- What is a job description?
A job description sets out the purpose of a job, where the job fits into the organisation structure, the main accountabilities and responsibilities of the job and the key tasks to be performed.
The job description may be given in great detail on the company website or you may be limited to what is printed in a small advertisement (see example below).
- Why is a job description important?
A job description has four main uses:
- Organisation - it defines where the job is positioned in the organisation structure. Who reports to whom.
- Recruitment - it provides essential information to potential recruits (and the recruiting team) so that they can determine the right kind of person to do the job (see person specification)
- Legal - the job description forms an important part of the legally-binding contract of employment
- Appraisal of performance- individual objectives can be set based on the job description.
- Contents of a Job Description
The main contents of a job description are:
- Job title: this indicates the role/function that the job plays within an organisation, and the level of job within that function (e.g. Finance Director would be a more senior position than Financial Accountant - although both jobs are in the "finance department")
- Reporting responsibilities: who is the immediate boss of the job holder?
- Subordinates; who reports directly to the job holder?
- Main purpose - who is involved in the job overall
- Main tasks and accountabilities: description of the main activities to be undertaken and what the job holder is expected to achieve (e.g. in the case of the Management Accountant, this might include "Complete monthly management accounts by the 10th working day of each month and the preparation of a report on all key performance variances")
- Employment conditions
See person specification and team recruitment
Marketing Assistant - job requirements
Account executive - job requirements