As a business owner or manager you may think that you have a million things to do that are more important and useful than creating and maintaining job descriptions for your employees. Surely your resources would be much better spent on sales and other pressing tasks, and not on writing a document that has limited use?
You could not be further from the truth: Clear job descriptions that are regularly reviewed and updated are essential to the success of any business.
What is a job description?
Before we look at why no business should be without a written job description for each and every role, let’s find out what a job description is. Broadly speaking, a job or position description is a written statement describing the purpose or objective of a job, a list of tasks performed by the job holder, and a description of how, and under what conditions, they perform the job.
What are the benefits of a job description?
Essentially, a detailed, up-to-date job description benefits the employer, the employee and the business by providing structure and clarity in the following ways:
- Clarifies the employer’s expectations of the employee and provides a clear description of the tasks to be carried out by the employee. This clarity creates motivation.
- Provides clear reference points against which the employee’s performance can be measured and thus forms the basis for appraisals and performance reviews, as well as for counselling.
- Enables pay and grading systems to be structured logically and fairly.
- Provides a neutral, authoritative reference tool for resolving queries, thus minimising disputes and arguments.
- Provides a structure as well as the discipline for the employer to clarify and structure all jobs and ensure that the activities, duties and responsibilities necessary to the success of the business are covered by one role or another.
- Identifies training and development areas.
- Forms the basis of job ads, thereby helping to attract only the most suitable candidates.
- Forms the basis of interview questions that will help the employer to identify the most suitable candidate and thus avoid a bad hire.
What should a job description include?
A good job description should contain most of the following information:
- Job title
- Salary range
- Statement of purpose or objectives
- Job description
- Description of reporting structure as well as the organisational structure
- Description of essential skills and experience required for the job
- Description of any other qualities or attributes the ideal candidate should have
- Details of work location and hours, including any overtime that might be required
The Proven Group can create job descriptions for your business
We have seen that one of the most important sets of documents that a business can have is a current and clearly expressed set of job descriptions. Does every one of your employees have one?
The team at The Proven Group, a recruitment agency in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong and in other areas throughout regional Victoria, have extensive experience in this and every other aspect of recruitment. We work with you to determine the roles and responsibilities for each of your staff members. We then conduct a preliminary interview with them to create a position description that reflects all aspects of their job. Engaging them in this way will result in a living and working document that has been created by them. The last thing you want to hear as a manager is, ‘I’m not doing that as it’s not in my job description.’
If you’d like help with this or any part of the recruitment process, feel free to get in touch for a confidential and no-obligation discussion.
