Job Descriptions: How to Write Them Effectively

Course Description:

In this session you will learn about job descriptions, which describe the purpose, essential functions, and specifications for a job. They help employees understand the responsibilities of a position and help management make good hiring decisions. They are also essential for attracting a larger and more diverse pool of qualified candidates. Finally, a carefully drafted job description assists an organization in complying with equal employment opportunity and other laws during the hiring process.

Why “Job Descriptions: How to Write Them Effectively” Matters:

Job descriptions clarify who is responsible for what in the organization. They also help define relationships between individuals and departments. They can help settle grievances, minimize conflicts, and improve communications.

They help employees understand the responsibilities of their jobs. They not only enable employees to assess the relative importance of everything for which they are accountable but also provide them with a sense of where the job fits into the organization as a whole.

Job descriptions help you make good hiring decisions and determine training and orientation needs. A well-written job description helps you pick employees with the right qualifications and provides them with the necessary job-specific knowledge and skills so that they can perform at the highest level and meet our quality and productivity standards.

Job descriptions also improve the organization’s recruitment efforts by helping job applicants understand the knowledge, training, experience, and skills needed for each job. They help Human Resources (HR) personnel target the best candidates for available positions throughout the organization.

Job descriptions also help management analyze and improve the organization. They reveal whether all responsibilities are adequately covered and where responsibilities should be reallocated to achieve a better balance.

As we said earlier, job descriptions are essential for compliance with a number of key employment laws.

They also provide a basis for evaluating one job in relation to others, for creating job classifications, and for developing an equitable wage and salary structure.

Key Points:

• Identify the elements of a job description
• Utilize effective methods of gathering information about a position
• Organize the information and write an effective description about the position
• Avoid legal and other pitfalls commonly associated with job descriptions