Spotlight On O*NET Users! Each month we'll feature a member of the O*NET user community, with a brief description of how they are applying O*NET in their daily work. This month’s spotlight: Spotlight profile on Dave Rivkin and Phil Lewis Technical Officers of the National Center for O*NET Development

Have you ever wondered just who is the O*NET Center?  It isn’t only a database, a computer system, or online tools.  Two forces of the Center are Dave Rivkin and Phil Lewis, Technical Officers of the National Center for O*NET Development.  Dave has been an integral part of the O*NET Center for 15 years; Phil for 12.  It is accurate to say that no one is more knowledgeable of the intricacies of O*NET than these two O*NET champions.

Project development is the role Dave and Phil fill.  With educations and backgrounds in Industrial Organization Psychology, they monitor the technical quality of O*NET.  They ensure the high quality of the research that goes into the database, such as surveying and data collection; they scrutinize the reliability and validity of data and ancillary tools, such as the O*NET Code Connector and the Career Exploration Tools (assessment instruments, including the Work Importance Locator and the Interest Profiler); they are the Center’s liaison with the Department of Labor (DOL), Education and Training Administration (ETA). 

Based out of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, with offices in the building that houses the Human Resources Research Organization (HRRO), Dave and Phil travel the country and the world, holding O*NET intermediary parties to high standards in development projects.  Their work enables talent development tool providers to make solid systems and purpose-perfect tools for end users. 

Monthly, they travel to the O*NET Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, to sync with its work accomplished by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and North Carolina State University resources. Dave and Phil’s project assignments result from inquiries for help to the Center and to the DOL.  When state workforce agencies, systems developers, DOL grant recipients and similar clients seek technical development help, Dave Rivkin and Phil Lewis are on it, lending the expert consulting wisdom these entities need. 

“We help clients with all kinds of things,” Dave explains.  “We often help state workforce entities develop systems.  We show people how to use the information in O*NET.  We do strategic workforce planning with states or with WIRED regions, for example.  We provide technical assistance as clients develop assessment programs.”

“We are champions of holistic assessment processes,” Phil adds.  “A broad range of clients appreciate our services in these areas.  We helped the Philippines’ Department of Education develop their career assessment and planning program.  We consulted with the State of Oregon as they created a Health and Safety Industry careers program.  The European Union sought our expertise in creating its workforce development system.  We contribute a proven broad and deep understanding of how data, systems, and complementary tools work together to best results.”

“And often we speak on O*NET topics, making presentations at conferences and professional workshops,” Dave points out.

When states’ and regions’ system developers embed the O*NET database into their computer applications and strive to leverage the data optimally, they benefit from Dave and Phil’s many years of experience and wisdom.  Clients realize that with Dave and Phil leading a project “what’s in it for them” is the satisfaction of knowing that “development is done right.”  Integrity and validity are watchwords for these men.
 
It is apparent that Dave and Phil are a team, singularly focused on a job done expertly.  Away from the assignment, they enjoy different endeavors.  Phil spends energy away from the job gardening and cooking.  He enjoys any activity with his two sons and extended family.  “All of us are big New York Giants football fans,” he shares.

Dave devotes non-work time to competing horses.  “I have jumpers.  I train and ride them,” he divulges.

One can easily see how the two Technical Officers demonstrate that interests and traits in one’s private life extend to good occupational matches in one’s professional life.  Dave and Phil’s avocations require the dedication to detail and precision, as well as the discipline and patience that their jobs demand.  Cooking perfectly, competing horses, and insisting on excellent technical quality in systems and tools require similar traits and abilities.

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