The recruitment process is a huge investment for any company. It can take weeks, sometimes months to find the right person for your company. The role description is one of the most important components of this effort and it’s easy to overlook its importance and design it poorly. This article will provide you with tips on how to create a well-designed role description that will make it easier to find the right people for your company!
Finding the perfect match to fit a vacancy or newly created position is never easy. To find and recruit the perfect candidate, you’ll need to put in the work.
The process of getting the right person for the job starts with designing a coherent informative role description. Simply explained, a role description is a written statement outlining the accountabilities, skills and experience, authorities and reporting requirements of a particular role.
A well-designed role description will motivate the right applicants to apply for the role. On the other hand, if the role description is poorly designed and fails to properly outline what is required in the role, then it is highly likely that poorly suited applicants will apply, and the right people you are looking for may not.
Clear concise role descriptions should give potential applicants all the information that they need to understand exactly what the job involves. This clear picture will allow the prospect to form their own judgment about their suitability and respond accordingly.
Writing a role description can be time-consuming and difficult to get right. It is more than just about listing the job’s duties; it should highlight how each duty contributes to success in the company.
What makes an effective role description? The best way of writing a good job description is by being clear, concise and relevant.
Clarity is one of the key drivers for your business has clearly defined role descriptions. Research has shown that one of the biggest employee motivational factors is clarity of role. That is, that the role description makes it abundantly clear about what they are required to do and how they are to go about it, in other words, how they can add value and how they will know when they do. Well-written job descriptions remove ambiguity and anxiety. This clarity is beneficial for both existing and potential employees. With clarity comes certainty and confidence.
Applicants well-suited to the position will be able to address the key accountabilities detailed in the job description and confidently detail their suitability for the role. Similarly, the job description should help you screen out the candidates that are not well suited to the position prior to the interview.
There are five key components in writing an effective job description. These are:
- An accurate job title that reflects the true nature of the job. The job title should be sufficiently generic to match industry standards.
- A brief description of the key accountabilities expected of the position. For extra clarity, it may help to allocate time weightings to the various accountabilities.
- An outline of skills and competencies needed to successfully perform the role.
- A description of where the position fits in the hierarchy of the organisation.
- Salary – preferably commensurate with competitors in the industry.
A well-written job description will not only give potential candidates a clear idea of the role that they would be expected to perform but also serve to:
- Provide some legal protection to the organisation when recruiting as it can justify the selection or non-selection of candidates.
- Help to give a broad understanding of position roles across the organisation.
- Motivate employees to improve with an eye to advancement
- Clearly define employee roles.
- Developing clear coherent role descriptions and maintaining them can lead to
- successful recruitment and development of the right people for your business.
Well-designed role descriptions can help you to align the right people with your business goals.
Get in touch with us today if you would like assistance with attracting and developing the right talent to help your business grow.