Gem and diamond workers fabricate, finish or evaluate the quality of gems and diamonds used in jewelry or industrial tools.
Examine gems during processing to ensure accuracy of angles and positions of cuts or bores, using magnifying glasses, loupes, or shadowgraphs.
Assign polish, symmetry, and clarity grades to stones, according to established grading systems.
Estimate wholesale and retail value of gems, following pricing guides, market fluctuations, and other relevant economic factors.
Examine gem surfaces and internal structures, using polariscopes, refractometers, microscopes, and other optical instruments, to differentiate between stones, to identify rare specimens, or to detect flaws, defects, or peculiarities affecting gem values.
Identify and document stones' clarity characteristics, using plot diagrams.
Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items.
Examine diamonds or gems to ascertain the shape, cut, and width of cut stones, or to select the cuts that will result in the biggest, best quality stones.
Immerse stones in prescribed chemical solutions to determine specific gravities and key properties of gemstones or substitutes.
Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them.
Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.
Secure gems or diamonds in holders, chucks, dops, lapidary sticks, or blocks for cutting, polishing, grinding, drilling, or shaping.
Locate and mark drilling or cutting positions on stones or dies, using diamond chips and power hand tools.
Place stones in clamps on polishing machines and polish facets of stones, using felt-covered or canvas-covered polishing wheels and polishing compounds such as tripoli and rouge.
Lap girdles on rough diamonds, using diamond girdling lathes.
Measure sizes of stones' bore holes and cuts to ensure adherence to specifications, using precision measuring instruments.
Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds.
Split gems along pre-marked lines to remove imperfections, using blades and jewelers' hammers.
Regulate the speed of revolutions and reciprocating actions of drilling mechanisms.
Replace, true, and sharpen blades, drills, and plates.
Secure stones in metal mountings, using solder.
Dismantle lapping, boring, cutting, polishing, and shaping equipment and machinery to clean and lubricate it.
Regrind drill points, and advance drill cutting points according to specifications for channel depths and shapes.
Work Context
Work Context information for this career will be available soon.
Work Activities
Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information — Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.
Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Material — Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Monitoring and Controlling Resources — Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Production and Processing
Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Mathematics
Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Quality Control Analysis
Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Finger Dexterity
The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Visual Color Discrimination
The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Problem Sensitivity
The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Manual Dexterity
The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Control Precision
The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Flexibility of Closure
The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Category Flexibility
The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Speech Recognition
The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Oral Comprehension
The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Selective Attention
The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Visualization
The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Information Ordering
The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Oral Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Speech Clarity
The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
