How to Write an Employee Job Description 

As the owner and manager of your business, it’s crucial that you spend the time to craft a well-written job description for your employees.  A succinct job description clearly outlines employees’ job duties, and doesn’t leave room for miscommunication with both employee and employer. 

An accurate job description is the basic necessity a business owner needs when hiring and measuring employees’ performance.  Also, don’t create vague job descriptions that misrepresent day-to-day duties of employees.  Be specific with your language and be clear with requirements, tasks and past experience.

The following standard categories need to be included when writing an accurate job description for employees.

• Title of Job Description
• Classification
• Department/Supervisor
• Overall Responsibility
• Key Responsibilities
• Term of Employment
• Qualifications
• Physical Requirements and Work Environment
• Education and/or Equivalent Work Experience

These following tips will lead you in the right direction when writing an accurate job description.

• If you are revising a job description, do not rely on the past history of the job.  Think about how this job will affect your current objectives and the long term goals of your business. 
• Remember that a task is what the employee is actually going to do for your business.  Qualifications are the necessary skills and experience that employees have in order to complete those tasks.
• It’s important to think about what you want an employee to actually accomplish for your company.  You need to think in terms of priorities as opposed to a long list of “to-do” tasks.
• The job description needs to be realistic.  When you combine several different tasks and duties into one job description, make sure you haven’t created a position that very few people could actually fill.  You don’t want to scare future employees away by the job description alone.

As a business owner, you need to make an investment in the future of your company.  When you hire employees, it’s important to have job duties clearly outlined for employees in order to establish a well-managed, cohesive team.