Faced with technological developments and changes in work organisation and firms' recruitment practices, there is an urgent need for access to up-to-the-minute references and descriptions of the (re)composition of occupations and skills.
The aim of the new ROME is operational in nature. In particular it seeks to:
- redefine the "occupational spaces" which translate the changes in the economic environment and which facilitate professional intervention;
- increase the proficiency of the dialogue developing between the various actors (ANPE, users, firms, etc.) concerning activity contents and the skills and abilities required to exert them;
- to determine with greater precision the skills acquired by employees through work experience, even the most intangible, in order to facilitate their valorisation;
- to facilitate the identification of individual and collective training needs in order to enable the (re)integration of those who do not hold the skills and qualifications required on the labour market;
- to widen the range of career pathways to which persons confronted with occupational mobility have access.
ROME consists of four linked elements.
5.2.1.1. Alphabetical index of occupational terms
The alphabetical index of occupational terms constitutes a "password" into the ROME nomenclature and into the dictionary of occupations and activities. The occupations/activities are listed according to their current and most common titles.
The index accords considerable space to new terms such as local development agent (agent de développement local), environmental engineer (ingénieur en environnement), thus reflecting occupational recomposition and the appearance of new functions and activities since the publication of the previous ROME.
Due to its alphabetical structure, the index facilitates the identification and recuperation of the title and the number of the relevant information sheet in ROME according to the occupational description formulated by the user.
In sum, without pretending to - an illusory - full coverage, the index brings together the vast majority of occupational titles currently existing in France (around 10,000).
5.2.1.2. The ROME nomenclature
The new nomenclature is based on a tree-diagram.
Its function is to identify, classify and process job offers and labour supply more efficiently. This procedure enables job offers and labour supply to be analysed more thoroughly, based on an approach which moves from the general to the specific.
Entries to the nomenclature are made by occupational categories:
22 occupational categories (CP)
corresponding to the first two digits of the ROME number
The occupational categories link social status with a distinct occupational area.
For example,
category 14 - distributive and sales personnel
category 53 - technical white-collar workers in industry
Collective activity is subordinate to individual activity.
For example, a secretary working in a hospital or in the public service is classified as a "secretary" in the category "administrative and commercial services personnel" (CP12), and not in the health or public service.
Each category is divided into a number of areas corresponding to the different fields of knowledge and technical know-how:
61 occupational areas (DOM)
The occupational areas allow trans-sectoral occupations, of which large numbers have arisen in recent years, to be identified and processed.
For example, the various occupations in the field of information-technology can be found in construction companies, engineering, firms, and insurance agencies.
The areas indicate
- the so-called "transversal" functions
for example: area 321 - administrative management staff
- the sector
for example: area 132 - restaurant personnel
- or the technologies used
for example: area 452 - system controlers in the metal sector
466 occupations/jobs (E/M)
corresponding to the two final digits of the ROME number
These are listed in the dictionary of occupations/jobs.
5.2.1.3. Figure page 10
5.2.1.4. The dictionary of occupations/jobs
The ROME Dictionary constitutes, together with the ROME Nomenclature, an exhaustive national reference guide to occupations and activities. For the ANPE it serves a triple function:
- it supports the qualitative analysis and the definition of the profiles of job offers placed with local employment agencies;
- it represents an operational and up-to-the-minute documentary source of occupational and job contents for placement staff and users;
- it reinforces a common language between ANPE and its partners to increase the effectiveness of its labour market interventions.
It presents, in two volumes, the 466 information sheets on occupations/jobs.
The occupation/job forms the basic unit of the nomenclature. It employs the concept of "aggregated jobs" (agrégation d'emploi), which identify areas of similarity between related occupations, in order to promote occupational mobility.
This wide-ranging approach enables occupations/jobs to be identified in a way which does not imprison individuals within strictly defined and closed spaces, which are largely incompatible with the way in which the labour market now operates and the way job contents are changing.
Example: Within one occupation or job, secretaries are grouped, irrespective of their specialisation, as "specialised office secretaries" (sécrétaire bureaucratique spéciale) - no. 12 131
Example: "home-helps" (no. 11 112 - l'intervenant à domicile) is a generic title covering family-support, household-aid, health-care activities, etc.
Example: "Information technician" ("l'informacien d'étude") groups together the jobs of programmers, analysts, application technicians, and development technicians.
The subdivisions take account of the diversity of working situations which the occupation/job in question covers on the labour market.
If they are carefully and flexibly combined, the profiles of job offers and demands can be characterised according to the type of enterprise organisation, experience and know-how of employees.
The subdivisions, the number of which varies from job to job, allow the ANPE to identify and compare essential information in bringing together the profiles of job offers and job-seekers.
5.2.1.5. Mobility areas
The mobility areas are one of ROME's tools. Starting from a "source" occupation/job they allow a series of "related" occupations/jobs to be determined to which the user has access. They are developed on the basis of a comparison between occupations/jobs, and aim both to provide orientation support and a guide to possible reorientation with- in the same sector, in neighbouring sectors, or in other sectors.
These mobility areas are the result of intensive evaluation of research and experience on the ground. Starting from the principle that knowledge and skills are transferable, they reveal occupational similarities and point out new career paths, accessible either directly or in stages.
5.2.1.6. Availability of ROME
The new ROME already exists in an intermediate "paper" version for the exclusive use of the staff of the ANPE. From 1 October 1993 it will be available from, and distributed by the official publishing house "Documentation Francaise".
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