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Express Entry · Aug 21, 2026

How to assess your NOC

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Download the printable PDF. No email wall. Use the NOC helper when you want a structured checklist against official unit groups. Short definition: NOC / TEER.

IRCC does not grade the label on an offer letter. It grades the work. If the duties do not match the unit group, the title does not save the file.

What IRCC actually tests

Use this order. It is practice order, not a slogan.

  1. Main duties first. A substantial number of the main duties, including all essential duties. Match what was actually done, not the job title.
  2. Lead statement second. The person must have performed the actions in the lead statement of that unit group.
  3. Employment requirements third, as confirmation only. Usual education, licensing, and certification sit in the same confirmatory bucket as the Job Bank wage report. Wage is never the first indicator and never picks the code.

That duties-plus-lead test is the Federal Skilled Worker regulatory test in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 75. Paragraph 75(2)(b) requires the actions in the lead statement. Paragraph 75(2)(c) requires a substantial number of the main duties, including all of the essential duties. IRCC’s Federal Skilled Worker page paraphrases the same idea.

This site puts duties first because that is where files actually break. A polished title with the wrong duties is a bad code.

Titles are not a test

Employer titles lie. A role called Technician can be labour. A role called Manager can be a cleaner. Example titles on the official unit group are examples, not a pass mark.

Pith and substance is the actual work plus the workplace or industry, not the label on the offer.

IRCC’s Find your NOC page is blunt:

Make sure the main duties listed match what you did at your job. If they don’t, you’ll need to find a different job title with duties that match yours.

If the duties do not match, you do not massage the title. You keep hunting.

Use NOC 2021 and TEER

Current applications use NOC 2021 and TEER, not the old 4-digit skill-type 0 / A / B / C / D matrix.

  • The code is five digits.
  • The second digit is the TEER category (0 through 5).
  • Express Entry skilled work is usually TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3. That is a program filter, not proof that the unit group is the right one.

The classification lives on ESDC’s NOC site. Open NOC 2021 Version 1.0. Each unit group profile has a lead statement, main duties, employment requirements, example titles, and exclusions. IRCC’s Find your NOC table is a finder. If anything on that table conflicts with the ESDC profile, the ESDC profile wins.

Write the work first

Before you search, write what was actually done, in plain language.

  • Daily tasks, not the LinkedIn summary.
  • What the person was paid to produce or decide.
  • Who they reported to, and who reported to them, if anyone.
  • The workplace or industry: hospital, restaurant, construction site, software shop, warehouse, farm.
  • Tools and licences that were actually used, not ones that sound impressive.

Do not start from the title you wish the role had. Start from the week.

Title search only starts the hunt

Search IRCC Find your NOC or noc.esdc.gc.ca with a title or a five-digit code. Shortlist two or three unit groups.

That shortlist is not “the NOC.” It is a pile of candidates. The NOC helper will not call anything a working candidate until the duties comparison is done.

Main duties first

Open the official unit group. Read the main duties. Then ask:

  1. Did a substantial number of those main duties happen in the role?
  2. Did every essential duty happen? Essential means the duties the unit group treats as core, not optional extras.
  3. Is the real work mainly the duties of a different unit group?

“Substantial” is not “I touched one task once.” It is the core of the job.

If two codes are close, stop comparing titles. Compare the essential duties and the workplace. A software shop and a help desk can share words and sit in different unit groups. A “technician” on a factory floor can be labour. The ESDC profile also lists exclusions. Read them.

IRCC’s instruction again: if the main duties do not match what was done, find a different job title with duties that match.

Lead statement second

The lead statement is the short paragraph at the top of the unit group. It says what people in that group do.

The FSW test requires those actions, not a poetic resemblance. If the duties list has some overlap but the lead statement describes a different kind of work, the code is wrong.

Do not skip this step because the title felt right.

Employment requirements and wages confirm. They do not pick.

Usual education, licensing, and certification are confirmation. So is pay.

Open the official Job Bank wage search. Search the unit group title. Open the wage report. Ask one question: does pay sit in a plausible range for that occupation and region?

  • If pay is wildly off, you may have the wrong unit group, the wrong region, or an outlier job. Treat that as a reason to re-read duties, not as proof.
  • If pay sits in range, that confirms nothing by itself. A misclassified role can still be paid at the going rate.

Wage is never the first indicator. Wage never picks the code. Do not scrape or invent a wage table. Use Job Bank.

The same rule applies to degrees and licences. A person can hold the usual credential and still have done different work. A person can lack the “usual” credential and still have performed the duties. IRPR 75 tests duties and the lead statement. Employment requirements are not that test.

Close codes and exclusions

When two unit groups look similar:

  • Compare essential duties, not example titles.
  • Compare the workplace or industry.
  • Read the exclusions on each ESDC profile.
  • Do not pick the code that sounds more senior.

Classic public examples, not file facts: Software engineers and designers (21231) sit next to Software developers and programmers (21232). Those are different unit groups. A “manager” title can be a working supervisor in one group and a senior manager in another. The title does not decide.

How to use the helper

The NOC helper browses the same 516 NOC 2021 unit groups used on this site. It forces the duties checklist first, then the lead statement, then a confirm step with employment requirements and the Job Bank wage report.

It will not certify a unit group as the official code. It can call a unit group a working candidate after duties and lead-statement review. That is a method, not a government finding.

The helper does not collect personal information or file identifiers. Do not paste file facts into the tool.

If a specific file needs a regulated opinion, that is a separate service through SJP Immigration.