The first meeting describes the anticipated five-year direction of industries in the occupational areas represented by participants. STC members invite staff to conduct on-site visits at work sites. At the second STC meeting, employers review the lists of broad skills validated by IWG on-site participants. Later, IWG members meet at one of three regional gatherings. The purpose is to accumulate from these master workers' collective experiences those applications of knowledge and skills which can be identified as industry-wide standards.
Every effort is made to avoid practices which represent, solely, company-based standards.
At this point, staff mails a survey to an additional 120 employers within the industrial area. The third STC meeting provides the members an opportunity to review survey data. The members also review drafts of the essential skills and technical proficiencies. The STC ratifies the standards and recommends them for approval by the Workforce Proficiency Panel. Through a performance-based scenario assessment system, Certificates of Technical Achievement document an individual's application of essential skills and technical proficiencies.