National Occupational Standards

We develop NOS by looking at a job to see what activities are carried out, including:

• technical functions specific to the occupation
• transferable functions such as communication and managing your workload.

We then put this information into an Occupational and Functional Map.

These maps list the jobs and skills for each industry. We then identify 'what you must be able to do' and 'what you must know and understand' for each skill. We then pull these together to make a complete NOS. To make sure NOS are correct, we review them every few years.

To make sure NOS are the highest quality they can be, we follow quality control procedures.

Find out exactly how we write and develop NOS.

You can use NOS in a number of ways. They are particularly useful for managing your workforce and they are also used by awarding organisations to form the basis of qualifications in your industry.

You can use NOS to:

• define the job roles of your staff
• write and review job descriptions
• measure your staff skills
• identify training and development needs
• design and develop training programmes and training materials
• measure how effective your training is
• develop your industry’s qualifications
• Plus much more

NOS are important for businesses large and small. Using them can help:

• describe the skills you need in your workforce
• discover the skills of your current employees
• identify skills gaps and shortages
• develop training and recruitment plans
• recruit staff with the skills you need
• improve your business processes.

This will not only help enhance your business but will make sure we have a professional and competitive industry.

What’s more, by getting involved with developing and reviewing NOS, you can help make sure they best describe the skills, knowledge and understanding needed by your industry.