Having an accurate and detailed job description is very important for everyone that is involved in the job application process.
For the person applying for the job, it is very important to know what kind of position you are applying for and what experience they require you to have. In some cases, they require those applying for the job to be proficient in specific computer programs and to be well versed with certain tasks and activities. What employers call “proficient” can vary from company to company, and this should not always shy people away from the job because proficiency for that company may just require you to have a very basic understanding of how the software works and how to navigate it. For example, when I was applying for an internship last year the skill sets included “proficient in excel”. In my mind I thought about how many different buttons there were on excel I had yet to use. I knew how to make graphs and create data charts but there seemed to be so much of the software I did not know. In my interview I asked them, “What is your company looking for when including “proficient in excel”?”. They responded with “Can you use math formulas throughout the excel spreadsheet and navigate the pages?”. I responded with “yes!” The next day I received an internship offer from the company.
For the employer it is very important to be clear about what it is you will require out of employee if there are to be hired. If the description is not complete and the person is then hired and struggles because all responsibilities of the job were not covered in the description, this then falls on the employer. At that point the employer can either help train the employee on the tasks they are not familiar with, or they are to let that person go. As an employer, to find the best match for the position you are looking to hire, it all starts with the job description.
Job descriptions can be confusing and alarming, but if you feel that you check most of the boxes go for it because you may find that you are a better fit than you had imagined.