HRM textbook

118 PART 2 RECRUITMENT, PLACEMENT, AND TALENT MANAGEMENT
FIGURE 4-6 O*NET General
Work Activities Categories
Note: The U.S. Navy employees
were asked to indicate if their jobs
required them to engage in work
activities such as: Getting
Information; Monitor Processes;
Identifying Objects; Inspecting
Equipment; and Estimating
Quantifiable Characteristics.
Source: Reprinted by permission
of O*NET OnLine.
4 Write job descriptions,
including summaries and job
functions, using the Internet
and traditional methods.
WRITING JOB DESCRIPTIONS
The most important product of job analysis is the job description. A job description is a
written statement of what the worker actually does, how he or she does it, and what the
job s working conditions are. You use this information to write a job specification; this
lists the knowledge, abilities, and skills required to perform the job satisfactorily.
There is no standard format for writing a job description. However, most descriptions
contain sections that cover:
1. Job identification
2. Job summary
3. Responsibilities and duties
4. Authority of incumbent
5. Standards of performance
6. Working conditions
7. Job specification
Figures 4-7 and 4-8 present two sample forms of job descriptions.
Job Identification
As in Figure 4-7, the job identification section (on top) contains several types of information.
27 The job title specifies the name of the job, such as supervisor of data processing
operations, or inventory control clerk. The FLSA status section identifies the job as
exempt or nonexempt. (Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, certain positions, primarily
administrative and professional, are exempt from the act s overtime and minimum wage
provisions.) Date is the date the job description was actually approved.
There may also be a space to indicate who approved the description and perhaps a
space showing the location of the job in terms of its facility/division and department.
This section might also include the immediate supervisor s title and information
regarding salary and/or pay scale. There might also be space for the grade/level of the
job, if there is such a category. For example, a firm may classify programmers as
programmer II, programmer III, and so on.