Pôle emploi introduces the ROME 4.0: building a shared “skills” language!

Presented to the French employment and training community through a webinar on the 23rd of January, the new Operational Directory of Occupations and Jobs (Rome) designed by Pôle emploi, the French public employment service, will be available on its website (www.pole -emploi.org) as of the 20th March 2023.

A better response to the companies recruitment needs

This tool – jointly developed with the French Skills1 Operators (OPCO), the Adult Vocational Training Association (AFPA), professional branch representatives and companies – enables an easier identification of skills to enhance professional mobility.

The Operational Directory of Occupations and Jobs (ROME): history and latest developments

Created in 1989 by the National Employment Agency (ANPE), now Pôle emploi, the public employment service in France, the Directory includes more than 10,000 job titles that are described in great detail and regularly updated. One of the characteristics of ROME is that it is based on a pragmatic process: an inventory of the most common job/occupation names, an analysis of activities and skills, and a grouping of positions according to a principle of equivalence or proximity.

This nomenclature and ROME codification are used by other organisations, public and private, related to employment, skills management and vocational training.

Since the early 1990s, given the strong changes in the labour market, ROME has remained a fundamental tool for professional mobility and for matching vacancies with candidates. It is a genuine tool for inter-institutional dialogue. This ROME and its unique approach to development have inspired the creation of numerous directories in other regions of the world, such as Africa, where countries (Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal, etc.) have set up an African Directory of Jobs and Trades (ROAME) within the framework of international cooperation

A ROME revision project, initiated by Pôle emploi three years ago (February 2020), was aimed at developing the competency-based approach, and more specifically :

• restructuring the skills reference framework, its content, organisation and input into the ROME job/occupation sheets
• Rationalising the reference framework of work environments, reorganised as “work contexts”
• adapting the ROME sheet layout, with significant changes made to the contents of its headings, particularly for skills

This major project, which will impact on the practices of advisers and information systems, intends to switch from the current ROME (ROME Version 3, known as V3) to the future ROME (ROME 4.0) in Pôle emploi services in March 2023.

Pôle emploi is also currently working on the correspondence tables between the ESCO2 (European Skills, Competences and Occupations) and ROME classifications.