In today’s world, more than ever, skill development is a critical process for both employees and the organizations they work for. Individuals are worried about keeping their jobs, managers want to hit certain milestones, and executives want to gain advantages over the competition. It’s no surprise then that we’re seeing so much investment in Learning and Development (L&D). According to Training Industry, U.S. spend was a record high, $102.8 billion in 2025. Usually, these expenditures equate to either enhancing an existing curriculum or building an entirely new one from scratch. But is that the best solution? Sure, a full course is comprehensive and likely to boost knowledge; however, an effective one requires plenty of resources: time, money, and people-power. For many organizations and teams, that’s just what’s needed. For others, though, a job aid might get the job done in a way that suits them best. Let’s explore if that might be you.
What is a job aid?
A job aid, which can also be referred to as a performance support tool (PST), is any tool or resource that can assist an individual with a task. They are meant to be snappy, easy to understand, and readily available. For example, imagine a poster above a hand-washing station in a restaurant that provides four steps to ensure workers are being appropriately thorough and hygienic. What’s the benefit of a resource like this? For starters, it covers a potential knowledge gap. Many people in society simply don’t know the things they should be doing when washing their hands — using the hottest water they can handle, scrubbing for at least twenty seconds, and cleaning under their fingernails. Does this knowledge gap require a full curriculum to be developed and a full course to be built? No, probably not. Especially if the restaurant isn’t aware of any other poor hygiene practices. In a context like this, the poster will likely be enough to get the job done as long as management stresses the importance of following its instructions to employees.
The use cases for job aids go far beyond the restaurant business as well. Is a sales team struggling to remember the steps to guide an apprehensive prospect? Are new mechanics forgetting the correct protocol for safely lifting a vehicle? Both of these situations could benefit greatly from simple cheat-sheets or guides nearby their workstations that provide the needed instructions succinctly.
When does a course make sense?
At this point, you might be wondering why you would ever need a course. If a poster can fill knowledge gaps, then why go through the time, effort, and cost to develop a full curriculum? This is a valid question. Well, maybe ask yourself:
- Are you onboarding new team members?
- Do you have a comprehensive set of new regulations that you need to meet?
- Have you observed a pattern where your team is consistently falling short of expectations and milestones?
While this list of contexts is not all-inclusive, it does cover the types of situations where a job aid is not enough to deliver results. All of these situations either hint at widespread and detailed instruction that can’t fit on posters, or systemic knowledge gaps that require a thorough needs analysis and learning solution to meet.
These are situations where courses excel. If learners need a ground-up education on a given topic, then it makes sense to identify key learning objectives and build the amount of training necessary to adequately meet them all. Imagine this situation: a hospital is noticing that it has a readmission rate significantly higher than the national average. Did the hospital just happen to hire the most unqualified doctors and nurses in the country? It’s possible, but unlikely. The more probable reason is that a poor culture has developed, one where staff are misaligned, systems don’t promote clean handoffs and communication, and leadership doesn’t adequately teach standards.
Examples such as these are common, and they require serious solutions. Organizations might opt for a detailed scenario-based course that puts learners in realistic situations where they are forced to take action and simultaneously learn the correct protocols. If they want a collaborative experience, they can develop a social-learning environment where individuals work with one another, discussing their current workflows and where they see gaps, and brainstorming best practices moving forward. Job aids can still be incorporated as a finishing touch, but your training solution needs to be more robust than that.
What’s best for you?
All in all, you still might be unsure about what you need for your own organization. Job aids are quick, cheap, and effective, but a full course will cover much more ground. Start by asking yourself these questions:
- What problem am I trying to solve?
- How many people are affected by this problem?
- Can I solve this problem with a few sentences of instruction?
- Does the learner require a reminder or something more substantive?
Once you have your answers, you should have a much better idea of what you need. If your problem can be solved with a quick set of reminders or instructions, then a job aid sounds like a great fit. However, if you know it would take much more than that to address your team’s concerns, then it’s time to conduct a needs analysis and seriously consider a training curriculum.
Not sure whether your team needs a job aid or a full training course? Apti can help you make that call. We work with organizations to identify the right learning solution for the problem at hand — whether that’s a quick performance support tool or a comprehensive training curriculum. Contact Apti for a consultation.