Job descriptions are a crucial aspect to the recruiting and hiring process for the acquisition of talented employees. Human resource teams are tasked with generating job descriptions which directly affect both the recruiting process and internal employee functions on a day to day basis. Issues that often arise with these job descriptions is that they are unclear, inaccurate or give false representations of the work to be performed. In an article by Kathryn Tyler titled “Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions, Kathryn details that often times, once job descriptions are completed, they are “relegated to dusty three-ring binders or long-unopened text documents.” This is an unacceptable approach regarding the description of work that current and future employees are subject to.
To best setup future and current employees for success, there has to be a better approach to the development and upkeep of the job descriptions that are created. This has to be of top priority as employees need to haver a clear understanding of their duties upon being hired and while continually being employed. Allowing employees to truly understand their role instills confidence, improves performance and contributes to improved cohesion between different members of a company. The best way to approach these job descriptions entails regularly updating them to best reflect the duties of the current position. Jobs are everchanging, making it crucial for continuous revisions of these job descriptions that the human resource teams put together. This does not have to be a weekly, monthly or even quarterly ordeal; I believe that a six month check in and revision will allow these descriptions to stay relevant and up to date.
Citations:
https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/hr-magazine/job-worth-update-descriptions
