Understanding Job Competencies and Descriptions

Before you assign job competencies to jobs and business units, you must define job competencies and enter descriptions of them. You can enter detailed descriptions for job competencies that explain the criteria on which each competency is based. These descriptions simplify the process of differentiating between similar job competencies. You can create multiple competency descriptions for each job competency and customize each description to a specific audience.

For example, you might define these descriptions and audiences for the Negotiation Skills competency:

• Human Resources Administrator

  Those who possess negotiation skills are able to work with other parties to obtain mutually beneficial objectives. Negotiation requires assertiveness to achieve goals while being considerate of the other party.

• Managers

  Employees who have good negotiation skills show a willingness to work with others to obtain a desired objective.

• Employees

  When demonstrating negotiation skills, you remain focused on the desired result and recognize when the process is moving in an appropriate direction. You are able to appreciate the needs of others and assume that the negotiation will end in a decision that is agreeable to all of the parties involved.

To simplify the process of locating and comparing job competencies, you can use category codes to group descriptions for similar job competencies. For example, you might set up a category code called Technical that you use to group all job competencies that apply to the technical jobs within the organization.