Analyse the work before choosing a hiring assessment
Produce a locally reviewed role record from actual work evidence.
- Preparation
- Two focused sessions plus qualified review
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Task
- Define a role from real work
Before you start
Get what you need before you start
- Confirm the organisation has approved the role need and named a qualified local HR reviewer.
- Gather recent examples of the work, outcomes, constraints, and collaborators without copying unnecessary personal data.
Steps
Work through the method
Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.
Inventory the actual work
List recurring tasks, expected outcomes, work context, decisions, collaborators, and current founder burden from source records.
Why it matters: The role starts from evidence of work rather than a familiar title or preferred profile.
- Input
- Approved recent work records and founder notes.
- Output
- A source-linked work inventory with unnecessary personal details removed.
Tools in this stepOPM Selection GuidesEvidence for this step
Kit Hickey describes hiring and managing a high-performing team as challenges she and founder classmates faced, then describes teaching those People dilemmas as a named MIT EIR.
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship: Article paragraphs beginning “Hickey left Ministry of Supply” and “How do you hire the right people?”, accessed 26 September 2026OPM guidance identifies job tasks and responsibilities, critical competencies, competencies required on entry, and links between critical tasks and competencies.
US Office of Personnel Management: PDF page 7, “Conduct a Job Analysis”, bullet list beginning “A thorough job analysis will identify”, accessed 26 September 2026ICO guidance states that personal data must have a lawful and transparent purpose, remain limited and accurate, follow a justified retention period, and receive appropriate security.
UK Information Commissioner's Office: “At a glance” and “What are the principles?”; updated 23 March 2026 and marked under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act, accessed 26 September 2026
Define entry evidence and boundaries
Translate the inventory into outcomes, essential entry competencies, decision boundaries, exclusions, and observable early evidence.
Why it matters: Candidates and interviewers need one explicit basis for relevant assessment.
- Input
- The checked work inventory.
- Output
- A draft role record with job-related entry evidence and boundaries.
Tools in this stepOPM Selection GuidesEvidence for this step
OPM guidance identifies job tasks and responsibilities, critical competencies, competencies required on entry, and links between critical tasks and competencies.
US Office of Personnel Management: PDF page 7, “Conduct a Job Analysis”, bullet list beginning “A thorough job analysis will identify”, accessed 26 September 2026
Get qualified local review
Ask the HR reviewer to check jurisdiction, accessibility, fairness, data fields, and the link between each requirement and actual work.
Why it matters: Official US federal guidance cannot set another organisation’s lawful role or selection process.
- Input
- The draft role record and source links.
- Output
- An approved version, recorded changes, or a stop decision.
Tools in this stepOPM Selection GuidesEvidence for this step
OPM guidance identifies job tasks and responsibilities, critical competencies, competencies required on entry, and links between critical tasks and competencies.
US Office of Personnel Management: PDF page 7, “Conduct a Job Analysis”, bullet list beginning “A thorough job analysis will identify”, accessed 26 September 2026ICO recruitment guidance addresses personal information used during recruitment, including defined purposes, necessary data, access, retention, and candidate rights.
UK Information Commissioner's Office: “Data protection and recruitment”, “Automated decision-making and profiling”, and “Keeping recruitment records”, guidance under review, accessed 26 September 2026
Success checks
Check the result before you finish
- Every essential requirement links to actual work and entry evidence.
- The record names boundaries, exclusions, reviewer, jurisdiction, and approval date.
Failure modes
Watch for these problems
- Stop if requirements rely on personal resemblance, culture fit, inferred traits, or unsupported future-performance claims.
- Return to Strategy if the role need or timing remains undecided.
Tools
Choose the tools you need
Tool
OPM Selection Guides
Official job-analysis and structured-interview methods for defining work and comparable assessment evidence.
Check fit, limits and pricingSources
Read the sources behind this practice
Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.
- Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship: The Entrepreneur's Journey: Kit HickeyFirst-hand founder and named EIR account · Publication date unavailable
- US Office of Personnel Management: Job AnalysisOfficial government selection guidance · Publication date unavailable
- US Office of Personnel Management: The Guide to Better Occupational QuestionnairesOfficial government selection guide · Publication date unavailable
- US Office of Personnel Management: Structured InterviewsOfficial government selection guidance · Publication date unavailable
- UK Information Commissioner's Office: Recruitment and selectionOfficial UK data-protection guidance under review · Publication date unavailable
- UK Information Commissioner's Office: A guide to the data protection principlesCurrent official UK data-protection guidance under review · Published 23 March 2026