Overview
Experience represents the number of years spent employing one's capabilities toward a specific goals or activities.
Experience means work experience, either in a specific job, or within an industry.
Industry experience means years of experience within a particular industry of field. Specific experience means years of experience performing the activities related to a particular job.
Examples
A person that engages in purchasing may benefit from broad experience, while an installer benefits more from specific experience.
Overview
Qualifications are documented accomplishments that may prove minimum candidacy for a particular job.
Qualifications may help provide a standard from which individuals may be assessed.
In order to maintain flexibility in hiring, care should be taken not to specify too many qualifications. In some cases, an otherwise perfect candidate may be disqualified (literally) because an unnecessary qualification has been specified.
Examples
Education and degrees, training and certification, "required reading" or other professional development.
Overview
Responsibility is what an individual actually does, regardless of what he or she may be capable of.
We measure responsibility, in one or more general categories that provide a measure of the responsibility assumed by an individual.
Responsibility is often equated with "work ethic", but is actually a more distinct specification of working to a particular degree of capability.
Examples
Autonomy or latitude determines to what degree an individual conducts his or her work life without the need for direct supervision.
Complexity measures the overall intricacy of work performed.
Overview
A Role is a right or authority granted to a person (or group). As a criterion for assessment, a Role is what a person fills (or should fill) as part of his or her job.
Roles may come from business functions or processes specific to
A Role may also represent intangibles or soft skills where an individual may contribute to the organization in a manner that is not normally recognized by other systems of assessment. These represent critical team dynamics and reward people for their own unique contribution.
Examples
The Service Desk Owner is a Role that is accountable for the operation of the Service Desk.
A Request Fulfillment Practitioner is a Role that is responsible for processing user requests.
Overview
Skill is what an individual is capable of doing, regardless of responsibility, qualifications, etc.
Skill (or skills) are measured in general terms. (See Specific Knowledge for more skill with a particular focus.)
These represent the overall skill set needed to successfully perform a job.
Examples
Project Management is a general skill for the successful definition, monitoring and completion of a project.
Incident Management is a general skill for handling incidents.
Overview
A duty is a specific responsibility not covered by a role. This represents a particular activity a person is (or should be) performing.
Specific duties cover those activities that are assumed to be performed within the scope of generic responsibility categories.
In this way, an additional dimension is provided (if needed) to assess an individual on the performance of expected activities.
Examples
In IT, examples might include "Manage Our Entire Network" or "Support Our Exchange Server".
In an accounting firm, this might be "Manage 10 Business Clients".
Overview
The know-how to perform a specific task, use a specific technology, or otherwise apply specific expertise.
Specific knowledge covers the particular skill (or skills) required to successfully perform activities related to more generic skills.
In this way, an additional dimension is provided (if needed) to assess an individual on the performance of expected activities.
Examples
In IT, this might include Windows or Linux for a Systems Administrator. A programmer might need to know .NET or Python.
The general skill might be "Application Development" while the specific knowledge pertains to a programming language.
In accounting, this might be knowledge of a particular jurisdiction's tax code.
Overview
Tenure includes years with the organization or years in a specific job within the organization.
Tenure is like "experience with the organization" as opposed to experience with a job or industry.
This may or may not be valuable to the organization. For example, a startup that is likely to be shut down or acquired may find little value in using Tenure for assessments.
Another organization struggling with employee churn may implement Tenure to encourage longevity and improve retention.
Examples
A person has been with the organization for 20 years (general), but has been in his or her current position for the last 5 years (specific).