GUIDELINES FOR WRITING JOB DESCRIPTIONS

The following instructions will assist in preparing accurate job descriptions and performance standards.  In looking at each of the areas addressed, please refer to the attached sample description.

Position Title:  Present position title, if appropriate.  If this is a new or revised job description, a new title may have to be assigned or established by a member of Compensation Administration.

Department:  Department in which the job is actually located and budgeted.

Reports To:  Title of the position to which the job is assigned (i.e. supervisor's title).

Prepared By:  Name of individual(s) preparing the description and date completed.

Approved By:   Name of individual who has final approval and budgetary authority.  In most cases, this will be the name of the Dean, Director, or Department Head.

Effective Date:  Date the description is to be effective.

Shift:  The actual days of the week to be worked and hours.  The University's standard work week is Monday through Friday, 8: 30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and flexible schedules are allowed.

Position Summary:  A brief, one-to-four sentence paragraph that summarizes the function of the position within the department.  Only the major responsibilities should be included here.

Minimum Qualifications Required:  The minimum educational and experiential qualifications an incumbent must possess in order to perform successfully the duties and responsibilities of the position, including licensing requirements.  Only in cases where education is a bona fide and legally defensible requirement of the job should the requirements be stated in absolute terms.  Care should be exercised not to overstate these requirements, as doing so will substantially limit the qualified applicant pool. The minimum selection criteria should be objective, directly related to the job, and not reflective of any particular individual's knowledge, skills or abilities.  Departments should also consider whether bona fide equivalencies may be cited.  Example:  A bachelor’s degree or a minimum of 8 years directly related previous program management experience required.

To satisfy legal requirements, specific physical and/or mental requirements such as lifting, moving, or carrying objects of a certain weight; standing for extended periods of time, attention to detail, hearing, carrying, moving, pushing/pulling, climbing, etc. that are necessary in order for an employee to perform the job should be described clearly and precisely and should include frequency.  And, of course, the actual use of these particular skills or abilities must be depicted in the job's key responsibilities.

Transferable Experience:  Comparable experience that may be considered in lieu of the stated minimum experience qualifications stated should be indicated here, if applicable.  (Example:  Sales, marketing, or admissions experience may be considered as substitutions for fundraising experience by candidates applying for development officer positions.  Project management experience may be identified as a transferable skill for grant management experience, etc.)

Qualifications Preferred:  Desired qualifications relative to education, experience, specific skills (e.g., software), etc. should be stated here.  Candidates will not be disqualified from employment consideration based on any desired qualifications stated here.

Key Responsibilities and Performance Standards:  This is the heart of the job description and describes clearly and concisely the essential duties and responsibilities of the position and respective performance standards.  Key points to keep in mind:

• For each key area of responsibility, determine approximately the amount of time an incumbent typically would spend performing that duty throughout the year and indicate as a percent.  List the key areas of responsibility in descending order, with the responsibility requiring the most amount of time first.  A position will be classified based on the emphasis of the job's function, not the importance or perceived value of that particular function.
  
• Describe duties and responsibilities as they presently exist or are expected to exist.  If preparing a description for a new position, the department should feel relatively comfortable that the proposed job duties and function of the position are accurately represented.
  
• The last key responsibility of all job descriptions should be assigned no more than 5 percent and should read as follows:  Performs other related job duties or responsibilities as requested or required, whether or not specifically mentioned in this job description.  Performance standards:  Exhibits a willingness to assume additional duties; seeks the guidance of supervisor prior to beginning an unfamiliar assignment.
  
• Group related tasks together in a single key responsibility, making sure that no one key responsibility is assigned an inordinate percentage of time.  This will ease in completing annual performance appraisals.
  
• For uniformity and ease in writing, begin each sentence with a plural verb, followed by an object and an explanatory phrase.  Examples:  Delivers the mail to academic departments according to prescribed schedule.  Prepares correspondence for department head and assigned faculty members using various software systems.

Performance standards are the criteria against which the results of an employee's work performance are evaluated and are essential from both the employee's and the department's point of view.  The employee needs to have a clear understanding of the basis upon which his/her performance will be evaluated; and the performance standards are the means by which the department ensures that the work performed contributes to its operational objectives. 

Performance standards should evaluate both what the employee does and the result.  Think in terms of quality, quantity, time, and cost effectiveness.  They must also be realistic, achievable, observable, and measurable.

Bloodborne Pathogens:   Indicate here if the position is, or is not, at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens.  Minimum qualifications and essential duties and responsibilities must highlight areas of potential exposure risk.

Financial Responsibility:  Enter here the appropriate financial responsibility of the position.  This might be reflected as the department's total operating budget, payroll budget, petty cash responsibility, revenue responsibility, or other appropriate financial responsibility(ies).  If the position has no specifically-assigned financial accountability, enter "N/A" (not applicable) here.

Supervisory Responsibility:  Supervisory responsibilities include hiring, supervising, evaluating, counseling, and terminating employees.  Enter here the number of full-time or part-time positions directly supervised and the job titles.  If no employees are directly supervised, indicate "None" here.  Of course, any positive response in this section must be described in the position's key responsibilities.

Signatures:  This section indicates that both the employee and supervisor have been part of the process to create, revise, and possibly approve the job description.  All classified staff employees must sign their job description, indicating that they have read and agree to perform the job duties and responsibilities of the position as depicted in the description itself.

When a new position is created for which an incumbent does not yet exist, the description should bear the signature of the supervisor.  Departments are strongly encouraged to provide a copy of the job description to candidates who apply for the position to ensure that the candidate fully understands the requirements and responsibilities of the position.  Once an employee is hired into the position, the employee and supervisor must sign and submit a copy of the description to the Department of Human Resources for inclusion in the employee's official Human Resources file.

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