Its something that should be done before the business opens and hires its first employee, but is seldom done, skipped over as obvious, juvenile, boring, or trivial but I suggest it is a basic building block and cannot be ignored, left undone.
First, in designing your employee teams, if one fails to create a detailed job description as a starting point, how is a potential employee to determine exactly what his job requirements may be? Or are you relying on the interviewing manager or owner to design the job description during the interview?
Are job titles so descriptive that it is adequate to describe a job by its title? Is the width and breath of a job to be left up to the prospective employee to determine and create, and even if it is, who determines if its in line with the vision of the owners, if the description isn’t written?
Is the line of reporting clear in a title? Are the specific hiring duties of the position clear? Are you assuming that your employee handbook covers most of the issues and details of a job in our company? Are goals and objectives discussed in the interview clearly recorded so they can be referred to in the future? Can a successful job be evaluated effectively if we have no bench marks and clearly stated areas of responsibility as well as goals and objectives outlined to measure success against?
How are differing visions kept in balance? How do we make certain we never hear the words: “Oh I thought….”, “I didn’t know you wanted me to do that”. By then its too late as management has already determined failure and the employee had not a clue as to the specific expectations. How could he or she?
Even if the interview process went well, and everyone believed the potential employee is in tune with the hiring manager, what if the hiring manager incorrectly assessed the person or the job requirements, there are no guidelines. What about the lower level jobs hired by managers, shouldn’t there be guidelines to follow in describing the jobs requirements? How does one determine if an applicant is suitable for the job if there is not a job description? All impossible.
Here is a recommended exercise that is fun, revealing, very informative and very helpful in the hiring process.Why not have your own job descriptions carefully written and previously evaluated to make certain it coincides with the vision and requirements of the business. Then after a careful interview of an applicant you think highly of, why not ask them to write their own job description, you will learn an enormous amount from such an exercise. First you will learn more about the applicants vision for the job, himself and the business. You will be able to make certain their is a wellness of fit between the applicant and the business. You will also be able to assess his writing and evaluation skills as this is an important document that he should try and do his best work on.
In the end the exchanging of job descriptions with each reading the others makes for wonderful discussions and clearer communications.
In fact it is a wonderful opportunity to make adjustments on your own job description as it is highly likely he will add additional insight, thoughts, ideas, direction, etc improving the vision. Its possible that fatal flaws will reveal themselves in this process also a good thing to have happen pre-hiring.
When your first employee review occurs, wouldn’t be helpful to be able to pull out both job descriptions, his and your own, and compare them to the job performance assessment. This may be a huge help in directing improvement, or rewarding excellence.
In short a job description is critically important. It puts everyone on notice that this is what the job requirements are, and if satisfactorily accomplished, the job has been done well.
Or is the whole thing a whim and a waste of time, as we really do not need job description as it seems few ever bother to draft them in my experience.
I strongly recommend a re-evaluation of this policy and a commitment to creating job descriptions for every job in your business, even if your business is well developed. Now is an excellent time to begin a new program and the next time you hire, you will be pleased and will better understand the value of this tool. Even introducing a newly drafted job description after the man has been long on the job can be valuable in bringing goals and objectives to be more closely aligned.
The simple message is, every business requires written job descriptions. Make certain you have covered this base adequately and review them from time to time as the job develops and the business matures. You will find these valuable references. Call if you need help 413-549-2966.
