I know that there are some folks who dont believe a job description is necessary anymore and of course, that is the decision of the organization to make.
I do believe in job descriptions and let me tell you why.
A job description helps a business in understanding what the needs are of a particular position. What are the functional responsibilities and skills required in the position? How will you know what a reasonable amount of pay should be if you dont have some sort of understanding of the duties? How would you classify the role? Who would the person report to and who would be responsible to manage the incumbent? For that matter, how will you hire someone into a position that has no description? How would you construct a set of interview questions that would be relevant to the role?
Recruiting Advice
The Connection between Job Descriptions and Finding the Right Fit
Are Your Hiring and Retention Efforts Balanced?
The workplace is always evolving. The recession, in particular, has hastened and highlighted many of these changes, including the growing age gap among the current workforce. According to a study from the Pew Research Center, over the past 20 years the number of older workers has steadily risen, while younger adults are waiting longer to enter the labor force. This means that the workplace is becoming even more diverse in the age groups it contains, and leaders are now dealing with the added strain of catering their retention and recruitment efforts to this varied palette of employees.
Read MoreHiring for the Small Employer
More and more small businesses are popping up due to the economic downturn. People are realizing that they need to become more reliant on themselves to be gainfully employed. As these startup businesses increase, there will be some challenges that must be considered.
One of many challenges will possibly be in hiring a strong and stable group of employees. The reality is that you will probably not be able to compete with larger employers that offer higher salaries; benefit packages; stock options; flexible work-weeks, etc. For a while, folks are going to try to hold out for these positions and may very well turn you down.
The Myth of the Unique Employment Proposition
Is there such a thing as a completely unique employment brand? Perhaps if you are the White House, Disneyland or Google. Most employers, however, struggle to determine what is truly unique about them that can attract candidates who have many choices.
Healthcare organizations describe themselves as caring places, where you can make a difference. Companies tell us that its all about collaboration, where your colleagues feel like family. Others speak in general terms about career growth and opportunity.
How do you cut through the clichés and create something memorable and enticing to candidates, especially when you may not have one startlingly unique attribute to advertise? Consider the following:
Finding the Right Person for Your Job
Finding the right person for your job isnt easy. If it were wed all be happy and businesses would be humming along contentedly without any conflict whatsoever because wed all be living in the fantasy world as illustrated in the satirical movie, The Stepford Wives.
So, we need to be honest here and figure out what you can realistically do to ensure you find the right person.
What I am going to suggest may sound to some of you like its too much work but my years of experience have taught me that doing the work up front will save you ten-fold as you begin to move forward and people are indeed doing what it is you hired them to do.
Recruitment strategies: try recruiting non-traditional employees
Recruitment strategies become vital in a tight job market. Many companies succeed by hiring non-traditional candidates.
Read More4 Google+ Features that Recruiters will LOVE
Barely 2 weeks old and the buzz of Google+ has already taken over technology blogs, business sites, and my personal Facebook feed (invites anyone?). According to a recent article in PC World, estimates for the social networks user base run as high as 5 million (not quite the 200 million of Twitter or 750 million of Facebook, but its only been 14 days). I recently received my own invitation and cant stop reading anything and everything about the new social site. Like its social networking cousins, Google+ has the potential to further revolutionize business from new marketing and advertising techniques to personalized and quick customer service responses. But what effect will Google+ have on the recruiting world?
Read MoreEverything I needed to know about Recruiting I learned in Kindergarten
My kids have always summed up my career in this fashion: People pay mommy lots of money to find other people. They have never questioned the logic of this. Mommy plays a mean hide n seek. Now that my baby has graduated from Kindergarten, I have come to realize that really, some of the most important elements of recruiting he has now mastered. Since school let out Ive been watching him interact with his friends and heres what Ive found…
Read MoreAre your hiring practices working?
Many managers view hiring as one of the easier decisions they have to make. Problem is, its also one of the hardest decisions to unmake!
Heres a common scenario for busy managers. A vacancy is posted on the web. Some promising, skilled candidates applyyou interview, conduct a reference or two, make an offer and youre done.
Remote Work, Why Geography Is the #1 Factor That Limits Applications
Its a fundamental law in recruiting that you are limited to hiring individuals who have applied for a position (even direct sourced candidates will at some time will be requested to acknowledge application). Assuming you want an applicant pool that is bulging with superior talent, a logical question would be, What factors restrict qualified individuals from applying?. Prior to the most recent global economic meltdown, most recruiting professionals guessed that the top factors were pay, benefits, and employer reputation, which are important, but one factor has always trumped them: geography.
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