7 minutes
Essential functions versus extras dressed as requirements Nice-to-haves that screen people out are still a design choice.
What you’ll be able to do Identify the practical implication of “Essential functions versus extras dressed as requirements” and apply it to one live DHS decision connected to Job Design and the Posting. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What should happen before the work is locked? Document a next step for Essential functions versus extras dressed as requirements: Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed. Read each line of the posting Essential Extra as required Fit
The work that must be done. The ADA later uses this line. If a duty is not essential, do not write it as required.
Unpaid evening events, a degree the work does not need, a driver’s license for a desk job, “native English.” Those lines are who-filters.
Culture-fit in a posting is Minimization with a smile. Name a behavior, or drop the word.
Your turn Open a live posting or the last one you applied to.
Mark one line that is essential. Mark one that is extra.
Write who the extra was built for.
Put this lesson to work What you can change You control whether essential functions versus extras dressed as requirements changes a live DHS process connected to Job Design and the Posting or remains information on a page.
What to watch for The team completes the learning, keeps the same default, assigns no owner, and never checks who carries the burden.
Your next step Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Fictional working example
Annotate the requirement before keeping it Read this fictional posting excerpt for a role that prepares reports and coordinates meetings. Check each requirement against the actual work.
1
Prepare clear reports Prepare reports that explain findings and next actions to the intended audience.
Examine this clause This describes work. Ask what evidence would demonstrate the skill and how it will be assessed.
2
Driver's license required The draft requires a driver's license, but the role description does not identify driving.
Examine this clause Ask the responsible hiring team whether driving is an essential function. Do not invent a reason for the requirement or make an individual exception in place of reviewing the job.
3
Great culture fit The draft asks for a person who will be a great culture fit.
Examine this clause Name the actual work behavior the phrase is meant to describe. Check whether it belongs in the requirement and whether candidates can understand how it will be assessed.
Try it with the work Open one posting you work with. Which line needs a clearer connection to the work before it is used?
Record the line, the actual function and the question to resolve with the hiring team in the lesson notes.
Carry this forward Nice-to-haves that screen people out are still a design choice.
You control whether essential functions versus extras dressed as requirements changes a live DHS process connected to Job Design and the Posting or remains information on a page.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Completion is shown by a scenario decision, a knowledge-check response and a saved one-minute commitment.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
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Reset this lesson
Previous lesson Next lesson Carry this into practice Who can apply is decided when the job is written — essential functions, extras, and pay.
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
