1. 1 Current step Occupational descriptions
  2. 2 Index of titles
  3. 3 Practice quiz III
  4. 4 Step three - Complete

Occupational descriptions Return to menu

Whether you are an economist analyzing labour market data for a specific occupation or an employment counsellor helping someone determine what type of training to take, occupational descriptions help us understand an occupation using a standardized language.

Occupational descriptions have been developed for each of the 516 unit groups included in the NOC. Each description includes the following elements:

Lead statement

This section provides a general description of the content and boundaries of a unit group and indicates the main activities of occupations within the unit group. It also indicates the kinds of industries or establishments in which the occupations are found. The list of places of employment is not always exhaustive, but can assist in clarifying the occupations described and in differentiating them from occupations found in other groups.

Example titles

Example titles are the job titles commonly found within a group. The titles are intended to illustrate the contents and range of the occupational group. This list is an extraction of a more expansive listing of alphabetical job titles found in the NOC index of titles.

Inclusions

This section provides a list of borderline job titles belonging to a particular NOC unit group. Inclusions are examples of job titles, that are not easy to classify, even after reading both the unit group label and its description.

Main duties

The main duties section describes the most significant duties of the occupations in the group. It may include:

Employment requirements

Employment requirements are prerequisites generally needed to enter an occupation. Several types of requirements are listed:

While some occupations have very specific employment requirements, others have a wide range of acceptable requirements. The following terminology is used to indicate the level of the requirement:

Qualities related to personal suitability that may have an impact on employability are not described in the classification. These factors are subjective and determined by employers and assessed during the hiring process.

Note: Some occupations are designated as regulated professions and trades. Regulations are subject to change and may vary across jurisdictions. The most reliable information on regulatory requirements for occupations is found on provincial regulatory organizations and licensing authorities’ websites.

Additional information

Some descriptions include additional information to give details on:

Exclusions

The exclusions section helps to clarify the boundaries of a unit group by identifying similar groups or related occupations, such as supervisory groups, that are separately classified.

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