Classifying and coding a job to an occupation

Classifying a job to an occupation entails six steps:

Skill Level and Skill Specialisation are discussed separately.

• Skill level and skill specialisation determine the major group
• The relationship between skill level and major group is shown in the table below:

• Skill specialisation determines the appropriate sub-major group within the selected major group
• More detail about the skill specialisation may be needed
• When the possible sub-major groups have different skill levels, the skill level helps determine the sub-major group.

• Skill specialisation determines the appropriate minor group within the selected sub-major group
• More detail about the skill specialisation may be needed
• When the possible minor groups have different skill levels, the skill level helps determine the minor group.

• Skill specialisation determines the appropriate unit group within the selected minor group
• More detail about the skill specialisation may be needed
• When the possible unit groups have different skill levels, the skill level helps determine the unit group.
   

• Skill specialisation determines the appropriate occupation within the selected unit group
• More detail about the skill specialisation may be needed
• When the possible occupations have different skill levels, the skill level helps determine the occupation.

In some cases, the skill specialisation of a job may align to several different groups. Where this happens, classify the job according to the skill specialisation requiring the most time.

For example, a skill level 1 job with skill specialisation ‘engineering leadership/strategic management’ could be classified to either Major Group 1 Managers (‘leadership/strategic management’) or Major Group 2 Professionals (‘engineering’). The job should be classified to Major Group 2 Professionals if more time is spent undertaking the ‘engineering’ skill specialisation.

A job as a Farm Manager on a cotton farm with overall responsibility for managing budgets, production and hiring farm workers and requiring 10 years agricultural experience.

• Step 1. The skill level is 1. The skill specialisation is ‘farm management’.
• Step 2. Must be classified to either Major Group 1 or 2 as there are no skill level 1 occupations in the remaining six major groups. Is classified to Major Group 1 based on the skill specialisation ‘leadership/strategic management’.
• Step 3. Is classified to Sub-major Group 15 Farmers and Farm Managers base on the skill specialisation ‘farm management’. It cannot be classified to any other sub-major group within Major Group 1.
• Step 4. Is classified to Minor Group 151 Broadacre, Horticultural and Mixed Production Farmers based on the skill specialisation ‘crop farming’ as cotton is a crop. It cannot be classified to any other minor group within Sub-major Group 15.
• Step 5. Is classified to Unit Group 1511 Broadacre Crop Growers based on the skill specialisation ‘cotton farming’ as cotton is a broadacre crop. It cannot be classified to any other unit group within Minor Group 151.
• Step 6. Is classified to Occupation 151131 Cotton Grower. It cannot be classified to any other occupation within Unit Group 1511.

A job as a Structural Engineer requiring a minimum of a bachelor degree, involving the structural elements of civil engineering projects.

• Step 1. The skill level is 1. The skill specialisation is ‘structural engineering’.
• Step 2. Must be classified to either Major Group 1 or 2 as there are no skill level 1 occupations in the remaining six major groups. Is classified to Major Group 2 based on the skill specialisation ‘engineering’ and not having a leadership/strategic management requirement.
• Step 3. Is classified to Sub-major Group 24 Design, Engineering and Science Professionals based on the skill specialisation ‘engineering’. It cannot be classified to any other sub-major group within Major Group 2.
• Step 4. Is classified to Minor Group 243 Engineering Professionals based on the skill specialisation ‘engineering’. It cannot be classified to any other minor group within Sub-major Group 24.
• Step 5. Is classified to Unit Group 2432 Civil Engineering Professionals based on the skill specialisation ‘structural engineering’. It cannot be classified to any other unit group within Minor Group 243.
• Step 6. Is classified to Occupation 243234 Structural Engineer. It cannot be classified to any other occupation within Unit Group 2432.

A job as a Sports Massage Therapist requiring a diploma qualification providing remedial massage to clients of a sports medicine practice.

• Step 1. The skill level is 2. The skill specialisation is broadly ‘health’.
• Step 2. The job must be classified to Major Groups 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6 as there are no skill level 2 occupations in the remaining major groups. Must be classified to Major Group 3 or 4 as there are no skill level 2 occupations with skill specialisation ‘health’ in Major Groups 1, 5 or 6. Is classified to Major Group 4 Community and Personal Service Workers as the skill specialisation relates to providing direct health care to patients.
• Step 3. The job is classified to Sub-major Group 44 Health Support Workers and Assistants as the skill specialisation relates to ‘providing direct health care to patients’. It cannot be classified to any other sub-major group within Major Group 4.
• Step 4. The job is classified to Minor Group 441 Health Support Workers as the skill specialisation relates to ‘providing direct health care to patients’. It cannot be classified to Minor Group 442 Patient and Health Care Assistants as this minor group does not contain any skill level 2 occupations. It also cannot be classified to any other minor group within Sub-major Group 44.
• Step 5. The job is classified to Unit Group 4412 Massage Therapists and Myotherapists as the skill specialisation relates to ‘providing massage therapy’. It cannot be classified to any other unit group within Minor Group 441.
• Step 6. The job is classified to Occupation 441233 Remedial Massage Therapist as the skill specialisation ‘providing remedial massage therapy’. It cannot be classified to any other occupation within Unit Group 4412.

Coding is a process to directly assign a 6-digit identifier to the information provided (often free text descriptions) without having to progress through the 6 steps needed for classifying a job. The information used is job titles and, preferably, the main tasks of the job as per the Occupation Standard. Ideally, information on the industry of the employer and the goods and services the employer produces is available.

Coding is an expedient method for implementing OSCA. It does not need an in-depth knowledge of OSCA, the labour market or jobs. Coding typically relies on an algorithm and/or tools. It approximates the process of classifying a job to an occupation. It is usually the most efficient way to assign an occupation to each record in a large dataset. Coding may assign supplementary identifiers to records which do not contain sufficient information.

The hierarchical structure of OSCA means the unit group, minor group, sub-major group, and major group levels are determined once a job is coded to an occupation.