For most companies, job descriptions come after the successful candidate has been hired and ready to be inducted into the company.
Doing things this way almost reverses the proper order of activities and assumes that it does not matter where the horse is placed: in front of or behind the cart.
Job description is the first activity that should set the tone in professional staff planning programmes. Treating job description as the head in a series of planning and management of staff activities shows that the company (whether yet to be born or already a going concern) knows its way in a complex maze.
When a well-designed, job description forms the foundation on which other equally essential processes such as vacancy announcements, recruitment, selection and later on after the new staff has arrived, compensation, training, and ultimately, periodic evaluation.
Developing a clear job description gives the employer a good idea of the talent he must hunt. Without that initial definition of the function of the position, the qualities required to be able to remain efficient at the task may be compromised.
For instance, when a startup is hiring a degree holder in accounting, it may require the ideal candidate to come to the new position with other skills-set such as managing people, helping hire supporting clerks, have a reasonable idea how to manage fleet in addition to their core accounting knowledge. Without a thorough job description, the business may hire a candidate with the core skills but inadequate complementary competences in other related areas.
A standard job description begins with the demands of the position and the reporting procedure. This description is often a summary of the key functions of the position that sets out the rationale for the role. Whoever the new person will be reporting to must be explicitly clear so as to reduce and if possible eliminate role ambiguity and confusion. .
Job descriptions often take a tone suggestive of the fact that some core values must be demonstrated by all employees of the company. Capturing these in the job description serves as a performance standard measuring rod for all employees. Staff who found their way into any of the offices of the company but who may lack one or two of such values must strive to reach that standard or face sanctions when evaluation arrives.
Job descriptions always embody the level of experience necessary for the position. The job description of a mechanical engineer that fails to encompass the level of experience necessary to be up to the challenges of the task is a sure substandard work.
Even though it may seem to suffice to say that the ideal candidate must have knowledge of hydraulics, not stating in greater details the level of experience and skills particularly necessary for the position may lead to the employment of a the wrong person for the job. The amount of knowledge and the capacity of the candidate’s abilities are usually incorporated in the job description.
When the work design and complications are high, usually a higher, more technical certificate is required as against a task involving fewer complications. Technical job descriptions go further to list the core areas that the ideal candidate must be familiar with.
A mastery of the use of generic industry software or specialised ones is normally mentioned in the job description. For technicians familiar with heavy duty equipment, trouble shooting tends to be a basic requirement that is often left out in the job description but which knowledge is essential for greater productivity.
When the task of designing the job description is thorough and professionally executed, subsequent job seeking candidate screening is made easy and fair. The job description becomes a handy checklist against which the quality of each and every candidate that is passing through is evaluated against.
As it turns out sometimes, some resident HRs have excellent interviewing skills but somehow lack the knowledge that no matter how professionally they design, handle and rate an interview session, without that interview springing forth from a precise job description, the ideal candidate with the best possible matching features of the vacant position may go home without a job. The job may actually go to the wrong candidate!
When the first 90 days trial period we usually refer to as probation elapses, the first employee evaluation exercise is carried out. Whatever employee evaluation method the business chooses is not as relevant as the fact that that evaluation must be benchmarked against the job description on the basis of which the candidate was hired. Here again, job description ensures that this very important exercise is carried with the interest of both parties fully catered for.
Companies that post jobs without detailed, precise corresponding job descriptions harm themselves in the long run. A lot do that deliberately even though for some, ignorance may be blamed for it but whatever the motivation and rationale, two things often ensue after hiring: job dissatisfaction and employee evaluation challenges.
When a sketchy job description is posted under a vacancy announcement, the salary expectation of interested candidates may be low but when they later realize that the bulk of work is enormous, they may soon feel shortchanged and if this is not resolved quickly, productivity may suffer.
When you end you employee evaluation and rate the subject as average or above average using job description elements that were originally not incorporated in the initial description, chaos may arise. GB
