Assessio Lenses and O-NET mapping
This article explains what off-the-shelf (OTS) Assessio lenses are, how they are mapped to O*NET job data, when to use them, and how they relate to the Performance Framework and tenant-specific lenses.
1) What are Off-the-Shelf Assessio lenses?
Off-the-shelf lenses are ready-made, searchable competency profiles designed and validated by Assessio. They are pre-mapped to 500+ O*NET jobs and provided as 50+ Assessio lenses/profiles that any organization can apply directly for recruitment or development use cases.
The O*NET link bridges big-data job information and Assessio’s performance framework so non-experts can start with a high-quality baseline profile.
2) Structure & guardrails
Even for OTS lenses, Assessio’s framework rules apply:
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Holistic coverage: every lens contains at least one competency from each of the four domains.
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Behavioral balance: lenses reflect the Strategic↔Operative and Driving↔Enabling tensions that show up in real roles.
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Scoring compatibility: lenses plug into the standard MAP/Matrigma → competency → match-score → lens match-score pipeline
3) When to use an Off-the-Shelf lens vs. tenant-specific
Use an OTS Assessio lens when…
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You want a validated, ready-to-use profile aligned to a known O*NET role.
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Speed and comparability matter (e.g., high-volume roles across markets).
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You need a defensible baseline before any tailoring.
Consider a tenant-specific lens when…
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Your context is distinctive (strategy, culture, market) and you need directional emphasis changes; start by Boosting an Assessio lens (reweights, does not swap competencies; ≥5% min weight; ≤~30% boost; opposite side auto-de-emphasized).
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You want to mirror a high performer to seed a context-specific profile (algorithm enforces min-one-per-domain and caps specialist lenses at ~6 competencies, then weights by the person’s results).
Note: mirroring may or may not be the most valid option vs. simply using an OTS lens, depending on evidence and use case.