Creating the perfect Job Description

 

What is a job description and why is it important?

A job description or role profile otherwise known as, is a business document which details the necessary responsibilities, qualifications, skills and experience required by a company to successfully carry out a role. It should also detail the salary and the company benefits.

It’s important to create an effective JD as it initially ensures that you are recruiting the best candidates for your role and ensures that your expectations are established, and more importantly met.  It supports employee accountability as well as mitigating risk and liability, giving everyone a defined and transparent outline of what the role requires and expects.

It also allows the candidate to make sure that they are qualified to apply for the role in the first instance, minimising any wasted time for all parties.

 

What should be included?

JOB TITLE:

Make this as specific as you can. A generic job title will appeal to the masses but if it’s not specific enough, it may not be targeting the right audience you’re looking for.

JOB SUMMARY:

Open with some attention-grabbing company information.  Tell the reader about your company and your brand, and why this role is unique! Explain briefly about your company culture.

Tell them the location of the role.

Include details about hours and working environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:

Bullet point the core responsibilities of the position, usually with the most important and the most frequent being at the top.

Include any duties that may be unique to this role or to your business.

Highlight any additional day-to-day duties that you may not consider specific to this role, but that are still required by the employee.

Highlight the person who this role will report in to and how this role fits in with the organisation, and the impact it has on the business as a whole.

QUALIFICATION AND SKILLS:

It’s always a good idea to list both hard and soft skills in this section. Any necessary qualifications, certificates, professional accreditations should be included here as well as any specific experiences. It’s also good to list soft skills for example, strong communication and organisational skills.

Keep the list as concise as you can because you don’t want to discount one person just because they might be missing a criterion. Try and say ‘desirable not essential’ if you’re prepared to consider applications with out certain elements.

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

ALWAYS include a salary range to attract the appropriate candidate. Quality candidates look for roles which meet their needs and more often than not, salary is the most important, and the first thing which they look for when applying for jobs. Try and have a salary scale – so a ‘to’ and a ‘from’ giving more scope for more candidates to apply.

As well as salary, list your benefits. Rewards and benefits are now huge in talent attraction and also in helping with staff retention. Boast about what your company can offer such as:

• Flexible working hours
• Dog friendly office
• Pension
• Holiday

If you have an accountant, they should be your first stop for business advice. If you don’t have an accountant or they can’t help, BuBul has a wide range of experts available. For more advice why not contact our expert* Kelly on LinkedIn?

*We’ve picked experts we know and trust who are good at what they do. All of them will give you at least an extra 30 minutes free advice if you contact them and would then charge their normal prices. They don’t pay to be on BuBul and don’t give us any money from anything they earn as an expert.