Understanding The Essential Skills Profiles
Title
The Title indicates the occupational group described in the Profile. For
Profiles that are based on interviews with workers, the title is the name
of an occupational group in the National Occupational Classification and
its NOC number. For Profiles that are part of an occupational standard,
the title is the name of the occupational standard. The NOC number refers
to the group in the National Occupational Classification to which the
standard relates.
Introduction
The Introduction is designed to provide readers with a quick overview
of the occupational group and its most important essential skills. The
Introduction begins with a description of the occupational group covered
by the Profile. This description is taken from the lead statement of the
NOC group or groups to which the Profile relates. Each Profile provides
information on all the essential skills and how they are used within that
occupational group. However, these skills are not all of equal importance
within an occupational group. Therefore, all Profile Introductions have
a statement identifying the most important essential skills for that occupational
group. The purpose of this section is to introduce the reader immediately
to those essential skills that are the most important, i.e., the most
defining for the Profile.
Complexity Rating
Many essential skills have been given two types of ratings for complexity
- the range of complexity of typical tasks for the occupation, and the
range of complexity of the most complex tasks for the occupation. A task,
which is “typical”, occurs frequently in the job or occurs
less frequently, but nevertheless is required by virtually all incumbents.
A task considered “most complex” has been identified as such
by the workers interviewed. Factors affecting whether a worker identified
a task as “most complex” include the difficulty of the task,
how frequently the task is performed, and the worker’s familiarity
with the task. It is possible for a task to be both typical and complex,
i.e., the task may be normally (typically) associated with the occupation
and yet complex because of its nature. Complexity ratings for both “typical”
and “most complex” tasks are usually given as ranges.
The rating given for the most complex tasks is a range because not all
jobs in an occupational group require the same level of complexity. For
example, the profile might indicate that the most complex tasks range
from Complexity Levels 2 to 4. This indicates that all jobs in the occupational
group were found to involve tasks at Complexity Level 2 and some jobs,
but not necessarily all, involve tasks at Level 4. Both pieces of information
are useful. While trainers might set Level 4 as a target for training,
individuals with Level 2 skills could adequately perform some jobs in
the occupational group. |