Job Analysis
Job Analysis is the process of identifying the demands and requirements of a job. We need to know these to evaluate whether a consumer with functional limitations can meet the job's requirements. If not, what are the problematic tasks and elements required by the job? Can these be modified? Can a job accommodation be made, and if so ... how?
There is not One Approved Way to analyze jobs. An industrial psychologist interested in the most efficient way to layout a plant would perform job analyses somewhat differently than a rehabilitation counselor interested in determining if a consumer could perform a given job as it exists in the plant.
General hiring requirements and salary.
The major Tasks (job activities) the worker must accomplish.
(Note: Each of these begins with an action verb).
Major Elements within each Task (important components of each Task).
(Note: Each of these begins with an action verb).
Physical Demands the job requires workers to meet (e.g., strength, talking and hearing).
Working Conditions of the job (e.g., noise, moving machinery, exposure to heat or cold).
Tools, machines, equipment and materials the worker will use.
Specific Skills that are needed to perform the job (e.g., operating a piece of equipment).
Aptitudes required by the job (e.g., clerical perception, eye-hand-foot coordination).
Temperaments the job requires (e.g., working alone, meeting very precise standards).
Other jobs (positions) the analyzed job interacts with and how.
Any Unscheduled Demands that occasionally arise (e.g., doing maintenance on a machine).
Architectural Barriers to employment.
If there are Tasks or Elements within a job that the consumer cannot perform, the next question is whether an adaptive aid or some form of job modification would make employment possible. Sometimes a simple change (e.g., like making the the work surface accessible from a wheelchair) will bring the job within the capacities of the consumer. If there is a specific Task or Element within a job that the consumer cannot perform it may be possible to transfer this to another worker.
