Market Title / Job Code
Working Title
(Title Dept will use for the position and for the posting)
Reports to(Name of supervisor/manager and title)
Department Name

Department Summary (optional)

Provide a brief description of the department overview. Items may include general history of the unit, number of employees, and department vision and mission. .

Job Summary

Provide a brief description of the general nature of the position; an overview of why the job exists; and what the job is to accomplish.

  • The job purpose is usually no more than four sentences long
  • If the position has budgetary or revenue oversight, include volume in this section

Responsibilities

List the primary job duties and responsibilities using headingswith associated allocated % of time and then give examples of the types of activities under each heading. Using headings and giving examples of the types of activities to be done allows you to develop a flexible job description that encourages employee to ‘work outside the box’ and within reason, discourages “that’s not my job”.

  • Identify between three and eight primary duties and responsibilities for the position
  • List the primary duties and responsibilities in order of importance
  • Begin each statement with an action verb
  • Use the present tense of verbs
  • Use gender neutral language such as s/he
  • Use generic language such a photocopy instead of Xerox
  • Where appropriate use qualifiers to clarify the task – where, when, why or how often – for example instead of “greet visitor to the office” use “greet visitors to the office in a professional and friendly manner”
  • Avoid words that are open to interpretation – for example instead of “handle incoming mail” use “sort and distribute incoming mail”

Qualifications & Position Criteria

State the minimum qualifications and criteria required to successfully perform the job.

Required Qualifications:

  • Education: What is the minimum level of education a candidate must possess to be considered for the position
  • Professional Certification: What professional certifications are required for the candidate to be considered for the position (if any)
  • Experience: What is the minimum years of experience the candidate must have and in what capacity to be considered for the position
  • Specialized Knowledge: Does the candidate have to have certain specialized knowledge in order to be considered for the position (i.e. working knowledge of a specific system or process pertaining to the position)
  • Work Authorization: Does the candidate have to possess the ability to legally work in the United States? Is sponsorship for the position provided?

Desired Qualifications:

  • Education: What is the preferred level of education for a candidate
  • Professional Certification: Are there any preferred professional certifications that an ideal candidate would possess
  • Specialized Knowledge: Is there preferred specialized knowledge for the candidate to possess (i.e. working knowledge of a specific system or process pertaining to the position)

Position Criteria:

These are the criteria that the hiring team will be evaluating the candidate for

  • Skills (i.e. communication, presentation, organizational, etc.)
  • Abilities (i.e. ability to navigate change effectively, to lead a team, to work with cross-functional departments, etc)
  • Competencies (what competencies are critical for success in this position?)
  • Other characteristics

Financial/Budgetary Responsibility

If the job requires the incumbent to have financial responsibility, please identify what type of financial responsibilities that they have (administering, authorizing, reconciling, tracking, etc). Also, if the job has budget oversight, what is the amount?

Working conditions

If the job requires a person to work in special working conditions this should be stated in the job description. Special working conditions cover a range of circumstances from regular evening and weekend work, shift work, working outdoors, working with challenging clients, and so forth.

Physical requirements

If the job has physical requirements, it should be outlined in this section. Some examples of physical requirements include: the incumbent is required to remain in a stationary position for extended periods of time, transport heavy objects on a regular basis, do repetitive tasks with few breaks, routinely moves items weighing up to twenty-five (25) pounds, etc.

Direct reports

List by job title any positions to be supervised by the incumbent.

Approved by: / Signature of the person with the authority to approve the job description
Date approved: / Date upon which the job description was approved
Reviewed: / Date when the job description was last reviewed

Ideally, a job description should be reviewed annually and updated as often as necessary.