Minimum Qualifications:
What do they mean?
Rod Freudenberg, Ph.D.
Director, Classified Human Resources
What we’ll discuss…
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What is a minimum qualification?
What purposes do they serve?
What standards do they need to meet?
Working with SMEs – What do we bring to the
discussion?
What does “Education” represent?
What does “Experience” represent?
Experience “Terms of Art”
Substitution
Other considerations
Special Requirements.
What are they?
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AKA: Minimum Requirements, Entry Qualifications, Pre Reqs, Basic
Reqs. Etc.
Can be anything:
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Education
Experience
License, certification, membership
Completion of training/internship
Skill (typing speed)
Language
Age
Physical Ability (e.g., lifting)
Perceptual Ability (vision, hearing, etc.)
Physical characteristics (e.g., height, weight)
Universal in employment, education, certification, memberships,
sports etc.
What purpose do they serve?
Proxy for desired minimal competencies
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Reading, Writing, Math, Critical Thinking
Technical Knowledge
Opportunity to acquire and demonstrate necessary proficiencies
State an expected career path
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Rights of passage – pay your dues
Lower level work precedes higher level work
Enable candidates to self-select out or decide whether the job is right for them
Selection Efficiency
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Eliminate candidates who have a low likelihood of being able to perform the role or
tasks. (reduces hiring mistakes)
Eliminate candidates who lack the “foundation” or “readiness” to perform or learn to
perform the role or tasks. (save training time)
Eliminate candidates who can not be physically accommodated for the physical
environment, conditions, or equipment of the job.
The “Bill Gates Case” of Minimum Quals
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Basic Qualifications for Microsoft Software Build
Engineer
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Could Bill have gotten a job at Microsoft 25 years ago?
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(Bill dropped out of Harvard and had no paid experience
when he founded Microsoft)
Is this the case for no “minimums”?
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BA/BS degree in Computer Science
4 years in the software development field
Base “minimum” on the exception or outlier?
Are there “true” minimums?
No, any combination is possible, but there are practical minimums.
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True Positives
False Positives
False Negatives
True Negatives
Some general points
There is no exact “minimum”
 Tilting the balance between false negatives and
false positives is driven by:
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Candidate scarcity/abundance
• What the “market will bear”
• Labor market norms (survey employers)
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Criticality of the job
• Risk of false positives
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Potential adverse impact on underrepresented
groups
• Risk of false negatives
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Reliability and Validity
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MQs are first part of the selection process
MQ are considered a “test” under UGESP
Validity and Reliability are necessary considerations
Validity pertains to:
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Reliability pertains to:
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Job relatedness
Differentiates the better from lesser qualified
Consistency in interpretation
Consistency in application across candidates and across
evaluators
Predictive Validity Standing (meta analyses)
(Schmidt & Hunter, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 124; Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86)
ASSESSMENT TYPE:
Work Sample Test/Technical Simulations
.54
General Mental Ability Test
.51
Structured Employment Interview
.51
Accomplishment/Behavioral Consistency Questionnaire
.45
Personality/Integrity Test
.41
Unstructured Employment Interview
.38
Assessment Center/Behavioral Simulations
.37
Biodata Measures – empirically keyed
.35
Situational Judgment Test
.34
References/Secondary Source Ratings
.26
T&E – Point Method (years experience, schooling, etc.)
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Validity Coef.
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First Major Legal Challenge to MQs
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Griggs vs. Duke Power
• Prior to 1964 CRA, history of Black segregation in
Labor Dept (dept having lowest skill, lowest pay)
• Post CRA, required HS Diploma (or mental ability
testing) for hiring and promotion into other jobs
• Adverse Impact established for requirement
(proportionately fewer Blacks meeting the requirement)
• US Supreme Court in 1971 ruled that businesses must
demonstrate requirements are "reasonably related" to
the job when adverse impact is established.
• Subsequent cases focused on “testing” rather than
minimum requirements… (Why?)
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Recent Legal Development
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Tucker Vs. Grossmont (Merit System Case)
• Manager (Tucker) was laid off, was met the MQs for a
lower position never held, position was filled by an
outside candidate from an eligibility list
• California State Supreme Court ruled that a laid off
employee has preferential rights to a lower level
vacant position over an outside candidate provided
that the employee meets the qualifications for the
vacancy.
• Court did not state what “qualified” means
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Attorneys have advised reviewing, clarifying, and
explicating minimum qualifications
SIOP Principles (4th Edition)
(Don’t deal with MQs directly but…)
“Professional judgment is necessary in setting any
cutoff score and typically is based on a rationale that
may include such factors as estimated cost benefit ratio,
number of vacancies and selection ratio, expectancy of
success versus failure, the consequences of failure on
the job, performance and diversity goals of the
organization, or judgments as to the knowledge, skill,
ability, or other characteristics required by the work.”
“When cutoff scores are used as a basis for rejecting
applicants, the researcher should document their
rationale or justification.”
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The Law: Education Code 45276
In approving minimum educational and work experience
requirements for classified positions, the commission
shall insure that such requirements reasonably relate to
the duties of the position, as established by the
governing board, and that they will admit an adequate
field of competition. No requirement may be approved
which unduly or unreasonably restricts the field of
competition.
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We have to be “reasonable” or have a “rationale”
(SIOP)
So how do we do this?
But how does the discussion go?
Analyst: “What should be the minimum education
and experience?”
SME: “Oh, I don’t know… How about a
bachelors and four years of experience?”
Analyst: “Bachelors in what?”
SME: “Something related to computers.”
Analyst: “Any particular kind of experience?”
SME: “In the software development field.”
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The Mind of the Subject Matter Expert
Not necessarily thinking “minimum”…
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Probably hasn’t given this much thought before you asked
Use MQs to raise the performance standard
(“Performance sucks, we need to increase the minimum.”)
Self-referential (minimum is what I had)
Other-referential (what my best employee has)
Norm-driven (most who work here have a bachelor’s
degree)
Image-drive (all who work here should have a Master’s
degree)
How about “pooling” opinions of multiple SMEs?
“You can’t take the
average of ignorance
and get the truth.”
- Unknown source
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What can we bring to the discussion?
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1.
An interpretive framework
2.
Questions
3.
“Feel” for what is appropriate
Utility of a “Framework”
Provide common terminology to increase
consistency across analysts and within analysts
over ocassions.
 MQs as part of the organizational “system” for of
the classification structure
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• MQ consciously define and explicate promotional
paths
• MQ can help differentiate classes by level and type
• Supports compensation in point factor approaches
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Disclaimer
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This is the current LACOE framework
• An example
• No “officially recognized” or “generally accepted
professional principles or practices” here!
• None really exist
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But we need to open this discussion if we are
going to be “reasonable.”
So let’s talk…
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EDUCATION
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What is Education?
Provided by recognized educational institutions
 A formal, predetermined progression of the
acquisition of general and specialized
knowledge, skills, and abilities (curriculum)
 Provides evidence of the acquisition of an
organized structure of knowledge with relatively
few gaps (standards)
 Concentrations in specific subject areas provide
a broad foundation for assimilating related
content that may change, expand, or evolve over
time. - “lifelong learning”
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Why Require Minimum Education?
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Proxy for transferable skills:
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Reading, writing, math
Cognitive discipline
Broad and structured knowledge
Foundation for assimilating new knowledge
Experience alone maybe highly relevant
but…
• May be narrow in content and skills
• Contextual, procedural, and systems-specific
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Kinds of Education: General & Specific
1.
General Education
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Functionally Literate
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Literate
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Versatile skills, algebra and beyond
Complex, abstract, varied subject matter – multi-domain
Reports, analyses, representational material
Specific Subject Matter Expertise
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Adaptive skills, pre-algebraic math
Varied and changing content – open domain
General office/procedural material and correspondence
Super-Literate
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2.
Elementary skills, basic arithmetic
Stable and consistent subject matter – closed domain
Instructions, forms, labels, signs, diagrams etc.
Specialized course-work – upper division college
Education Benchmarks
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None Required
• Functional literacy requirements (literacy testing)
• Stable and consistent instructions, forms, labels, signs,
diagrams etc.
• Interpretive support/redundancy is available
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High School Diploma
• Face valid sign of basic literacy and numeracy skills
• Foundation for on-the-job learning changing job
content
• NCLB requirement for instructional assistants
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Education Benchmarks (cont’d)
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Two years of college
• Core courses in reading, writing, and math skills
(super-literacy)
• Subject matter may not be relevant (no major)
• Reference in “units” (60 semester or 90 quarter)
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Associate’s degree or specific courses
• Technical or business area
• Certifies entry-level preparation for an occupation
• A substitution of a given number of college credits
in specific subject matter may be used as an
“equivalency” (e.g., 15 semester credits in …)
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Education Benchmarks (cont’d)
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Three or more years of college with upper
division course work
• Bachelor’s degree may not be the labor market norm
• College-level subject matter knowledge is required
• Broad foundation is needed to keep pace with
changing job content
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Bachelor’s degree
• Entry-level readiness for a professional/managerial
career track
• Societally recognized right-of-passage to knowledgebased jobs of high responsibility and consequence
• Industry and labor market norm
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Education Benchmarks (cont’d)
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Graduate-level course work
• Specialized work requiring advanced technical
knowledge not provided through experience
• The foundation for keeping pace with technical
developments in a professional field
• The required courses should be specified in type and
number.
• Reflects admission into a graduate program - evidence
of strong academic foundation, academic discipline,
and a commitment to an occupational area.
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Master’s degree (MA, MS, MBA, MPA, etc.)
• Same as above, but is the occupational norm.
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Education Benchmarks (cont’d)
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Professional degree
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License, Certificate, or other Regulatory Credential
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M.D., PH.D., J.D., BSN, etc.
Associated with specific occupations
May require state licensure or certification
Medicine, nursing, and legal professions; trades,
contracting, and building inspection; civil engineering,
public safety and law enforcement, teaching, etc.
Sign Language Interpreter 4.0 RID testing standard
MIXING THE MESSAGE: Tag-a-long Phrases
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“Or a closely related field”
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“Related” to what? How “close” is close enough?
• Problems with consistency in application across candidates and
across occasions
• SMEs will need to assist in application screen
• Circumscribe with reference to the duties of the class
• “Bachelor’s degree in management, business administration, public
administration, or a field of study closely related to the duties and the
knowledge requirements of this classification.”
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“Preferred” or “Desired”
• Nod to SMEs. Value-added but not necessary? A differentiator of
better from lesser qualified?
• “Preferred over…” “Desired in addition to…”
• If preferred or desired, how will it be incorporated into the
selection process?
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“Exchange Rates”: Training for Education
1.
2.
College course work vs. Trade School
Certificates of Completion
Formal Education vs. Completion of training
courses and workshops
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What is the comparability of time and work
investment?
What is the level of rigor required?
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Does completion represent exposure or mastery?
Is it possible to not pass?
Education in a Promotional Series
Series: Clerical, Analytic, Administrative/Mgmt
 Set entry education level for the entire
promotional series to avoid:
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A structural barrier (higher education) to
advancement
 “Dead end” positions resulting for employees not
possessing the higher requirement,
 Internal promotional pool may be constricted
 Increased necessity for “open” recruitments for
higher positions in the series
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EXPERIENCE
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What Does Experience Represent?
An individual’s unique developmental acquisition
of general and specialized knowledge, enabling
competencies and organizational behavior
 Experience reflects the opportunity for a person
to apply knowledge, learn setting-specific
policies, procedures, regulations, and to develop
personal work habits and work style.
 Experience does not assure any of the above,
but without experience, development of workrelated competencies cannot be assumed.
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Dimensions
General vs. Specific
 How much?
 What kind?
 What level?
 In a Promotional Path
 Internal vs. External
 Paid vs. Unpaid
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Kinds of Experience
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General
• Indicative of the development of general, transferable work
competencies such as dependability, attention to detail,
interpersonal skills, and other kinds of adaptive organizational
behavior.
• An entry-level job may require only general experience at a
particular “level” (to be discussed later)
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Specific
• Indicative of the development and application of
professional/technical expertise.
• Advanced or promotional-level job would require a track record of
application of knowledge and opportunity to have accomplished a
significant body of work.
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How Much Experience?
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1.
What must be mastered by the end of an initial
probationary period? What then must be the
starting point?
2.
What is the duration at which learning diminishes
and experience increasingly becomes repetition?
Function of…
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Procedural complexity. Work involving complex
procedures will take longer to master and more
experience would be required.
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Job-specific skill proficiency learning curve. Work
involving the acquisition of complex knowledge and skills
will take longer to master and more experience would be
required. Time-to-proficiency should be estimated by
subject matter experts.
Function of…
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Task cycle time. Tasks having short cycle time
(completed in hours or days) can be mastered in shorter
periods than those with long cycle times (weeks or
months). Work involving long term projects may take
several years to establish a track-record of performance
and accomplishment.
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Task variety. Work involving a wide variety of tasks will
take longer to be exposed to all of the tasks and mastery
will required more experience
Function of…
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Business cycle. To be exposed to tasks that are part of a
business cycle, the following may apply:
• First year -- exposure and familiarity with the tasks;
• Second year – demonstrated ability to perform the tasks
independently;
• Third year – replication and mastery of performance
• Additional years – demonstrated navigation through change
(changing occupational content) and leadership potential.
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Change cycle. For management positions involving
managing through changes in technology, business, and
economic conditions the periodicity of change may be
relevant to minimum time to be exposed to a complete
change – stabilization – change cycle.
RULES OF THUMB
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One year of experience for entry-level jobs
• plus or minus one year depending upon labor market conditions
and recruitment necessity.
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Three years of experience for promotional positions or
non-entry professional classifications
• plus or minus one year depending upon labor market conditions
and recruitment necessity.
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Five years of experience for management level
positions
• plus or minus two years depending upon labor market conditions
and recruitment necessity.
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Ten years of experience for senior-level management
positions
• plus or minus five years depending upon labor market conditions
and recruitment necessity.
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“Terms of Art”
Context of Experience
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Line and program
• Continuous or cyclical in nature following a production/delivery process.
• Creation and delivery service or products to the outside customers of the
enterprise.
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Staff or functional
• Part of the organizational infrastructure of the enterprise and
• pertains to the delivery of service or products to internal customers of the
enterprise that are enabling to the line operations.
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Operational
• The physical infrastructure. Examples include: maintenance, plumbing,
electrical, moving and transportation.
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Systems
• The technology systems used by line, staff program and project
personnel.
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Project
• Line or staff depending upon the customer base,
• Have beginning, middle, and end phases whereas programs are
continuous.
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“Terms of Art”
Level of Experience
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Independent contributor
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Lead/directing
•
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Provides work direction and support to others, typically on daily
assignments which do not include supervisory duties such as
hiring, evaluating and managing performance, disciplinary
actions, approving leave.
Facilitation/facilitating
•
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Works independently or as a member of a team, having no
direct responsibility for the work of others.
A role of organizing, coordinating, and otherwise enabling
cross-functional group effectiveness while having no direct
supervisory authority or responsibility.
“Terms of Art”
Level of Experience (cont’d)
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Supervision/Supervisory
• Includes duties such as hiring, evaluating and managing
performance, disciplinary actions, approving leave, etc. Generally
does not have cost-center budget responsibility or policy making
responsibility.
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Coordinator/Coordinating
• An organizational role of planning and organizing programs,
projects, or events bringing disparate groups and services
together for specific purposes.
• Typically will not have direct supervisory responsibility for all
aspects of that which is coordinated.
• Typically does not have cost-center budget responsibility. Does
not formulate policy.
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“Terms of Art”
Level of Experience (Cont’d)
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Management/Managerial
• Responsible for a distinct organizational functional
area,
• Has cost-center budget responsibility,
• Typically involves supervising supervisors in a multilayered organization
• Department-wide policy development.
• May report to a director or senior manager
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“Terms of Art”
Level of Experience (Cont’d)
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Director/Senior Management
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Executive/Executive Management
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Responsible for a major subdivision of line operations or
agency-wide functional area
Has a budget that rolls-up across sub-unit budgets,
Typically involves managing managers with multifunctional span of control.
Division-wide policy formation.
The head of the total enterprise or someone who
reports directly to the principal executive of the total
enterprise
Has Director-level reports.
Enterprise-wide policy formation.
“Terms of Art”
Type of Experience
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Unskilled/manual
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Requires no specialized skill or knowledge.
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No pre-training is available or expected.

Work requirements are learned on-the-job.
Office Clerical
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Involves performing routine office tasks supporting the general
function of the office or managerial position.

Specialized office equipment or software may be involved but not
expected upon entry to the class.

Works within rules and procedures without interpreting or making
analytic or technical judgments.

Specialized Clerical work involves specific job content acquired
through training and experience such as HR Assistant or
Accounting Clerk.

Administrative Clerical work contains elements of office clerical and
administrative work as defined below.

Secretarial work is office clerical in nature, but organizationally
aligned to directly support a specific manager.
“Terms of Art”
Level/Type of Experience (cont’d)
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Administrative
 Involves coordinating or facilitating the delivery of the products or
services of the organization without directly providing the service
(which may be clerical, technical, trade, or professional)
 Performing office duties at a level of independence not expected of
clerical staff but not at a professional or managerial level of
responsibility for exercising judgment or discretion.
Trade
 Having a recognized formal trade progression from novice, journey,
master-levels in such fields as carpentry, plumbing, electricity,
welding, machining, building inspection, vehicle maintenance,
beautician, etc.
 Trades are externally defined and may require state licensing.
“Terms of Art”
Level/Type of Experience (cont’d)
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Technical
 Performs tasks that required substantial specialized training that can
be obtained through external trade/technical schools or junior
colleges.
 Similar to a trade but having a less structured certification/regulatory
requirements.
 Problem solving is typically in a closed system with deterministic
cause-effect relationships.
 Most problems can be solved through troubleshooting procedures.
Analytic
 Work involves handling novel problems, issues, or situations through
breaking them down into their elements and determining interrelationships, forming hypothesis, data collection and analysis,
differentiating, aggregating and classifying data on the basis of
common themes and characteristics, preparing reports of findings
and recommendations.
 Problem space is open and non-deterministic, and solutions are
probabilistic or based on a weighing of alternatives.
“Terms of Art”
Level/Type of Experience (cont’d)
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Consulting
 Work involves applying technical, analytic, or professional expertise
in a service/advisory capacity or in a specialized problem solving
capacity
 Typically without operational responsibility for the larger function.
Professional
 Work performed as a member of a recognized profession having an
external association, body of operational principles, membership
qualification standards, and code of ethics.
 Members of the profession perform duties that require interpretation,
and independent judgment in the application of professional
principles, practices, and regulations.
 A bachelor or advanced degree is granted in the occupational area.
Certification or licensing may be required to hold oneself out to the
public as an independent practicing professional.
Exchange Rates: Education for Experience
In general, additional years of education may be
considered a substitute for experience when
education is an alternative (or better) means for
acquiring professional/technical expertise.
 Year-for-year up to two years. Or Degree
substituting for up to two years.
 Experience should not substitute for required
education. Consider…

Lowering the education requirement
 Reevaluating the experience requirement and
possibly allow for education substitution.

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Experience in a Promotional Series
(Succession Planning)

Make it clear where experience in a “feeder”
class is qualifying for higher classifications

Link the “Definition” sections of the lower class
specifications to the “Experience Requirement”
sections of the higher classes
• Use the same “terms of art”
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Discontinuities in Career Path

Case: Transition from clerical to professional
• Employee completes obtains a relevant bachelor’s degree but can
not meet the experience requirement for the entry professional
class above the current clerical class

MQ Consideration:
• Allow additional education beyond the minimum to substitute for
required experience.
• Allow additional education beyond the minimum to be combined
with related but lower-level experience.

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Create a transitional classification that can provide the
necessary experience.
Utilize tuition re-imbursement incentives and cooperative relationships with local institutions of higher
education.
Other Experience Considerations

Paid vs. Unpaid (or self employed)
• Main difference is performance standards and formal evaluation
(What do you want the experience to mean?)

Internal vs. External
• Experience in named internal classifications may require lesser
amounts
• More is known about internal classifications
• Supports rapid advancement and retention of high performers

Recency
• Recency need not be an important consideration.
• May play be relevant in subsequent assessments of qualifications
(T&E, Oral Exam, etc.)
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Other Experience Considerations

“Progressively Responsible”
Vague and difficult to judge reliably.
 Instead, use specific descriptors of expected
progress in the occupational area such as:

• “four years of experience in (general job content area)
with two years of (specialized/technical duties or tasks)
or two years in a lead or supervisory capacity”

“Any combination…”
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Arguments for and against?
Special Requirements (to mention a few)
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“Valid California driver’s license and use of personal vehicle.” Use only if use of
public transportation or commuting by carpool, bicycle, or foot would put significant
limitations on the ability to perform the duties. Incidental use of a car or its
convenience in performing duties should not be considered.
“Proof of insurability”. Use for classifications that require driving agency vehicles for
which the driver must have a DMV record that enables them to be covered under the
agency policy.
Special certifications. These must be either required by law to perform the duties of
the job, or be clearly supported by the labor market and recruitment considerations, or
otherwise be stated as “preferred” or required within a given time span after hire (e.g.,
during probation period).
Lifting. These must be based upon a physical task analysis. Specific tasks, objects,
and assistive equipment or techniques must be explicitly considered and
documented. The lifting must be an essential job function with significant
consequences of failure (risks to property, self, or others). Lifting must be stated as
amount “without assistance.”
Other Physical Requirements. Such requirements include hearing and visual acuity
and use of other senses; hand steadiness, stamina and endurance, cardiovascular
fitness, flexibility, balance, adaptation to or tolerance of environmental conditions
(heat, cold, vibration, body fluids, odors, etc). These requirements must be essential
job functions with significant consequences of failure (risks to property self, or others).
WORKING WITH SMEs
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Timing is everything
DON’T SET THE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
BEFORE YOU COMPLETE A COMPETENCY
MODEL FOR THE JOB
First:
1. Know the job requirements
2. Know path of development
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Start with the Competencies
(Job Requirements)
• Professional/Technical Expertise
• Legal and Regulatory Navigation
• Industry Awareness
• Using Technology
• Writing Skills
• Critical Thinking and Analysis
• Negotiating
• Project Management
• Etc.
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1. RELATE COMPETENCIES TO MINIMUM
REQUIREMENTS

What level of each occupational competency is needed at
the time of hire? AND What level will be expected at the
completion of the probationary period?
• Each at-entry competency level should have an experience and
educational source

How learned/developed through formal education?
• What degrees or curriculum of courses provide the job content?

How learned/developed through experience?
• What type of experience best matches the content of this job?
• What is the business cycle associated with this experience? How
long is a cycle and how many cycles are necessary to have the
level of competency expected at-entry?
• How long does it take to have had opportunity to apply these
competencies enough to have developed entry-level
competency?
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2. INTERNAL ALIGNMENT

What are the internal feeder classifications for this
class?
•

For what higher classes will incumbents in this class be
considered or developed as part of the recruitment talent
pool?
•

MQs should be consistent with this expectation.
Are the education and experience levels (degrees or
years) of classifications at the same pay grade in the
same occupational category relevant for this class?
•
•
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MQs should not pose an unjustifiable barrier.
If not what is different?
If different, may affect evaluation points and salary allocation if
not compensated in other factors.
THANK YOU!
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