A job description is essential for your career success! Whether you are getting a promotion or contemplating a new position. So often you will find that small businesses, 100 employees or less often do not have a human resource professional working for them. The danger of taking a job without clear written expectations is when it’s time for your review. No one can remember what you agreed to a year or more ago when you took the position. Question: How will your success be measured? Will it be based on your boss having a good day? How can you hit the target if you are not sure where to aim or spend your energy? A job description is for your protection along with an offer letter! If you find yourself in an interview where the job sounds interesting and exciting than follow these simple rules and draft your own job description for the potential boss. It’s in your best interest and it shows the employer that you are proactive and bring value to the organization before your first day on the job. Here are some simple rules to follow when drafting a job description.
Job Description Rule 1.
Know your title:
Be careful and not get hung up on a title. Titles can come a dime a dozen. I’ve interviewed many people that have had impressive titles but when I asked them what they did my impression of them changed for the worse. I found that it’s what you do that counts. It’s something that no one can take away from you. It is however important for some positions to have a title so that you can perform your job well. The difference between PR Coordinator or PR Director can make a big difference in the outcome of your audience/client.
Job Description Rule 2.
Know the position summery:
You should have a pretty good idea of the primary function & purpose of the job. All too often job seekers find themselves accepting an interview to a job they know nothing about. Some even come away from an interview and still don’t know what job they were just considered for. These are not good signs!
Job Description Rule 3.
Know the essential functions:
Rule of thumb is that a good Job Description has a list of 6 no more than 7 key roles and responsibilities. These functions are listed as core responsibilities and then followed up by a small paragraph that gives a few examples or details so that the applicant understands his or her role.
Job Description Rule 4.
Know key working relationships:
Once you understand your new role you now need to understand how it relates to the department and or team. It’s great if you can obtain a list of people you will need to work with that are essential to your success. See if you can get names, numbers and the purpose of that contact or individual. This will assist you in getting up to speed in the new position. Start collecting business cards in the interview process so that you can draft a small organizational chart in your head.
Job Description Rule 5.
Know the minimum requirements of the job
You need to know what the minimum requirements of the job are so that you can position yourself as the applicant that brings added value. Only when an offer is extended do you have a chance to negotiate your role what it looks like and even increase your pay.
Job Description Rule 6.
Know ADA (American Disability Act) Factors:
Learn what conditions you will be working under such as: the % of time required to stand, walk, sit, how much weight is expected for an employee to lift and or carry, environment, condition, hazards, fumes/dust/odors etc…
Follow these simple rules when putting a job description together and increase your chance to succeed! Go to http://www.activ8careers.com and read about how to negotiate the best deal after you get the job offer!
Often you will find upper level management / executives that don’t always follow the exact roles of their job descriptions since they are often expected to go above and beyond their duties. That’s when the job description is often more helpful for those that support upper management / executives. Real confusion occurs when employees lose sight of who is really in charge of change and to what extent?
By: David Hults
Posts Tagged ‘Job Description’
Job Description – What To Look For In An Job Description That Will Outline Your Success
April 3rd, 2010Creating Job Descriptions – A Guide For Small Business Owners
April 2nd, 2010
Job descriptions are imperative to your business because they define job responsibilities and expectations.
Job descriptions can be used in a number of ways in your business. First, a description will help a candidate decide if the job is of interest. Second, the description will help you interview the candidate to decide if the candidate is right for the position. The job description can help you in training new employees. Finally, the description forms the backbone of your evaluation and review process.
Many people will be tempted to skip this step. It’s too difficult; all of my employees know what they are supposed to do; I don’t have time; it’s a waste of time. The excuses go on and on. Don’t fall into this trap! Job descriptions are an absolutely necessary part of your business. As the business owner or manager, you are the one responsible to create them.
The job description should be as clear and precise as possible. Start by listing the major tasks an employee in that position will be responsible for. It could be customer satisfaction, follow-up, or administration.
Next, list the activities necessary to do each task. Be as detailed and precise as possible. If you aren’t specific and meticulous in describing every important aspect of the job, federal regulators and courts can assume that the employee can perform the job any way he or she wants, regardless of whether it complies with the company’s policy. This is important if you ever have issues with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Labor Department or just a disgruntled employee.
Do this for each task involved with this job. You may have a very long list. That’s ok!
Job descriptions that contain detailed statements of the employee’s job pass the accountability for that action to the employee. Pretty quickly you will stop hearing excuses. “I didn’t know I was supposed to do that” or “that’s not my job” are familiar ways for employees to pass the buck to someone else. With a precise statement, each employee knows exactly what is expected and there is little room not to be accountable.
Clear, precise job descriptions will help you to both hire and manage your employees.
By: Annette Greco
Job Sculpting – Customized Jobs Retain the Best Talent
March 20th, 2010
One size does not fit all – not in service responses, not in the jobs in the workplace. We want our food, music, fashions, and vehicles to reflect who we are; we also want our work to reflect who we are. In an intellectual or thinking workplace, the more jobs are customized to the talents and thinking of each employee, the better they perform. Customizing jobs directly affects employee engagement, attitude and company performance.
In the previous industrial age (before much of manufacturing moved offshore), standard job descriptions were the rule. This insured that all machinery and production would run as planned and that any employee could make the process work.
Today, we are in a service or intellectual age. Our success happens in the quality of our employees’ interaction with our customers; this cannot be mandated through standard job description because each service event is different and unique. Standard service responses do not work; instead, employees must be constantly thinking and inventing to inspire customer loyalty. The more the job is built around the strengths of each employee, the more engaged and competent employees feel. The greater these feelings, the more connected employees are to their work and to customers. The result is a significant improvement in performance. Customization is the key to employee commitment and performance.
Think of a standard job description in today’s age of customization as a shirt or a coat that doesn’t fit well…it is uncomfortable. When we wear something that is uncomfortable, we are constantly aware of its bad fit; it distracts us. The same is true with jobs that don’t fit – they distract us from performance. Today, all organizations need their employees’ full attention on performance; anything that districts employees from performance affects company success.
Customizing jobs, or more widely known as job sculpting, is the process that starts with a standard job description then modifies it to take advantage of the talents, interests and experience that are intrinsic to each employee. Job sculpting is a simple process summarized in the four points below:
1. Know your business. Before you can start to sculpt (customize) jobs for your employees, you must have a clear strategic understanding of your business because you will sculpt their jobs based on your business needs. Though most organizations host a formal strategic planning process each year, a basic strategic update should be done monthly that addresses the following two areas:
o What are the five most critical events/issues/opportunities facing the business today?
o What are the talents, skills and resources within the organization to address the items above?
This will start your process of job sculpting since the goal is to match the right employee with the critical business issues, changes or opportunities.
2. Know your employees. Know the talents, interests and values of each of your employees. Consider using “Strenghtsfinder 2.0″ by Tom Rath and its on-line questionnaire to define each employee’s talents. Then spend time with each employee to get to know their interests and values. You now know your business needs and the specific talents and unique strengths and performance resources available in your employees. You are almost ready to start job sculpting.
3. Review the standard job description. A standard job description is created to insure that completeness of position responsibilities, to help the business operate effectively and to define the talents needed by the employee to do the job well. This information encourages the millennial manager to hire the right employee who is a good fit for the expectations of the role. This will also assist us in our job sculpting process.
4. Sculpt the perfect job. First, review each employee’s talents, values and interests; now you know the engaging and interest areas for each employee. Next, review your business issues, changes and opportunities. What talents will be needed to handle these changes and opportunities and who will be best matched to work on them? Match employee talents/interests to the business needs to develop modifications to each employee’s job. Check to see if the task is already addressed in the job description. If not, add it. In most cases, the additional task will be well received by the employees since it in their talent and interest areas (it appeals to them). This creates an entirely new job description, customized for both the employee and the environment. For example, if the business changes required it, which employee would be excited to investigate a competitor’s website, create a telemarketing program, design a customer survey or create new more powerful daily performance reporting? Which employee would find it engaging to assess and propose a change to business hours, develop an on-line commerce site, attend a trade show, teach a course to other employees or re-organize a section of retail or office space?
The more the standard job descriptions are punctuated with energizing and customized responsibilities that match employee talent areas, the more employees are pulled into performance. Their jobs are continually updated, reinvented and sculpted. This way, no employee feels stale or bored; performance and engagement levels soar.
Successful management in today’s economy is based on personal connections. The more time a manager spends getting to know his employees’ strengths and interests, the stronger their bond is; this manager is also more capable of matching employees’ talents to the business issues/opportunities and to sculpting engaging jobs. As the environment changes, this constant dialog allows the manager to continue sculpting their jobs to keep them excited, engaged and connected to performance. Today, a “one size fits all” job approach drives employees away. Customize and sculpt jobs and you will attract, retain and inspire the best performers.
By: Jay Forte
