How to write Job Descriptions and Role
Profiles
Before any job is recruited for or advertised it is essential to identify what exactly the
need is, what skills and behaviours are required for an individual to be successful in
the role and what you can afford. In the initial stages you need to check that the
potential need is an actual need and then produce/update the job description or role
profile if there isn’t already one in place.
Is there a need?
Recruitment can be a costly activity; therefore it is essential that you ensure that you
are channelling this activity effectively and not over-resourcing.
This can be
established by asking some basic questions:★ Has the need arisen by someone leaving?
★ Has the role changed? Has it been influenced by new products, services or
changes in technology?
★ Have work patterns changed?
★ Has an exit interview been conducted? This could highlight important points
about the potential vacancy.
★ Could the role be broken down and key tasks distributed among the team?
★ Is it a new role?
★ Does it fit in with budget?
★ Will it be cost-effective? Do the benefits justify the expense?
★ Should it be full-time, part-time or contract?
★ Could the work be distributed among the current team? Can individuals be
trained? Could technology make an impact? Could shift patterns be
altered?
Once you have established that there is a specific need, the next stage is to update
the current Role Profile and/or produce a new one if necessary.
Role Profiles/Job Description?
The term "Role Profile" is a blend of both a Job Description and a Person
Specification or outline of the type of person who would fit the role. Role Profiles are
simple documents which demonstrate clearly the relationship between specific
activities/tasks and the personal attributes required to undertake them. In short it
describes a job, and the personal qualities required to do that job well.
The job is usually described in terms of the purpose, responsibilities and key
deliverables of the job, and the personal qualities required are described in terms of
the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are necessary to perform the job well.
Role Profiles provide clarity (both to those doing the job and to managers) on what is
expected from people doing the role. They focus people's attention on the key factors
required to deliver results. They provide information that enables:
★ A much clearer understanding of what the role holder is being asked to do.
★ More effective appraisal, against a clear benchmark.
★ More effective recruitment, against clearly specified requirements linked to
business objectives.
★ More effective development of people, focussing learning on the areas that
will bring most business benefit.
★ More effective promotion and career development, where people can see
what they need to do to fulfil a future role, and in turn the organisation can
assess people's capability more accurately.
Key benefits businesses gain from using Role Profiles as opposed to Job
Descriptions include:
★ Increased effectiveness from jobholders who are more focussed on what
success looks like in their role.
★ Reduced recruitment and retention costs, with people better matched to
role requirements.
★ Reduced training and developments costs, with learning targeted on
activities with defined business benefit.
★ More successful promotion decisions.
★ Fairer, simpler and more transparent grading structures.
Producing a Role Profile
If you need to produce a new Role Profile, it should be clear, concise and include the
following:
Job Description
Job title
A named role and location. The job title should
communicate the function and status of the job.
Reporting line
The person to whom the individual will be
reporting. It is important that this is clarified
particularly where there may be more than one
reporting line for different issues.
Job purpose
A simple statement to identify clearly the
objective of the job.
Key accountabilities
This details what actually needs to be done. The
duties and expected outcomes.
Knowledge/experience/skills This section is used to identify the overall
expertise needed to perform the job to the
required standards for example:
Knowledge of specific procedures (e.g. computer
systems and software for an IT programmer)
Experience in working with Microsoft packages
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The skills to apply computer knowledge, skills to
work as part of a team
Person Specification
Qualifications
Work Experience
Knowledge
Skills/Abilities
Personality/Motivation
Circumstances
Competencies/Behaviours
Academic/vocational/professional.
Outline the
minimum requirement for the jobholder and what
is ideal.
The amount of experience in a specific
environment at a specific level
Specific background/essential knowledge needed
to do the job i.e. working practices
Skills and abilities required that are specific to the
role i.e. numerical/verbal/communication
It is
recommended to identify a minimum level of skill
and also a maximum level of skill to indicate
development
What motivates the candidate is the role likely to
restrict someone who enjoys working with people
if it is one which has limited contact with others.
Availability/mobility i.e. is the candidate able to
work the hours required, or can they travel to the
work location.
A description of which core competencies are
required for the job
It is also useful to identify:
★ The essential criteria (skills, experience, attributes) which must be available
to undertake the job
★ The desirable criteria (other abilities, attributes, further experience), that
would enhance the quality of the candidates.
This should outline your 'ideal' candidate for the vacancy. Candidates who don't have
the essential criteria should be rejected at application stage. While the desirable
criteria are not essential, they may enhance the quality of the candidate and this may
be useful if you have a number of good candidates.
You should ensure that candidates meet the benchmark in the competency based
assessment when you shortlist, and that you can evidence objective recruitment
decisions have been made.
Attached is a suggested template to help facilitate your new role profile.
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Role Profile Template
Job Title:
XXXXXXX
Reports To:
Job Title of Line Manager
1. Job Purpose
A brief 1 to 2 sentence summary of the primary reason why this job exists.
2. Principal Accountabilities
Aim to describe around 10 Principal Accountabilities, although some jobs may have
less and others more, but avoid listing every single activity. The description should be
generic for any broad role which covers a number of jobholders e.g. Manager,
Adviser etc
Detail the most important aspects of the role spelling out:
★ Responsibilities – what does the jobholder do?
★ Accountabilities –what decisions does the jobholder make?
Start with an active verb, e.g.
★ Manages a team of 4 people to ensure....
★ Develops new methods of....
★ Coaches people to ensure that they have the capability to...
★ Responds to telephone calls in a professional manner and ensures that .....
It may also be useful to have a general accountability, which lends scope for new
tasks e.g.
★ Executes additional tasks in order to meet departmental project-related or
development and change objectives.
3. Knowledge/Experience/Skills
Consider the qualifications / specific knowledge / type of experience / skills/ type of
behaviours and attributes a person may be required to possess in order to carry out
the job.
a) Knowledge
★ Academic level of qualification required – is an academic level essential?
★ Professional level of qualification required – is there a relevant
qualification?
★ is it essential or desirable?
★ What specific knowledge is required? E.g. knowledge of European family
law
b) Experience
This should include an element of time spent to gain the experience – therefore
consider:
★ experience in specific
★ of specific techniques
environments
★ of specific practices
★ of specific tools
★ of specific exposures
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e.g. From a Retail background with 3 years’ customer service experience including
one year at team manager or supervisory level
c) Skills
Consider the skills or abilities that are required to do the job e.g.
★ Working knowledge of Excel
★ Has attention to detail
★ High level of numeracy
★ Can “think on feet”
★ Communication skills
★ Can assimilate data
including written and
presentational
d) Attributes and Behaviours
Consider the behaviours / attributes or competencies required to carry out the role
e.g. in Team Work:
★ Develops and maintains positive working relationships with others
★ Shares ideas and information
★ Assists colleagues unprompted
★ Takes pride in the achievement of team objectives
Other elements may include eg
★ Has credibility with peers and senior managers
★ Self motivated – driven to achieve results
★ High customer service ethic – is passionate about meeting customer
★ expectations and improving service levels.
★ Keeps pace with change – acquires knowledge/skills as the business
develops
4. Context
Explain the context of the role if it is
★ a new role
★ a change to the role
Put into context how this role fits into the department/company
Detail the complexity of the role, commenting on impact of role and highlighting any
statistical supporting data, e.g.: budgets, numbers of staff, numbers of sites