It costs over £4,000 to recruit a new member of staff and can take up anywhere between 25 – 50 hours of your time from looking through CVs, arranging and sitting in interviews and contacting unsuccessful candidates.
This means that it is very important that staff retention rates are high so that you can avoid going through the costly process of recruitment repeatedly.
If you find that you’re in this predicament then you’ll need to ask yourself, where am I going wrong?
Well, one of the most common reasons for an employee to hand in their resignation just months, or even weeks, after employment is that the job is not what they expected so they were not happy/satisfied, and they decided to leave.
If this is the case, then the issue may lay with your job description. But, have no fear; we are here to help you learn how to write the perfect job description.
To save yourself the hassle of trying to get it right alone, we provide an extensive recruitment support service for employers. With the assistance of a qualified recruitment consultant, we can oversee every step of your recruitment process and find you the ideal candidate as quickly as you need. Call us on 0845 2626 260 to find out more about this service
What Is the Purpose of a Job Description?
Job descriptions are the main bulk of any job advertisement and its role is to summarise what the job requires on a day to day basis and what is expected of the employee.
Job descriptions should be concise, easy to understand and accurate – there should be no skipping over the parts of the role that may not seem as enticing.
Though you are not legally required to provide a job description, it is best practice to do so. A job description can draw strong candidates in and can help instantly weed out the weaker candidates.
What Should Job Descriptions Include?
Each job description should be tailored specifically to that role and not just the same regurgitated text each time you are hiring.
It’s necessary to spend some time writing up
It should include:
- Job title – using commonly understood terminology
- Role – write a concise summary of the tasks they will be expected to do on a day-to-day or weekly basis
- Principle accountabilities and responsibilities – will they have set targets?
- Key relationships – who will they be reporting to, and which department will they be working in?
- Skills and experience required for the job, including qualifications
There may be other duties as part of working for the company that don’t necessarily relate to their role which will need to be included. For example, there may be a weekly rota in place for taking calls or distributing post, which would form part of their job.
How to Make Sure That Your Job Description is Right
There are a couple of ways in which you can ensure that your job description is an accurate summary of the role so as not to mislead or misinform any candidates.
You could start by having the person currently in that role review the description as they will know it better than anyone else. However, if there is no one currently in that position, then ask a few other employees for their input.
You could also seek support from your HR advisor or a consultant on the job description and get their feedback.
Just remember that, if you are being transparent about the role and not trying to paint a picture that might disappoint a new recruit when they actually start working, then you are less likely to find them heading for the door after a few weeks.
If you need any support or advice when it comes to recruitment, then give us a call today on 0845 2626 260
Our qualified HR consultants are experienced in hiring, training and developing new staff for businesses across all industries.
