eliminated?

The responsibility for analysing a vacant or newly created position rests primarily with the hiring manager, but it is recommended that at least one additional person be involved, to enrich the process with another, more managerial point of view, or perhaps closer to the department where the position is located.

Why is job analysis important?

The job description is a key document for personnel management, as it affects how a role is classified and compensated.. It serves as the basis for setting expectations with an employee and for appraisal and performance management.

It is also important in determining the candidate's professional development needs. For this reason, job analysis prior to the development of a vacancy description should be done carefully and without allowing the urgency of the search process to minimise the importance of ensuring accuracy.

It is essential that each job description is written in such a way that it provides all the information candidates need to contact the company. It should accurately reflect all required duties and responsibilities, as well as desirable training, experience and certification requirements. But, To reach this level of accuracy, it is necessary to study in depth the position to be filled, what it entails and what it requires of the professional who will fill it, something for which analysis is inevitably necessary.