How to write Job Descriptions and Role Profiles - Creative Leadership

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
Reporting line
Job purpose
Key accountabilities
A named role and location. The job title should
communicate the function and status of the job.
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.
A simple statement to identify clearly the
objective of the job.
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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