Writing a job description you will actually use afterwards

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Introduction

A job description is written to fill a vacancy. It lists twenty responsibilities, several of which were included because they sounded appropriate, and it is filed after the appointment and never opened again.

Eighteen months later there is a performance conversation, or a restructure, or a dispute about whether something was somebody's job. The document that should answer that question describes a role that never quite existed and includes the phrase "and any other duties as required", which answers nothing. The description is used at every difficult moment and written for none of them. It is the only document that answers the question and it was drafted to fill a vacancy.

1. Writing a job description you will actually use means writing for three purposes

Recruitment is only the first.

It is used to attract candidates, to set expectations and measure performance, and to establish what somebody is responsible for when that becomes contested. A document written only for the advert serves the other two badly.

2. Describe outcomes rather than activities

The most useful change.

Not attending meetings and processing orders, but what should be true as a result: orders dispatched accurately within a day, customers responded to within four hours. Outcomes can be discussed and assessed; activities can only be observed. An activity list also goes stale the moment the work changes; an outcome usually does not.

3. Keep the list short

Long lists dilute everything.

Six to eight genuine responsibilities, in order of importance. A list of twenty tells the employee nothing about priority, which means the priority is decided by whatever is most urgent that morning. In a small business that means the loudest customer sets the job description every day.

4. Separate what is required from what is preferred

Both for recruitment and for fairness.

Requirements that are not genuinely necessary narrow your field of applicants and can create discrimination risk. Being honest about which qualifications and experience are actually needed widens the pool in the right direction.

5. Say who they report to and who reports to them

Structure matters in small businesses too.

Ambiguous reporting lines produce work being requested by several people and prioritised by nobody. In a business of eight this is more disruptive than in a business of eight hundred, because there is no other system to fall back on.

6. Include the parts of the job people dislike

Prevents early departures.

Weekend cover, difficult customers, physical work, cleaning up, administrative tasks. Candidates who learn about these in week two feel misled, and the resulting turnover costs more than the honesty would have.

7. Be careful with the catch-all clause

Necessary and frequently abused.

A reasonable clause about other duties is standard; using it to add substantial responsibilities without discussion is how a role drifts into something the person never agreed to. Significant changes belong in a conversation, not in a clause.

8. Review it when the job changes

The reason most become fiction.

Roles evolve continuously in small businesses, and the description written at recruitment describes the job as it was. An annual check, or a review whenever responsibilities move, keeps it usable.

9. Use it in the appraisal

Closes the loop.

Discussing performance against the stated responsibilities makes the conversation objective and makes the document worth maintaining. A description never referred to is one nobody has any reason to keep accurate.

Keep it separate from the contract. Contractual terms bind you until varied by agreement, and a job description incorporated into the contract cannot be updated as the role develops, which is exactly what you need to be able to do.

Conclusion

Write it for recruitment, for performance and for accountability rather than for the advert alone.

Describe outcomes instead of activities, keep the responsibilities to a short prioritised list, distinguish genuine requirements from preferences, state reporting lines clearly, include the unattractive parts of the job honestly, use the catch-all clause sparingly, review the document when responsibilities change, refer to it during appraisals, and keep it outside the contract so it can be updated.