Occupational Assesssor (eDOT / eDOT+) Background

ERI's Occupational Assessor®, also called eDOT or OA, is an easy-to-use program that provides information concerning 99 characteristics of work for over 18,000 unique jobs found in the US today. Professionals analyze jobs using OA under new US FLSA overtime rules and assist those who want to reenter the workplace with "lessened capacities." More in-depth usage is possible with disability determination analyses, available in the Consultant Edition (OA+). OA's online use contributes data to PAQ's eDOT Skills & Competency (SCO) Project cybernetic system of collecting physical, mental, and environmental demands found in the modern workplace, and it also contributes to ERI Salary Surveys online survey databases. PAQ, in turn, contributes data to ERI's Job Availability Survey, capturing job occurrences; this counting is complemented with the millions of individuals' job title counts gathered annually from loan and employment applicant earnings verifications, digitized public records including the US SEC, OCR of US IRS returns, ERI Salary Surveys' patented online surveys, including ERI's study of job board data (licensed from GuideStar, CareerBuilder, the IRS, etc.) The consequence is that ERI can report both the pay for jobs and the frequency of job's occurrence within a geographic area or industry.

ERI and PAQ data are unique. The US DOL, in abandoning its Dictionary of Occupational Titles, today reports on only 750 job families, with generalized information of interest mainly to those in career counseling for the healthy. The DOL and the SSA have turned their backs on disabled individuals who might brave, at best, a half-dozen job application rejections in their search for employment. The question is simple, "Within a 5-50 mile driving radius, what are the 20 organizations most likely in need of one's skills and physical/mental capabilities?" OA, assisted by the Internet, holds an answer that greatly increases the chances of job search success. Again, this Assessor is available in two versions – Professional (for US FLSA determinations, along with an archive 1991 DOT copy, and the described "best" job search for disabled individuals or those unexpectedly unemployed) and the Consultant (used in disability determinations by major disability carriers, the courts, and vocational experts).

Professional Edition Occupational Assessor (OA) is used to assist in job searches and in determining US FLSA overtime exemption status. Features include the following:

•	For a job search, identify an individual's capability and use the Job Search Module (complimentary in the demo version)

•	Identify education, achievements, skills, present residence, and any limitations on physical and mental capacities

•	Review the jobs found nationally or locally for which present capacities and past training might qualify

•	Review three estimations of the number of these jobs within one's area, region, or state

•	Generate ERI and PAQ's unique lists of employers within one's commuting radius, employers that have been pre-screened to most likely have the identified alternative positions within their staffing

•	Quickly review a digitized list of job board postings by matched employer, area, and/or industry to see if any of these employers might now have "the right job at the right time in the right place"

•	Ability to select any of over 18,000 position titles (for FLSA tests and job searches, an employer or resident address and industry will be required, as many states have their own unique overtime exempt, non-exempt provisions)

•	Review the 11 job analysis questions required by 8/23/2004's new Part 541 Regulations, with the eDOT average answer (SCO) captured to date by PAQ's eDOT SCO Project. Enter measures as required, enter comments to preserve rationale soon forgotten

Consultant Edition Occupational Assessor (OA+) & Survey is for use by major disability carriers (some with over 50 subscriptions) and vocational experts (an official IARP committee now studying). Features include the following:

•	All Professional Edition OA data and features

•	Identify an individual's past jobs/employers and change OA+ "average" job descriptions and measures as required (identifying the skills and capacities one once acquired)

•	Review the source data; use eDOT's new data and/or review the Archived 1991 Dictionary of Occupational Titles (if required, as some states and federal agencies still mandate DOT's use)

•	Review three methods of computing selected characteristics of occupations (all, with or without Internet visitor input; that is, limiting data to that from field analyses of subject matter experts only)

Since July 2004, PAQ Services, Inc. has managed and updated ERI Economic Research Institute's eDOT Skills & Competency (SCO) Project and software programs.