Webinar Series

The Information Technology Workforce and Skills for the Future

September 15, 2021
NICE Framework Category: Operate and Maintain

Provides the support, administration, and 

maintenance necessary to ensure effective and 

efficient technology system performance and 

security.

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NICE Strategic Plan

Objective 4.1 Align the NICE Framework to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, 

NIST Privacy Framework, and other cybersecurity, privacy, and risk management 

publications

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Employer-Led National

IT Skill Standards

Ann Beheler, Project Lead/PI

NICE Webinar

September 15, 2021
ITSS 2020 and Beyond Project’s Purpose

• WIDEN the pipeline of qualified 

candidates for the many open 

IT/Cyber positions nationally

• CREATE a contemporary and 

future-facing set of comprehensive 

IT Skill Standards.

• ASSIST both employers and 

educators to more easily apply the 

standards. 

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• Business & Industry 

Leadership Team process is 

the basis for work with 

employers to identify what they 

want graduates to know 12-36 

month into the future

• Employers co-lead the work, 

not just advise

ITSS Engages Employers with 

BILT Model Created by the National Convergence

Technology Center www.connectedtech.org

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ITSS Thought Leaders Identified Critical Job Clusters 

Approximately 100 Thought Leaders were 

recruited and vetted to identify the first set of 

project Job Clusters

• Thought Leaders are typically CTO’s, CIO’s, CISO’s or other 

individuals responsible for “seeing the future” to keep their 

companies in business.

• Goal was to identify 8-10 of the most critical and difficult to fill job 

clusters for the future through four facilitated meetings

• Project team synthesized results

• Employer consensus was obtained for 7 job clusters initially

• A second set of Thought Leader meetings were held to identify 

remaining 2 to 3 clusters; several skill sets under consideration 

instead

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Job Cluster Definitions

• The thought leaders defined what each job cluster included

• Example: “Technical Project Management comprises the planning and management of a 

technical initiative from concept through to a concrete deliverable. This includes overall 

responsibility for outcomes and requires specific knowledge of technologies, applied 

methodologies and development models to ensure success in planning, managing budget, 

estimation and execution of the project. Additionally, this area is responsible for change 

management. The Technical Project Management serves as the liaison between the business 

and technical experts. This definition was adapted from Iasa Global with input from national IT 

Thought Leaders.”

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First 7 Job Clusters Identified

Skill standards completed

• Infrastructure Connectivity Administration and Engineering

• Technical Support

• Technical Project Management

• Software Development and Engineering (recently completed)

• Data Management and Engineering (the IT side of Data)

• Data Analytics and Predictive Modeling

Skill standards in process

• Cybersecurity (more details to follow)

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Employers SMEs Drove Job Cluster Meetings

• The Project Team compiled pro forma KSAs and Tasks for employer 

evaluation using a variety of existing skill standards (e.g. NICE and NIST, 

ACM, various state standards) – no reinvention of the wheel 

• Employer SMEs voted on the pro forma KSAs and Tasks they want 

workforce ready grads to do/have in the future using the structured, 

repeatable process from the BILT, followed by discussion

• Employer SMEs could add, change, and delete items during the 2-3 

meetings per job cluster that were held

• Employers identified the appropriate level of Employability Skills 

needed per job cluster

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Task, Knowledge, Skill 

and Ability

This is a snippet of a 

KSA and Task list the 

entire list contain a 

minimum of 100 items 

across all sections. 

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Employability Skills – 3 Possible levels 

Focuses on these 12 areas

• Workplace Professionalism & Work Ethics

• Written Communication

• Oral Communication

• Teamwork

• Problem Solving & Critical Thinking

• Organization & Planning

• Adaptability & Flexibility

• Initiative

• Accuracy

• Cultural Competence

• Self Development & Career Development

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After The Initial Job Cluster Meetings

• Project team synthesized data across meetings (votes + discussion)

• Follow-up meeting addressed 

• Employer SMEs verifying the synthesis done by the team and changing anything 

they did not approve

• Employer SMEs voting on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Tasks 

• Educator SMEs also developed Student Learning Outcomes after the second 

employer SME meetings

• ITSS worked with ~200 different business SMEs over first 6 job clusters

• Skill Standards Approved by Texas Skill Standards System for distribution 

throughout the state

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Components Of Each Job Cluster’s Skill Standards 

• Created by employers using the BILT processes

• Tasks + KSAs with numerical average of votes across SME meetings

• PDF and Excel formats

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Tasks

• Levels of Key Employability Skills

• Created by educators from the employer-determined KSAs

• Student Learning Outcomes to use in creating and updating curriculum

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How to Access The Skill Standards – No Login Needed

All job cluster results are posted on the ITSS 2020 website https://itskillstandards.org.

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Components Available Per Job Cluster

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Thought Leaders Reconvened to Determine 

Remaining 2-3 Job Clusters for Remaining Work

• Rather than focus on job clusters, Thought Leaders requested the team to switch 

focus to creating 3-5 skill sets to be layered onto previous clusters and possibly 

other disciplines. Areas under consideration are:

• AI,

• ML, 

• Blockchain, 

• 5G (likely integrated into infrastructure), 

• IoT, 

• IT Automation, 

• AR/VR

• After working with NICE, Cybersecurity job cluster work is being converted to 

a skill set instead of duplicating work

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Cybersecurity Skill Set 

• Focuses on more than awareness and less 

than enough knowledge and skills to obtain a 

job in cybersecurity

• Upcoming Employer SME meetings

• September 29, 2021 from 2-5 ET

• October 5, 2021 from 11-2 ET

• Contact Christina Titus to register ctitus@collin.edu

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Sustainability

Ongoing process 

• Piloting a crowd-sourcing 

approach to keep the job skills 

updated (Currently testing thru the 

ITSS 2020 website)

• Seeking industry financial support 

and leadership for continuing support

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Upcoming Professional Development

Using Skill Standards to Advance Your 

College IT Curriculum

• September 17, 2021

• 2 pm – 3 pm ET

• https://bit.ly/ITSSTraining

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Other Opportunities For Engagement

• Provide feedback on the Skill Standards already posted on ITSS website (http://www.itskillstandards.org)

• Apply to be an educator SME for upcoming skill sets that are within your expertise

• Apply to be an employer SME for upcoming skill sets that are within your expertise

• Learn more about how to use the Skill Standards to update curriculum

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How to Register to Provide Feedback – Requires Login

• Registration Page: https://connectedtech.org/register-login/

• Helpful videos

• Signing In and Commenting: https://youtu.be/lBFgl3nvdV8

• Comment and Registration: https://youtu.be/3CzrvUs4Ys4

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CONTACT US!

Ann Beheler –

abeheler@collin.edu

Christina Titus –

ctitus@collin.edu

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 

1700530 and 1838535. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in 

this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National 

Science Foundation. 

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Q & A 

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O*NET Overview

Occupational Information Network

Pam Frugoli

Senior Workforce Analyst

USDOL Employment and Training Administration

September 2021
Employment and Training Administration

▪ Mission

▪ Contribute to the more efficient functioning of the U.S. labor market by providing high-quality job 

training, employment, labor market information, and income maintenance services primarily through 

state and local workforce development systems.

▪ 8 Guiding Principles—one of which is:

We will strive to turn individuals into career entrepreneurs by:

▪ equipping them with the information they need

▪ to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities sought after

in the new economy.

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Workforce and Labor Market Information (WLMI)

▪ Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

▪ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)

▪ Also has distribution of occupational employment by industry

▪ Occupational Employment Projections

▪ Occupational Outlook Handbook

▪ Employment and Training Administration (ETA)

▪ Occupational Information Network (O*NET) – career exploration and research

▪ Specifically including Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

▪ CareerOneStop – information and services

▪ WorkforceGPS– technical assistance website for states and grantees

▪ Both BLS and ETA support development and dissemination of extensive state and local WLMI

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O*NET has multiple public-facing websites

▪ O*NET OnLine

▪ My Next Move

▪ My Next Move for 

Veterans

▪ Mi Proximo Paso

▪ O*NET Resource Center

▪ Downloadable data files

▪ Web services and APIs

▪ Open linked data

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O*NET SITE TRAFFIC

Standard annual O*NET combined website 

traffic: 

Combined Annual Visits > 60,000,000

Annual Web Service Calls > 800,000,000

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Concepts relating to the organization of work

▪ Occupation

▪ Is a category that groups together multiple jobs based on “work performed and, in some cases, on the skills, education and/or training needed to perform the work” 

▪ SOC Classification Principles and Coding Guidelines

▪ Job 

▪ Multiple jobs in any occupation category

▪ The same job title may mean different things when used by different employers

▪ Different job titles may mean the same thing when used by different employers

▪ Work Role

▪ A job or position may involve multiple work roles

▪ Functional work area

▪ Competency

▪ Tasks

▪ Knowledge

▪ Skills

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Occupational Information Network (O*NET) system

▪ Primary source for descriptive information on

occupational characteristics and requirements

▪ Covers the work conducted in the U.S. economy

▪ 923 occupations

▪ Based on 2018 Standard Occupational Classification 

taxonomy to align with other occupational data sources

from BLS and states on wages, employment, outlook

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What’s in O*NET?

Knowledge Interests

Skills Work Styles

Abilities Work Values

Tasks Tools & Technologies

Work Activities Related Occupations

Work Context

Supplemented with:

▪ Education, Training and Experience Required

▪ Wages 

▪ Employment Trends/Outlook

▪ Links to resources on job openings, credentials, education/training

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Both Stable and Dynamic Descriptors of Occupations

STABLE descriptors

▪ 33 Knowledge categories (broad)

▪ 35 Skill categories (broad)

▪ 53 Abilities categories

▪ 57 Work Context descriptors

▪ 20 Work Values

▪ 15 Work Styles

▪ 6 Career Interests (R-I-A-S-E-C)

DYNAMIC descriptors

▪ 31,079 Technology Skills

▪ 52,823 Alternate Titles

▪ 19,232 Tasks

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Comparison of O*NET and NICE content

O*NET NICE Cybersecurity Framework

923Occupations 52 Work Roles

19,566 Tasks 928 Tasks

33 Knowledge categories 614 Knowledge statements

35 Skill categories may be equivalent to 

Competency?

359 Skill statements

8,800+ Technology Skills

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O*NET Work Activities Hierarchy

▪ 40 Generalized Work Activities

▪ 332 Intermediate Work Activities

▪ 2,069 Detailed Work Activities

▪ 19,450 Tasks (specific to a single occupation)

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Search O*NET occupations by Career Cluster

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Partial results for Information Technology cluster

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Partial results for keyword search for “cybersecurity” 

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Technology Skills (updated quarterly)

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O*NET Data Collection

How current is it?

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Multi-Method Data Collection

▪ Job Incumbents—primary source

▪ Occupational Experts 

▪ Both of above complete O*NET survey questionnaires

▪ Occupational Analysts

▪ I/O Psychologists using survey responses and following standardized procedures

▪ Additional reference resources

▪Employer job postings, internet research, 

professional association/customer input—

(This latter input is independently validated/verified since it is not obtained through a statistically 

representative sample)

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How Current is the Data?

▪Ongoing data collection program

▪100+ occupations updated annually

▪Updated occupations prioritized on multiple factors:

▪ Size, growth rate, changes in technology or body of knowledge 

▪Quarterly database updates (Technology Skills and alternate titles)

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Technology Skills & Tools Employer Job Postings (2021)

Alternate Titles Multiple sources (2020)

Education Incumbent Questionnaire Responses (2018)

Knowledge Incumbent Questionnaire Responses (2018)

Tasks Incumbent Questionnaire Responses (2018)

Work Activities Incumbent Questionnaire Responses (2018)

Work Context Incumbent Questionnaire Responses (2018)

Work Styles Incumbent Questionnaire Responses (2018)

Sample of Reported Titles Analyst (2020)

Abilities Analyst (2018)

Job Zone Analyst (2018)

Skills Analyst (2018)

Detailed Work Activities Analyst (2014)

Interests Analyst (2008)

Work Values Analyst (2008)

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Competency Model Clearinghouse 

within CareerOneStop

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Information Technology and Cybersecurity 

Competency Models

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Cybersecurity, Automation, and Mechatronics models

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Q & A 

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Thank You for Joining Us!

Upcoming Webinar: “Digital Citizenship- Safety and Security for an Online World”

When: Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 2-3PM ET

Register: https://go.usa.gov/xMDwT

nist.gov/nice/webinars

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