How To Write A Job Description

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

 
When you have a vacancy to fill, you obviously want to attract the attention of the right kind of person in order to fill the vacancy successfully.

To that end, the job description you write must be very precise, and cover the main responsibilities and tasks that are relevant to the position. Many job vacancies receive dozens – and sometimes hundreds – of applications, and you don’t want to waste time looking through unsuitable ones when the original advert was to blame. So you can see that it’s worth spending some time on this part of the recruitment process, in order that the best suited candidates will apply.

Make notes and highlight the skills you want

This is an excellent starting point. Don’t try and write the advert, simply jot down all the skills that the successful applicant will need to have in order to perform the job correctly.

If the job requires the person to have specific qualifications – such as a degree, a specialist qualification in computing, or perhaps simply excellent grades in English, Maths or another subject area – you should note these down as well. Including these in the job description will help to deter those who don’t meet up to the requirements.

A day in the life

It is also helpful to create a short description of a typical day in the job role. Will the candidate be required to liaise with other people on all levels? Is the role isolated and computer driven, with email being the only form of contact with other people?

Consider including factors like these in the advert, as they will give people an idea of what to expect from the role. Misunderstandings can easily occur, and in this situation they can be very costly to both parties. Even if a person is ideally suited to the role skills wise, if they hate working alone and need contact with other people, they won’t stay long if they are required to remain at their computer all day.

An effective job description should mention the main responsibilities of that role, and also include any pertinent details which might exclude certain people from applying. For example, where is the job based? Is the candidate required to travel? What hours are involved? Is shift work a possibility? How open are you to flexible working?

All these points work well in a job description, as they can attract those people who could fill the role successfully. The more time you spend on creating a good job description, the less time you will spend later weeding out unsuitable applicants.

http://jobs.gbguide.com

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