Your job descriptions provide managers with clear guidelines for hiring, developing, and managing employees. The descriptions also clarify the job expectations for employees and support compensation, performance standards, and development decisions.
Your job descriptions are an important part of your job postings. They let candidates know the duties and responsibilities of a role and the requirements to be successful in the position.
Because your job descriptions serve multiple purposes, they need to be current. The following are four ways to can make sure the information is updated.
Implement these four tips to update your job descriptions to increase your applicant pools.
1. Position Summary
Summarize the main job duties and responsibilities.
- Make the role attractive to job seekers.
- Share information about your department.
- Include who the employee reports to and whether any employees report to them as well.
2. Minimum and Preferred Qualifications
Clarify the qualifications that candidates must have to apply for the role. Include the qualifications that make candidates even more attractive to the hiring manager. Focus on the major end results of the role.
- The minimum requirements are a shorter list of your objective criteria.
- Include the minimum education and experience required for success.
- The preferred qualifications are nice to have if applying for the position. A candidate without the preferred qualifications still may be hired.
- These qualifications are on a longer list of more subjective criteria that can be discussed in more detail during an interview.
- Examples of preferred qualifications include soft skills such as communication, attention to detail, and organization.
- The preferred qualifications set candidates apart from those with the bare minimum qualifications.
3. Duties and Responsibilities
Include the main job functions in order of importance.
- Be as specific as possible about the job duties and responsibilities.
- Explain whether the employee makes recommendations to a decision-maker or makes the actual decisions.
- Use clear action words and specific adjectives for each task. For example, “Create Excel sheets from raw data, including pivot tables and formulas such as if/then. Perform data entry to update, sort, analyze, and summarize in reports for leadership.”
4. Physical Requirements
Clarify whether there are any physical requirements to complete the work. Include whether accommodations can be made for candidates who need them.
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Sharing clear, updated information in your job descriptions lets candidates know what would be expected of them in the role. Clarification of the position summary, minimum and preferred requirements, duties and responsibilities, and physical requirements help candidates decide whether to apply for a position. This narrows down your options when deciding who to contact for an interview.
If you need help with crafting your job descriptions or recruiting candidates that best meet the hiring qualifications, contact the experienced recruiters at Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Reach out to discuss your needs today.
