OPM to survey agencies on draft IT job profiles

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The Office of Personnel Management plans to survey agencies

next month to find out their opinions on proposed changes to information

technology job profiles.

The survey will be used to validate the IT job profile model that describes

specific qualifications such as strategic thinking and computer languages,

required by employees in the GS-334 computer specialist and GS-391 telecommunications

series of jobs. The new profiles are an effort to provide a clear picture

of what a job requires and how it will be measured.

The survey will ask agencies to rate the competencies in terms of how

important they are and how they relate to job tasks, said Ernie Paskey,

a research psychologist at OPM who spoke last week at the Trail Boss conference

here.

The survey is part of OPM's IT occupational study, which the agency

will use to provide more detailed job information that can be used for a

broad range of human resources functions, including recruitment and selection.

Meanwhile, the agency is conducting a pilot to test the competency-based

job profiles. It is also testing out new specialty titles, such as network

services and information security, which more accurately describe IT work

performed by the GS-334 computer specialist and GS-391 telecommunications

series of jobs.

Data from the IT occupational study in combination with the pilot evaluation

data will be used to revise and finalize the specialty titles and job profiles

for governmentwide use.