Job Description

 

Key Element of a Job Description

- Job Title

Indicates job duties and organizational level

- Job Identification

Distinguishes job from all other jobs

- Essential Functions (Job Duties)

Indicate responsibilities entailed and results to be accomplished

- Job Specifications

Skills required to perform the job and physical demands of the job

Job Description

- Job Title

+Provides status to the employee.

+Indicates what the duties of the job entails. 

+Indicates the relative level occupied by its holder in the organizational hierarchy.

Job Description, Job Identification Section 

- Departmental location of the job

- Person to whom the jobholder reports

- Date the job description was last revised

- Payroll or code number

- Number of employees performing the job

- Number of employees in the department where the job is located

- O*NET code number.

- “Statement of the Job”

Job Duties, or Essential Functions, Section

Statements of job duties that:

- Are arranged in order of importance that indicate the weight, or value, of each duty; weight of a duty is gauged by the percentage of time devoted to it.

- Stress the responsibilities that duties entail and the results to be accomplished.

- Indicate the tools and equipment used by the employee in performing the job.

- Should comply with law by listing only the essential functions of the job to be performed.

Problems With Job Descriptions

- If poorly written, they provide little guidance to the jobholder.

- They are not always updated as job duties or specifications change.

- They may violate the law by containing specifications not related to job success.

- They can limit the scope of activities of the jobholder, reducing organizational flexibility.

Writing Clear and Specific Job Descriptions

+ Create statements that:

- Are terse, direct, and simply worded; eliminate unnecessary words or phrases.

- Describe duties with a present-tense verb, the implied subject being the employee performing the job.

- Use “occasionally” to describe duties performed once in a while and “may” for duties performed only by some workers on the job. 

- State the specific performance requirements of a job based on valid job-related criteria.