Not Just a Job Description

Nothing makes supervisors groan and roll their eyes more than the words - Job Description. That is unless they come to you - their HR Professional - and ask for a Job Description for themselves or an employee. Then that sets off alarm bells. LOL.

More often than not, if a manager asks to create a job description for an employee it is because they are having trouble with an employee not knowing what to do. Generally, one of two things are going on:

• they are looking for an itemized list of what the employee should be doing. This is actually a task list and not a Job Description
• there is some sort of a communication problem, where the manager doesn’t know how to address the issue with the employee

In either case, a job description does not seem like the ideal solution. On occasion, such as a new or evolving position the Job description is the solution.

Now for a proper discussion on job descriptions. First and for most, a “Job Description” is actually only a portion of larger document sometimes called a Job Profile. And the Job Profile is the document that is central to much of HR. There are several ways to collect the data for a Job Profile, but for our purposes, lets say we have the data. A simple job profile might have the following sections:

• Job Summary or Overview
• Responsibilities or Accountabilities
• Experience and Training, Skills and Abilities Required
• Goals or Performance Measures
• Competencies for Success
• Work Conditions
• Compensation, Benefits and Classification Information

Sections 1 – 3 might be considered a Job Description and Sections 4 – 7 perhaps a Job Specification. But the real benefits of a job profile, are how much time it saves in many HR Processes. The following are some of the uses of a Job Profile:

• Job Postings
• New Hire Orientation
• Training and Development Planning
• Job Classification and Job Evaluation to determine Compensation
• Disability Return to Work Management
• Performance Management
• Workforce Planning
• Workflow Process Improvement

The Job Profile really is a cornerstone in Human Resources Management and the time spent creating one is well worth it.