Job Descriptions: You Have Them, So Use Them
Job Descriptions: You Have Them, So Use Them
Job descriptions are the quintessential “write it and forget it” document. But when used correctly, they’re a powerful tool and a staple of strong organizations.
How does someone know they’re effective in their role?
How does a manager properly evaluate a team member?
How do we ensure critical functions of the business or organization are maniacally focused upon?
Each of these vital questions is answered with a tool you likely already have: the job description.
Now, granted, I can’t think of a more boring topic. In fact, I was wracking my brain trying to generate a title for this newsletter that avoided the phrase “job description.” Just hearing it makes me sigh and roll my eyes a bit.
But, alas, it’s one of our most essential tools at kitchen & bath CRATE (oh look, a pretty new website!) and Trinity Builder Solutions (TBS).
Here’s how we format job descriptions and use them in the three phases of a person’s employment journey.
Formatting a Job Description
Our favorite job description format is as follows:
About the Job - An exciting summary of the opportunity and a description of the “type” of person that would be the perfect fit.
About the Company - What your company does, who it serves, where it does its work, etc.
About Our Culture - What differentiates your company, from a team member’s perspective?
Job Description - A bulleted list of precisely what the person will do daily, weekly, and monthly. It must be in order of importance. Hence, the first thing listed is this role's single most important function.
Required Ideal Attributes and Qualification - What skills, abilities, and competencies must the applicant possess to succeed?
Required Ideal Attributes and Qualifications - These are the “you don’t have to haves” that may make the person more effective in the role or get up to speed more quickly.
Compensation - Self-explanatory.
Benefits - Self-explanatory.
How to Apply - List the exact method you want a person to use, including specific instructions that, if not followed, will weed out those not detail-oriented enough to be on your team.
The Search Phase:
Obviously, post the job description everywhere. Your website, listing services, Linkedin, etc. Then, use your social media to drive as many views as possible. You never know when someone will know someone who knows someone who is a perfect fit.
Next, use the job description to extract your interview questions. My preferred format? “Tell me a time…” Ask about specific examples of when they’ve performed the actual key functions in prior jobs. The most important determination of a person's success in a position is if they’ve done that exact role (or a very similar one) before.
Lastly, use the job description to evaluate the answer to one of my favorite questions: “So, [insert applicant name], if you and I were friends, and we were chatting later today, and you mentioned you had a job interview, and I said ‘Oh, that’s cool. Tell me a bit about the job,’ what would you tell me?”
This question determines if the applicant truly understands the opportunity they’re applying for. And I’d say that only about a third of the people who make it to the phone interview stage deeply understand what they’re applying for. It’s fascinating. And mind-boggling.
The Training Phase
During training, keep the job description front and center.
Review it regularly (like, weekly) and consistently ask the new team member questions about it.
I often ask, “What is the most important thing you can do today to help the company achieve our goals?”
They soon realize the answer is almost always the first thing listed under their job description responsibilities. Ask this a few times, and they begin to memorize their key deliverables.
Another way the job description assists in training? If consulted regularly, the new employee will always know what to do next. No more paralysis by analysis. If they have three things to do, they need to focus on the one that is highest on their job description responsibilities. It’s that easy.
The Quarterly Check-in
Each team member has a quarterly check-in with their manager at our companies. I’ll share the details of this in a future post.
The company’s core values and the job description responsibilities are the focus of this check-in.
The team member rates themselves on a 1-3 scale, and the manager does the same. Then they compare notes!
If there is misalignment, that item is discussed until there is clarity on how to bring it back into alignment.
This all sounds simple because it is. When done correctly, there is little to no room for employees and their managers to be out of touch or misaligned with each other when it comes to job performance.
Conclusion
Perhaps it’s better to show than tell, so here is a job description from a recent TBS opportunity we filled a few weeks back.
What do you think? How could we make it better, more engaging, more clear? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, or you can email me at scott@scottmonday.com. I read them all!
Books of Note: There are a few books that, when mentioned, bring back strong feelings. Lauren Hillenbrand’s Unbroken is one such book. It’s the true story of Louis Zamperini, and all I’ll say is you won’t find a more spectacular story of grit, survival, and mental fortitude. It’s an impactful read.
I’d love a follow over on Twitter and Linkedin, as I post things there that are either too brief for the newsletter or are just entertaining things I come up with over a responsibly-sized serving of Blanton’s.