Job descriptions are important. It serves as a roadmap for the employee, giving him important information about the responsibilities of a particular position and what his deliverables are. A job description is not something that is set in stone, it changes because the job itself conforms to the needs of the company. A good job description will benefit the company in so many ways, that’s why writing a job description is very important.
A job description is an important document to have on hand especially when conducting a job interview. Job descriptions should also be included in the employee manual so that employees will have a reference on what their respective responsibilities are and what are their colleagues’ responsibilities as well. For managers, the ability to write detailed job descriptions for the job positions in his department is one great way of ensuring work effectiveness. If you’re planning to write job descriptions you can follow some of these useful tips:
• In order to determine the nature of the job, talk to the person directly involved – this means you need to talk to the person who actually has the job. Ask the employee to list down his daily tasks and what his deliverables are. You should also talk to the immediate superior or supervisor of the employee and interview him as well to find out what he expects from the employee so that you get a complete picture of the employee’s responsibilities. Of course, part of the interview would be asking the employee and the supervisor what tasks are not part of his job.
• Having talked to the employee and his supervisor, it is now time to assess what you think should be expected for the job position you’re writing the job description for. You’ll probably have some ideas on what other responsibilities should be included in the job description. List this down and then compare it with the existing job description as given by the employee and his supervisor.
• Having listed everything down, try to classify the responsibilities based on importance. List down a number of responsibilities that you think are crucial to the job. To make it more organized, segregate the responsibilities based on what is important, those that are performed on a daily basis, and tasks that are considered merely incidental. You can go back to the employee and ask him which responsibilities he thinks are the most important.
• You can now write the job description. Having already segregated the responsibilities, it’s as simple as polishing what you’ve already listed down. Try to make sure that the descriptions are clear and easily understood. Vague job descriptions will just cause you problems in the future. One important reminder is to always keep the job description current. If there are new responsibilities added on to the position, add it to the job description. Alternatively, if there are responsibilities that have been removed from the position, delete it from the job description as well.
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