APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO WORK

DESIGNING A PORTFOLIO

PART 1 Introduction and Defining Competencies in a Role

INTRODUCTION
This document was created to guide you through the assessment task of creating a job specific
portfolio. There are 4 parts to the task
PART 1: Defining the KSAOs of a role
PART 2: Identifying individual differences
PART 3: Preparing a resume
PART 4: Designing interview questions

At various points throughout the guide you will see two icons:

This means that you must complete the exercise in order to move forward in the task

This means that as well as completing the exercise you should submit it for your
portfolio assessment.

In essence there are four things you will be required to submit:

1. An analysis of a job advertisement
2. Analysis of your strengths
3. A resume
4. A set of interview questions with your best STAR responses

PART 1 Clarifying key competencies

PART A: Identifying a job that you would like to apply for.
Your first task is to identify a job that interests you from an advertisement in a newspaper or a job
portal (e.g. Seek, CareerOne, Byron Employment). Can you identify the KSAOs required for the role?
You will recall from the lectures that KSAOs are Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other qualities that
are often referred to as competencies. To analyse the job advertisement it might also help to answer
the following questions:

Our seven job advertisement interrogation questions

1. What dont you understand about the job ad?
There are a number of elements that are not completely clear in this advertisement. Firstly, the
exact tasks or undertakings that will be performed in this role have not been outlined. Secondly, as it
is primarily a graduate/junior position, it is unclear as to what type of training will be provided when
starting the job. It is also unclear as to the exact degree/presumed knowledge that will be expected
on the job. I also do not understand what type of operational change/systems development the
company is looking to achieve, however I assume this information will be provided if I was given the
role. Finally, it is not made clear what exact material needs to be provided to the HR Manager (i.e.
resume and cover letter and academic transcript)

2. What type of industry/company it? Whats happening in the company or industry? Is it

restructuring or expanding? Does it operate with low overheads and high profit margins?
The company is an Investment Bank. Banking is a relatively stable industry, with ongoing
requirements from other companies/individuals to call upon the skills/information that banks can
provide. With increased mergers and acquisitions amongst companies, it would be safe to say that
the industry is expanding, particularly into new fields of banking/finance that have not been
explored before. This is also true with an increased number of companies becoming listed on the
stock exchange (which involves the use of an investment bank to float the company). The banking
industry is extremely profitable due to large projects being undertaken and high fees. However,
salaries and overheads can generally be high due to the large amount of time, resources and work
required to complete the job at an adequate level.

3. What is the main purpose of the role being offered?

The role requires an experienced Business Analyst to join their growing team based in the Sydney
CBD to work on IT systems solutions in order to support operations change across Australia and New
Zealand, amongst the Investment Banking field. The purpose would be to expand and make changes
to the company so as to benefit in the long run.

4. Why is this role important to the company? How will this role affect the companys bottom
line? How will success in the role be measured?
The role is important to the company as they are looking for operational change amongst their firm
and therefore require an individual with background knowledge relating to Banking to contribute
and help in achieving this change in the most effective way possible. The role is important as it
involves systems development and change within the company, which will affect all areas/divisions
and other employees.
Presumably, operational/systems development and change will not directly impact on the bottom
line, however the use of the systems and how effectively employees can use them will have a direct

affect on the profit and loss of the company. Operational change can also be very influential on the
way transactions or projects are carried out and therefore a positive change to this can impact on
the bottom line. As a result, this role can directly affect the way the business operates, particularly
the effectiveness of their systems, which ultimately affects the bottom line.
Success in this role is measured firstly according to the salary level offered by the company. Extra
benefits are also offered and could be granted accordingly if the employee understands and
effectively implements changes in operations project and systems development, which results in
increased success for the company. This can be measured with profits made by the company as well
as feedback given by other employees.

5. What types of skills does the company want? What other skills might be needed given the
jobs purpose?
Company Skills required:
Ability to extract, formulate and document business requirements, utilising different
methods
Excellent analytical and problem solving skills
Ability of own and proactively resolve issues through all phases of the program
Ability to work within both waterfall and iterative project lifecycle approaches
Ability to prioritise and schedule workload
Ability to organise own work and mange time effectively
Other skills required:
Critical Thinking using logic and reasoning to approach problems.
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Active Listening taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions and
not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Complex Problem Solving reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options
and implement solutions.
Judgment and Decision Making Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential
actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Computers and Electronics circuit boards and computer hardware and software (Microsoft
Word and Excel)
6. What types of personal qualities does the company want? What other skills might be
needed given the jobs purpose?
Company qualities required:
Ability to work under pressure
Ability to effectively gather information
Making decisions and solving problems correctly
Organising, planning and prioritizing work
Effective communication- both written and oral
Other qualities required:
Team Work
Time management
Attention to detail
Establishing and maintaining relationships

Willingness to help and learn from others

Determined, motivated and hard working
Constantly seeking more and updating your own knowledge

7. What types of knowledge/training does the company want? What other knowledge or
training might be needed, given the jobs purpose?
Company knowledge required:
Experience within the banking or financial services industry, preferably within an investment
banking environment
Understanding of process methodologies with operations project and systems development
lifecycle experience.
Other Knowledge required:
Economics and Accounting economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial
markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
English language
Mathematics- calculus, statistics and their applications
Administration and Management principles involved in strategic planning, resource
allocation, human resources.
Law and Government laws, legal codes, government agency rules
Customer and Personal Service providing customer and personal services, meeting quality
standards for services and communicating effectively

You might also like to read Chapters 4 and 5 in Resumes that get shortlisted for a fuller
understanding of this topic.

PART B: Analysing the job advertisement

The role is: Financial Business Analyst (Investment Banking) at Bluefin Resources Pty Ltd.
It was advertised (when and where): Seek, 2nd March 2011
Now list below the KSAOs required for the role:
Knowledge
Economics and Accounting
economic and accounting principles
and practices, the financial markets,
banking and the analysis and reporting
of financial data.
Understanding of process
methodologies with operations project
and systems development lifecycle
experience
English Language
Mathematics calculus, statistics,
and their applications.
Law and Government laws, legal
codes, government agency rules
Administration and Management
principles involved in strategic
planning, resource allocation, human
resources.
Customer and Personal Service
providing customer and personal
services, meeting quality standards for
services

Abilities

Skills
Critical Thinking using logic and
reasoning to approach problems.

Active Listening taking time to

understand the points being made,
asking questions and not interrupting at
inappropriate times.
Complex Analytical/Problem Solving
reviewing related information to
develop and evaluate options and
implement solutions.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and
benefits of potential actions to choose
the most appropriate one.
Computers and Electronics circuit
boards and computer hardware and
software (Microsoft Word and Excel)
Ability to extract, formulate and
document business requirements,
utilising different methods
Ability to work within both waterfall and
iterative project lifecycle approaches

Other qualities
Oral Expression
Written Expression
Deductive Reasoning The ability to
apply general rules to specific
problems to produce answers that make
sense.
Speech Clarity The ability to speak
clearly so others can understand you.
Numerical abilities

Analyzing Data or Information

Ability to work under pressure
Team Work
Gathering Information
Time management
Attention to detail
Making decisions and solving
problems
Organising, planning and prioritizing
work
Establishing and maintaining
relationships
Updating and using relevant knowledge

Now go back and identify the top 6 KSAOs that the job is likely to require. In reality you cannot
address everything in your resume and its important to tailor a response for each job you apply for.
HINT: If you still having trouble identifying KSAOs for the role then go to www.myfuture.edu.au or
http://online.onetcenter.org/find/ and find similar roles. The detailed job descriptions will provide
some insight into what other job incumbents and subject matter experts have identified as key to
performance in the roles.

Now make sure you have saved the section above (beginning with the
SUBMIT button) into a document that will need to be submitted as part of your
portfolio assessment.

If you have completed this section you are now ready for Part 2.