While reading the materials for this week, I reflected back on my own experience with job descriptions while applying and working with different businesses over the years. While most were fairly straightforward and easy to follow, I also had one particular experience where my job role was very difficult to define, and because of this I ultimately left the position. To keep this business anonymous, I will say it was a small, specialized medical office, with three doctors and five other employees. When I was hired for the position, I was given a short job description as a front desk receptionist, which I was confident I could excel at based on my previous experience. However, after my training period, I felt like the goal posts moved. Once I was confident in my position, I was cross-trained for two other positions in the office in case those employees were to call out sick to keep operations running smoothly. I understood this logic and am always open to learning new skills, so I quickly agreed, but this was not the problem. The problem was, it quickly became apparent that I should be filling in for these positions at any point in time when each person was otherwise occupied with a patient, and I often was doing more than one job. Because of this, my own work suffered and I was often torn between keeping patients waiting and fulfilling my actual job duties. While reading Jobs Worth Doing: Update Job Descriptions, I thought back on this experience and realized how important a clear job description, and my input as the employee would have been to my longevity at the office. In fact, this experience made me return to school and change careers. Because of this, I would always be proactive in updating job descriptions using employee input and be upfront about job expectations upon hiring.
