Trends in Knowledge and Skill Expectations for New Human Factors Professionals

Abstract

This study was a replicate of two prior studies on the knowledge and skill expectations for new human factors/ergonomics professionals in the current labor market. Five and four years have passed since new HF/E professionals and their employers were last surveyed. In the rapidly changing work domains it is important to track the changing expectations to detect trends and to continually revise academic curricula to better provide future HF/E professionals education that meets them. Both new professionals and their employers were surveyed for this study. The results are compared with the past surveys. In addition, the relevance of the new core competencies of the Board of Certification for Professional Ergonomics were examined against the workplace expectations.