O*Net (Occupational Information Network)

O*NET (Occupational Information Network) is a comprehensive database maintained by the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration that describes hundreds of occupational characteristics and worker attributes across nearly 1,000 occupations. It provides standardized, research-based information on tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, work context, and wages for virtually every major occupation in the US economy.

O*NET provides: tasks (specific duties performed), knowledge requirements (subject matter expertise needed), skills (developed capacities : reading comprehension, active listening, etc.), abilities (enduring attributes : verbal ability, spatial orientation, etc.), work activities (generalized behaviors : communicating with supervisors, processing information), work context (physical and social environment), work values, work styles (personality characteristics), wages, and job zone (preparation level required).

HR uses O*NET for: building job descriptions from standardized task and KSA data, developing structured interview questions from validated worker requirements, creating competency frameworks grounded in research, benchmarking jobs for compensation purposes, conducting workforce planning (identifying related occupations for internal mobility), informing job postings with accurate requirement language, and supporting ADA-compliant job analysis (documenting essential functions).

O*NET provides validated lists of knowledge, skills, and abilities for each occupation : offering HR a research-based starting point for defining what skills to assess in candidates. Rather than guessing what matters for a role, organizations can reference O*NET data and then customize it for their specific context. This creates a more defensible, job-relevant basis for selection criteria than role-specific job descriptions created without external validation.

O*NET Online (onetonline.org) is the free web portal providing access to the O*NET database. Users can search by occupation name, O*NET-SOC code, or skill/knowledge keyword. The site provides occupational profiles, crosswalk tools (mapping between O*NET codes and other classification systems), career exploration tools, and downloadable data files for organizational analysis. There is no cost to access O*NET : it is a US government public resource.

O*NET describes occupations in general terms across the US labor market : it reflects what is typical, not what is specific to a particular organization, industry, or business context. O*NET data should be customized: review the standardized lists and add organization-specific requirements, remove irrelevant items, weight items by importance for the specific role, and validate locally if the job differs significantly from the national description. O*NET provides a starting point, not a finished job analysis.