I’ve had the opportunity to work in both the public and private sector, and I can relate with the frustrations and irritations of developing and maintaining job descriptions.  One of my first jobs in the public sector was working in a film library for a university.  The classification that I worked under was Office Specialist, which did not relate at all with what I did eight hours a day, five days a week.  I think that the position of Office Specialist was a cookie cutter title that the university used for a large swath of different titles.  The Office Specialist was a clerical position, similar to what a secretary or executive assistant might be.  This was a way for Oregon Higher Education to bunch people together into a particular “classification”, which would then be attached to your more narrowly defined job description.  Each classification had pay scales, which were usually taken as yearly step increases, topping out after eight years.  There where also different levels of classification, such as Office Specialist 1, 2 and 3, each with a slightly higher pay and step increases.

I took it upon myself to try and change the classification, based on my job description.  The process was overwhelming for a change in classification.  I was told the process could take upwards of a year, and that there was no guarantee that management would change it.  I did end up getting re-classified, but it was with immense support from my direct manager, the Dean of the school I worked for, and other managers that I had asked for there help.

A few words regarding the public sector.  The HR departments in the public sector are not going to be as pragmatic and proactive as the private sector (in my opinion).  Job description and classification analysis at the university that I worked for did nothing close to annual reviews or evaluations.  The university was more reactive to staff complaints when positions did not align with descriptions.