BUS603: Managing People

Walt has a problem. He works as a manager in a medium-sized company and considers himself fortunate that the organizational chart allows him a full-time administrative assistant (AA). However, in the two years Walt has been in his job, five people have held this AA job. The most recent AA, who resigned after four weeks, told Walt that she had not known what the job would involve. "I don't do numbers, I'm not an accountant," she said. "If you want someone to add up figures and do calculations all day, you should say so in the job description. Besides, I didn't realize how long and stressful my commute would be - the traffic between here and my house is murder!"

Taken aback, Walt contacted the company's HR department to clarify the job description for the AA position. What he learned was that the description made available to applicants was, indeed, inadequate in a number of ways. Chances are that frequent turnover in this AA position is draining Walt's company of resources that could be used for much more constructive purposes.

An accurate and complete job description is a powerful SHRM tool that costs little to produce and can save a bundle in reduced turnover. While the realistic description may discourage some applicants (for example, those who lack an affinity for calculations might not bother to apply for Walt's AA position), those who follow through with the application process are much more likely to be satisfied with the job once hired. In addition to summarizing what the worker will actually be doing all day, here are some additional suggestions for writing an effective job description:

• List the job requirements in bullet form so that job seekers can scan the posting quickly.
• Use common industry terms, which speak to knowledgeable job seekers.
• Avoid organization-specific terms and acronyms, which would confuse job seekers.
• Use meaningful job titles (not the internal job codes of the organization).
• Use key words taken from the list of common search terms (to maximize the chance that a job posting appears on a job seeker's search).
• Include information about the organization, such as a short summary and links to more detailed information.
•     Highlight special intangibles and unusual benefits of the job and workplace (e.g., flextime, travel, etc.).
• Specify the job's location (and nearest large city) and provide links to local community pages (to entice job seekers with quality-of-life information).