A good job description is generally the first view through the window for any job-seeker to a company. It opens up the company’s culture, vision, and purpose to any job-seeker looking for the next challenge in his professional life. A well-written job description produces an accurate picture of the job and answers the question, “What does the individual in this role do?”
A job description describes the position’s responsibilities and sets the foundation for recruiting, retaining, and developing talent. It sets the stage for optimum work performance by clarifying expected results, responsibilities, and performance evaluation. Finally, the document should be updated and revisited per the annual performance evaluation cycle. The job description contains adequate information describing the essential functions and primary responsibilities. It offers the necessary information to classify not the person but the position; thus, it is not based on any specific quality of an incumbent (such as skills, abilities, performance, dedication, knowledge, loyalty, years of service, or degree).
Hints for writing good job descriptions
Job descriptions should be prepared to accurately state all components and create a clear understanding of the role. Here are some valuable hints to assist you in the process:
- Write in a concise, direct style.
- Always use only specific words.
- Keep sentence structure as simple as possible.
- Use present tense to state descriptive action verbs (for example: performs, operates, or writes).
- Avoid acronyms and abbreviations.
- Don’t use ambiguous terms.
- Avoid gender-specific language, such as “She is responsible for” and “He manages.”
- Pay attention to essential activities; omit trivial duties and occasional tasks.
- Avoid references to other employees. Instead, refer to the department or job title.
- Only include assigned duties. Eliminate any functions that are no longer required.
- Most importantly, use keywords defining the job role as, nowadays, AI tools are used by companies to shortlist potential candidates.
Essential Components
A job description contains the following components:
Job Title
It is a short description (1-4 words) of the position, reflecting its purpose, content, and scope.
Examples include Archivist, Associate Registrar, Facilities Planner, Grants Accountant, Budget Analyst, etc.
Avoid acronyms that you use within your company. Like SDE, TME, etc. in the job title.
Job Purpose
The Job Purpose offers a high-level overview of the level, scope, and role of responsibility consisting of three to four sentences providing a prior understanding, or the “bird’s eye view” of the role. A summary of “why the job exists?”
Job Duties and Responsibilities
This section describes the responsibilities and duties, also referred to as the crucial functions of the job. They represent the fundamental nature of the position, which occupies a high proportion of the employee’s time. Some necessary things to consider:
- Include explanatory phrases which tell how, where, why, or how frequently the duties and tasks are performed.
- Focus on the result of tasks.
- Provide reference areas of decision-making where one will impact or influence.
- Identify areas of direct or indirect accountabilities.
- List duties that reflect the job requirements and ensure they are not based upon the capabilities of any one person.
- If applicable, address the type of supervisory responsibility the role expects. Detail the extent of the job’s role to assign, hire, terminate, work, train, and evaluate the performance of subordinates.
- The job duties should be listed by their importance and the frequency in which they are performed. Typically presented in points, consisting of approximately 4–7 separate duties.
Education
Identify an employee’s educational qualifications to perform the job duties and responsibilities satisfactorily. State the academic qualifications in terms of areas of study and type of degree that would provide the knowledge required for getting the position.
Experience
Identify the type of work experience an employee needs to qualify for the job and the minimum number of full-time experiences required in terms of years. Internships, undergraduate work experience, and graduate assistantships.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
In stating the required knowledge, including the knowledge required for getting the position. The following definitions can come in handy:
- Working knowledge: Adequate familiarity with the subject to know fundamental terminology and principles to understand and solve easy problems.
- General knowledge: Sufficient knowledge of a subject to perform most work in typical situations. The job calls for comprehension of everyday situations and includes knowledge of the most critical aspects of the subject.
- Thorough knowledge: Advanced knowledge of the field. The work calls for adequate comprehension of the domain to solve unusual and everyday work problems, to serve as a resource on the subject area for others in the organization and to advise on technical issues.
- Comprehensive knowledge: Requires complete understanding and mastery of the subject area. The term should be used infrequently and only for responsible positions.
List specific abilities and skills necessary for the individual to be successful in the role, including the designation of any needed licenses or certifications. Some considerations include analytical, computer, creative thinking, customer service, decision-making, logical thinking, teamwork, project management etc.
Working Conditions
Identify the physical demands and conditions that relate directly to the job duties and responsibilities. For example, describe the type, frequency (how often), intensity (how much) and duration of mental or physical capabilities required.
Consider the following:
- Environment, such as outdoors or office.
- Exposures encountered include loud noise, hazardous materials or extreme heat/cold.
- Essential physical requirements include standing, climbing, or typing.
- Indicate if you must be on-call as a regular part of the job or work at night or at weekends.
- Travel requirements.
Work Culture
The simple act of conveying your company’s work culture in job descriptions can catch the eye of your next leading employee. Outline what it is like to be part of your company and what it values in its employees so you attract the right people from the get-go.
Company’s Vision, Purpose, Ethics, and Gender Equality
A well-written job description should state the vision, purpose, and clear direction of the company that helps create more profound connection points with potential employees. It resonates, draws people towards the organization, and makes them aware of its core driving principles.
Also, the practice of gender equality is very important in the work sphere, and a responsible organization must abide by it. So, promote gender equality in job descriptions and ensure there are no gendered words if you want the best candidate for the job, irrespective of gender.
Conclusion
Clear job descriptions help candidates know exactly what is expected from them if they get selected for a job. Moreover, only those candidates who feel they are in alignment with the job description’s requirements will apply, thus preventing the organization from wasting precious time screening unsuitable candidates and making its hiring process smoother.
About hirex.ai
hirex.ai is a no-code Voice AI platform to build voice-based bots that conduct and score level one interviews at scale. You could practically conduct 1000+ interviews in a single day without any human intervention.
Intro Video: https://youtu.be/drJrd4qm2e8
How it works: https://vimeo.com/705940974/eca6ba3265
We believe solutions and not features solve customer problems and hence have a comprehensive set of assessment tools such as,
- MCQ and Coding Interviews using AI proctoring
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- Chrome plugin support
- RESTful API
- Agile ATS with Client Management
- Staffing Vendor Management
Giving you a complete AI-enabled recruitment suite under a single dashboard.
Please visit www.hirex.ai to know more.
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