Simply put, a job description is the roles, duties, and tasks that the person in a job needs to perform during his/her tenure of employment with a company. Job description or JDs as fondly known as a source for the employees to know the job and apply for it. With changing times when the HR and company management is forced to change a lot about their policies and outlook, do not let simple things like JDs stop you from hiring the right talent for your company.
Now you might want to know how a JD does affect hiring and why HRs should focus more on it. Job descriptions reflect the expectations of the employee. Despite being one of the most important document, it is left unattended by HRs many times. A lot of time, the description is usually lifted off from the internet or the old ones are repeatedly used without changing.
Now to know why JDs are important, we must understand a few things:
- New jobs are rising —
There are new jobs and fields that are being formed every day. Jobs like data scientists, CHOs (Chief Happiness Officers), etc. did not exist before but they are on a rise now. Now, how do you define these roles with your age-old descriptions? You would ultimately end up getting irrelevant applications. A freshly and minutely worked upon JD helps you avoid the unnecessary wasting of your time explaining the job profile to every candidate.
- Specific skill requirements —
Many jobs today have a specific skill requirement and if your JD overlooks this important aspect, you will end up wasting your time going through the CVs with a fine-toothed comb and ending up with little or no candidature at hand. Make sure that your CV mentions all the specific skills required by the candidates along with the expectation from the company.
- Matching expectations of the candidate —
When a candidate reads about the opening in your company and goes through the Job description either, he is interested to apply or not, one thing is certain that he forms a perspective of the company and most importantly, the job that he will be applying to. Now imagine his surprise and frustration if he joins the office and the job is not as what was defined in the job description. They might end up leaving the company faster than you might have anticipated, costing you much more.
- To avoid any dispute —
To avoid any altercation and wasting either yours or the candidate’s time, you might want to revise the job description. Maybe in the interviews or during a job, there might arise a point of a clash between the supervisor and the candidate, something that can simply be avoided in the initial stages of the recruitment itself.
In addition, JD also plays a very crucial role in performance management and appraisals. Some activities like giving the copy of same job description to the candidate before the interview can help in smooth conduction of the interview because the candidate is constantly reminded of what is expected out of them in the interview. Mistakes an HR may make while hiring must be attended properly to avoid any type of confusion later.
That’s it. We hope it helps you with your further hiring. To know more about how Pocket HRMS can help you in effective hiring, or write to us at sales@pockethrms.com.
