I. PURPOSES

The purpose of this contest is to challenge technical education students to analyze their chosen occupation/career and illustrate/portray the parts of the specific occupation listed below in the form of a manual:

 1. JOB (OCCUPATIONAL TITLE, ETC.) DESCRIPTION

 2. NEEDED QUALIFICATIONS

 3. SKILLS (OPERATIONS, ETC.)

 4. RESPONSIBILITIES

 5. ADVANTAGES

 6. DISADVANTAGES

 7. JOB OUT-LOOK

II. ELIGIBILITY

 A participant must be a member of the SkillsUSA and meet all other requirements required to participate in the SkillsUSA Championships. Chapters must email the State SkillsUSA Director by Feb 13 of each year indicating the chapter’s intent to enter the Job Information Manual competition.  This email should also indicate the number of entries the school plans to have. Subject of email should read Job Information Manual Contest

III. OBSERVER RULE

 Job Information Manuals will be displayed in the exhibit/display area at district and state competitions.  No observer shall be present during the judging process.

IV. PROCEDURE

 1. Each affiliated chapter should allow every SkillsUSA member in all sections to enter the local competition.  Then through a local elimination select the best three winners to represent the local chapter in the state competition.

  2. Each local chapter may enter up to three entries in the state competition.  If a local chapter has a coop program in addition to day trade sections, the chapter may enter a total of six manuals. If a chapter has two or more sections and has 100% membership, the chapter may have 9 entries.

  3. State judges will decide the state winners for the High School Division and the Postsecondary Division.

  4. The entries will be delivered to the SkillsUSA Headquarters Boardroom in the BJCC between 8:00 am and 2:30 pm on Thursday the 13th of the Alabama Skills Championships.

V. RULES

 1. Each Job Information Manual will be limited to one volume of 100 pages (sheets) (200 surfaces when front and back are used) or less.  There will be a 5 point penalty for each additional surface.

  2. Entries must be submitted in a SkillsUSA Notebook or SkillsUSA Scrapbook which can be obtained from the SkillsUSA Supply Service.  No extra decorations will be allowed.  There will be a 20 point penalty assessed for using a different kind of notebook or scrapbook or for altering the surface.  Different pages may be substituted in the scrapbook/notebook and they may be covered with plastic and no penalty may be assessed.

  3. All work in each manual must be done by the contestant entering the manual.  Coordinators, instructors, sponsors, advisors, and consultants may act in an advisory capacity only.

  4. Manuals:

a. Must illustrate or portray the occupation (job), or some phase of the occupation (job), in which the student is training.

 b. Shall use suitable information, pictures, charts, graphs, samples, drawings, materials, and/or processes that will help illustrate or portray the occupation (job).  (Note: This is not intended to be a history of the occupation.  Copying information out of reference books or cutting pictures out of a magazine should be done sparingly with care to give proper credit to the author and/or photographer.)  Personal narratives, where needed, and original drawings are always preferred.  Computer generated drawings may be used, but theses drawings must be developed by the constant.

 c. Each section of the manual shall be assembled, developed, and organized to reflect the ingenuity and creativity of the contestant.

 5. Manuals shall include the following sections and be organized in the following sequence:

 a. Title Page that will include:         (10 points)

 Job (Occupation, Trade, etc.)

 Name of Student

 Name of School

 City and State

 b. Description of Job (25 points)

 c. Qualifications needed for the Job (25 points)

 d. Operations (skills) involved in the Job (30 points)

 e. Responsibilities of the Job (30 points)

 f. Advantages of the Job (25 points)

 g. Disadvantages of the Job (25 points)

 h. Job Outlook (30 points)

  Salary

  Opportunities for advancement

  Openings

  Location of openings

  Others

 (A 5-point penalty will be assessed for each section that is out of sequence or left out.  If you do not have information for a section, insert a title page with this section name on it in the correct sequence and leave it blank except for the title.)

 6. Criterion for Evaluation: Each section of the manual including the title page will be evaluated based on the following criterion:

 a. Content and organization

 b. Originality

 c. Artistry

 d. Neatness

VI. REQUIRED CONTEST PERSONNEL

 1. Three to five judges.

 2. One contest chairman.

VII. INSTRUCTIONS TO CONTEST CHAIRMAN:

 1. Arrange for all necessary materials in advance of the contest.

 2. Attend all meetings announced for the chairman or judges.

 3. Check room arrangements to be certain contest will operate smoothly.

 4. Assemble judges at the contest site to be certain all questions are answered and rating procedures are clear.

 5. After judging is completed, judges will return ratings sheets to the contest chairman in the envelope provided.

 6. Keep results of contest confidential until general announcement at the Awards Ceremony of the Alabama Skills Championships.

VIII. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JUDGES

 1. Careful consideration should be given to each rule and each entry should be judged in the same order.

 2. Judges should notice the points assigned to each section and the criterion to be used in judging the sections.

 3. Judges will meet at the contest site in advance of the contest, at an announced time, to confer on rule meanings.  If the contest chairman cannot answer your questions, he/she will confer with the proper Alabama Skills Championship leadership to secure the answer.

 4. Judges will total their own rating sheets and return them to contest chairman in the envelope provided after judging is completed.

 5. Judges will keep all information confidential until general announcement at the Awards Ceremony.

IX. EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS NEEDED:

 1. Rules

 2. Rating sheets

 3. Pencils

X. ROOM ARRANGEMENTS

 A room with chairs for the judges and sufficient tables to display all of the scrapbooks and notebooks opened.