A job description is a list of details regarding a particular job position in a company that helps a prospective employee get familiar with the specifics of the job. The document commonly includes requirements for a job seeker, their job duties, expected skills, achievements, etc. A job description can be made open to the public or might be placed as an internal job advertisement.
Along with that, a job description outlines the tasks that a worker will have to perform on a day-to-day basis including equipment or tools they are supposed to use, their supervisors, and the overall mission of the company.
Take a few minutes of your time to learn more about this important tool for recruiting and what should be included in job descriptions. You can also make use of the job description templates provided on our webpage.
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A job description generally has the following purposes:
A job description template is something you will need to use if you want to make an informative and action-promoting job description. Use one of the formats we provide – PDF, ODT, or DOC. Just click on the needed format and download the template.
Human resources managers are usually responsible for producing effective job descriptions. It requires conducting some analysis first and then organizing the information in a clear and concise manner. A human resources manager would typically go through the following steps:
Before crafting a job description, you need to thoroughly gather all of the required information. The best practices of learning the performance standard include getting information from employees using questionnaires or worksheets. It helps learn what tasks are being performed and how they should be done.
Another thing to do is to collect information from position descriptions on various job boards. The Occupational Outlook Handbook provided by the US Bureau of labor statistics might be handy here as well. The info you seek for is knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, and physical characteristics required for a particular job.
Then, collected info for a job description should be revised by the employee who is currently in the position and if possible, their supervisor.
The next information you need to define is the essential functions of the position. Federal laws require them to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is why it is important to define and word functions as to not seem potentially exclusionary to people with disabilities.
When defining tasks for the position, try to:
This analysis will allow you to determine whether the functions are essential or insignificant. Those ones that are considered essential should be included in a job description.
There is no standard job description structure, which is why what you include should depend on your company’s common practices of writing job descriptions. But typically, a job description should consist of:
Before using a job description for job postings, interviews, etc., a draft should be presented to upper management and the position supervisor. They should review and approve the job description or tell what to add or remove from it.
As a human resources manager, you have to write a job description very carefully as the information provided in the job description will be used by job seekers to get a picture of the position and your company in general.
Here are the steps to filling out a standard job description template.
Step 1
The first thing to include in a job description is the job title. Usually, it is written in an enlarged font so that it captures a job seeker’s attention and lets them know that it is the position they are looking for.
Step 2
The next step in filing a job description is providing a brief job overview. It generally tells what is expected from a candidate, what is considered successful performance, how the position influences other members of the team, and what role it has in the company.
The recommended length of this section is about 4 sentences.
Step 3
The next step is listing the job duties and responsibilities of a prospective employee. They should be listed in the order of importance – with the most responsible and important skills being at the top of the list.
One of the ways to make the information in a job description more informationally valuable and understandable for job seekers is to start sentences with verbs. It is also important to use present tense for job description and avoid wordings that would imply any bias towards men, people of only a certain age group, etc.
Step 4
The last step to writing a job description is to outline qualifications that are expected from the job seeker. They usually include education and experience from previous work places, technical skills, certifications, and licenses. For specific job titles, qualifications might contain certain physical abilities a prospective employee should possess. For instance, it might be relevant for lifeguards, fitness trainers, or firefighters.
As well as that, the qualification section of a job description might contain certain personal characteristics. For example, a company seeking to hire a content manager might want to give work to a creative person with an out-of-the-box way of thinking and good management abilities, while a person who will be a programmer might be expected to have good communication skills, highly developed logical thinking, perseverance, and attention to detail.
Job descriptions vary greatly from industry to industry. But the requirements of informativeness and conciseness are the same regardless of the field.
Let’s say a company needs an experienced sales manager. Then, a human resources manager might utilize the following sample job description.
Vacancy description:
A fast-growing financial markets company needs a full-time Sales Manager in our San Francisco office! We seek to hire a person who will be responsible for supervising and organizing our sales team. Our perfect sales manager will help us meet our customer acquisition and revenue growth targets by keeping our company competitive and innovative.
Requirements:
Duties:
Working conditions:
Hurry up to send a response to our vacancy!
A job description is typically the only document that describes a position, the qualifications needed to take it, and what role it plays in a company. A job description lets a company determine what candidates are considered the best fit for the role and evaluate in the future whether an employee is performing primary job duties that are required for the position. First, research on the role should be done. Subject matter experts should be asked on whom they want to see in their teams. Then, when creating a list of major responsibilities, make sure to use clear language with action words to give applicants who will read a job description a clear idea of what skills they should possess to apply for the position. The best job description is a brief and detailed text that leaves no room for extra questions regarding the position requirements and expectations for job candidates. Except for being brief and informative, job descriptions should also engage readers from the first lines. A good way to compel prospective employees with a job description is to focus on the responsibilities along with possibilities for development in the company. Another effective method is to make a job posting urgent. Including physical demands in a job description helps companies comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The most important task here is to make sure the wording used in a job description does not seem to be exclusionary to individuals with disabilities.Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need a job description?
How to best describe job responsibilities in a job description?
How to make an effective job description?
What to make a job description attract qualified candidates?
Should a job description include physical demands?
For instance, it is not a good idea to include the words “a person taking the position will have to walk” as it excludes people who don’t have the ability to walk but can still move from one place to another. Therefore, to comply with the requirements of the ADA, an employer has to write in a job description “move” instead of “walk.” The same goes for the word “talk” – it is more tolerant to include in a job description the word “communicate” if the role doesn’t necessarily require a prospective employee to speak out loud.