The purpose of doing a Job Description is to describe a job’s duties, functions, roles, tasks, reporting relationships, working conditions and supervisory responsibilities.

Preparing a thorough Job Description is a critical first step in the recruitment and selection process. The Job Description provides potential candidates with a clear description and main objective of a position and assists them in determining if they can perform the duties of the position. Candidates who determine they are unable to perform the duties or do not meet the minimum qualifications may self screen themselves out of the selection process, which ultimately makes the recruitment process more efficient. A meaningful Job Description is a valuable tool in the orientation of new employees.

Job descriptions generally include:

• A statement describing the general and specific duties of the position
• Classification title, geographic location, title of supervisor, and effective date of duties. If the position is supervisory in nature, it also lists the jobs supervised.
• General statement describing the nature of the department/program
• Description of the position’s supervisory reporting relationship
• List of typical essential and marginal functions/duties
• Duties broken down by percentage of time spent on each task
• Signature and date of employee and supervisor. You may want to include a disclaimer that the employee and supervisor acknowledges by signing the duty statement that they have discussed the expectations of the position.

A specific tool used in creating a Job Description includes a Job Analysis, as well as templates and examples of similar job descriptions. Get started with our Job Description template.

How to use it:

1. Review the template and gather the information necessary.
2. Complete the Job Description template and use the description for your recruiting and hiring process.
3. Create an action plan for completing the Job Description template, including research, obtaining input from key stakeholders, and reviewing the Job Description with others.

Praxie’s online Job Description tools allow any team or organization to instantly begin working with our web templates and input forms. Our digital platform goes far beyond other software tools by including simple templates, progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other SaaS software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.