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Great Job Descriptions |Leila’s House of Corrections

Think writing a job description isn't important? Think again. Finding the ideal candidate for the job begins here. Learn five tips for gathering a qualified pool of applicants.

If you have questions or suggestions for future video topics, Leila wants to hear from you.

Speaker: Leila Bulling Towne, Executive Coach, The Bulling Towne Group

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Tags: Job, Video, Recruitment & Selection, Corporate Communications, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Marketing, best practice, hiring, job description, skill set, applicants, qualifications, new employee

 
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    1

    Philly Frog

    10/11/08 | Reported as spam

    RE: Great Job Descriptions | Leila?s House of Corrections

    Problem: Downloading these videos is very jerky on a regular speed DSL line. Most of the time it is so bad as to be almost unusable. Compounding the problems is the fact that they do not really download, they stream, with loads of interruptions. What should happen is that the file downloads and they can be immediately replayed without any more downloading. This doesn't happen. Also, when there is another download from the same server, Lilia's disappear from sight, but still try to play (jerkily).

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    2

    Capt.Nagaraj

    11/01/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Great Job Descriptions | Leila?s House of Corrections

    Very Good!

    Though the coverage was short, the essence was conveyed pretty well.

    Thanks.

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    3

    iqiqer

    12/02/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Great Job Descriptions | Leila?s House of Corrections

    Short and to the point!

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    4

    ozyurtsavas@...

    01/15/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Great Job Descriptions | Leila?s House of Corrections

    I want to add to this that the job descriptions which are used in the job adds are also often different to what they are in real life. Sometimes even so badly that a job can be described in a add very sophisticated while in fact it is not.
    In these cases this is caused because someone from the company decides to join with the person from the recruiter firm to determine how the job add should sound like. If the employee of the recruiter firm doesn't understand the jobs field, that's when things might go wrong. Certainly when the company doesn't even bother to verify what's been written in the job add.
    So, you can end up with the wrong people at your door.. Waist of time

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    5

    sgwo20@...

    04/16/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Great Job Descriptions | Leila?s House of Corrections

    Good presentation, and for most HR people its what we have been taught from inception. However if the organization runs interference with the work of HR it can negatively impact on the HR professional's preparation of a good and effective JD. Excellent presentation.

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Great Job Descriptions |Leila’s House of Corrections

Think writing a job description isn't important? Think again. Finding the ideal candidate for the job begins here. Learn five tips for gathering a qualified pool of applicants.

If you have questions or suggestions for future video topics, Leila wants to hear from you.

Hiring a new employee? So eager to get that new person onboard that you posted a bare bones job description? If so, you ve made a classic rush to hire mistake: ignoring the value of a well written job description. Come on managers, it s time to write a great job description.

Job descriptions sound so fundamental that many managers spend little time on this step or even disregard it. Yet this is where the hiring process begins: stating the exact skills and competencies for the role. The clearer the job description, the better qualified the applicant pool. Cast a small net, not a wide one.

So when writing a job description, consider these tips.

Tip #1: Be accurate and avoid exaggerations.

Describe the position as it is now not what it might develop into once a qualified candidate excels in the role and gets promoted. In addition, avoid title inflation. Be accurate and honest. If someone joins your company because of the great title, he is joining on false pretenses.

Tip #2: List hard skills.

Hard skills are tangible and measurable. Create a list of roughly 10 primary tasks, no more. Then use words that describe exactly what the employee will be doing--verbs like analyze, assist, engineer, design, program, sell, or write. Describe exactly what you need.

Tip #3: List soft skills or competences.

Soft skills tend to be intangible and hard to measure. They express how we do something the behaviors we use. Pick 3-5 competencies for this position, no more. Soft skills include communication, initiative, leadership, strategic planning, and teamwork.

Tip #4: Be specific.

The more details the better. Instead of using a generic phrase like good communication skills, you could say creates and delivers stand-up presentations to large groups (50-100 people), weekly. This describes exactly what you re looking for.

Tip #5: Be realistic when it comes to education, work experience, and certifications.

If you require a certain amount of experience, then state it. If a degree is a prerequisite, state it. If not, consider flexibility in this area. Finding the ideal candidate is hard, so you may need to sacrifice some of your requirements in order to find the best person for the role.

Finally, no matter how well you write a job description and how accurately you describe tasks, things change.

And that s why you need to include the phrase, And other duties as assigned.