Job Description and Job Specification

Job Analysis is a primary tool to collect job-related data. The process results in collecting and recording
two data sets including job description and job specification. Any job vacancy can not be filled until and
unless HR manager has these two sets of data. It is necessary to define them accurately in order to fit the
right person at the right place and at the right time. This helps both employer and employee understand
what exactly needs to be delivered and how.

Both job description and job specification are essential parts of job analysis information. Writing them
clearly and accurately helps organization and workers cope with many challenges while onboard.
Though preparing job description and job specification are not legal requirements yet play a vital role in
getting the desired outcome. These data sets help in determining the necessity, worth and scope of a
specific job.

Job Description
Job description includes basic job-related data that is useful to advertise a specific job and attract a pool
of talent. It includes information such as job title, job location, reporting to and of employees, job
summary, nature and objectives of a job, tasks and duties to be performed, working conditions, machines,
tools and equipments to be used by a prospective worker and hazards involved in it.

Purpose of Job Description

The main purpose of job description is to collect job-related data in order to advertise for a
particular job. It helps in attracting, targeting, recruiting and selecting the right candidate for the
right job.

It is done to determine what needs to be delivered in a particular job. It clarifies what employees
are supposed to do if selected for that particular job opening.

It gives recruiting staff a clear view what kind of candidate is required by a particular department
or division to perform a specific task or job.

It also clarifies who will report to whom.

Job Specification
Also known as employee specifications, a job specification is a written statement of educational
qualifications, specific qualities, level of experience, physical, emotional, technical and communication
skills required to perform a job, responsibilities involved in a job and other unusual sensory demands. It
also includes general health, mental health, intelligence, aptitude, memory, judgment, leadership skills,
emotional ability, adaptability, flexibility, values and ethics, manners and creativity, etc.

Purpose of Job Specification

Described on the basis of job description, job specification helps candidates analyze whether are
eligible to apply for a particular job vacancy or not.

It helps recruiting team of an organization understand what level of qualifications, qualities and
set of characteristics should be present in a candidate to make him or her eligible for the job
opening.

Job Specification gives detailed information about any job including job responsibilities, desired
technical and physical skills, conversational ability and much more.

It helps in selecting the most appropriate candidate for a particular job.

Job description and job specification are two integral parts of job analysis. They define a job fully and
guide both employer and employee on how to go about the whole process of recruitment and selection.
Both data sets are extremely relevant for creating a right fit between job and talent, evaluate performance
and analyze training needs and measuring the worth of a particular job.

Learn management concepts & skills rapidly with easy to understand, richly
illustrated self-paced learning modules & downloadable powerpoint presentations.
Click below to view DEMO on Job Analysis and Design

Job Analysis - A Basic Understanding

Job Analysis is a systematic exploration, study and recording the responsibilities, duties, skills,
accountabilities, work environment and ability requirements of a specific job. It also involves
determining the relative importance of the duties, responsibilities and physical and emotional skills for a
given job. All these factors identify what a job demands and what an employee must possess to perform a
job productively.

What Does Job Analysis Involve ?

The process of job analysis involves in-depth investigation in order to control the output, i.e., get the job
performed successfully. The process helps in finding out what a particular department requires and what
a prospective worker needs to deliver. It also helps in determining particulars about a job including job
title, job location, job summary, duties involved, working conditions, possible hazards and machines,
tools, equipments and materials to be used by the existing or potential employee.

However, the process is not limited to determination of these factors only. It also extends to finding out the
necessary human qualifications to perform the job. These include establishing the levels of education,
experience, judgment, training, initiative, leadership skills, physical skills, communication skills,
responsibility, accountability, emotional characteristics and unusual sensory demands. These factors
change according to the type, seniority level, industry and risk involved in a particular job.
Importance of Job Analysis

The details collected by conducting job analysis play an important role in controlling the output of
the particular job. Determining the success of job depends on the unbiased, proper and thorough job
analysis. It also helps in recruiting the right people for a particular job. The main purpose of conducting
this whole process is to create and establish a perfect fit between the job and the employee.

Job analysis also helps HR managers in deciding the compensation package and additional perks and
incentives for a particular job position. It effectively contributes in assessing the training needs and
performance of the existing employees. The process forms the basis to design and establish the
strategies and policies to fulfill organizational goals and objectives.

However, analysis of a particular job does not guarantee that the managers or organization would get the
desired output. Actually collecting and recording information for a specific job involves several
complications. If the job information is not accurate and checked from time to time, an employee will not
be able to perform his duty well. Until and unless he is not aware of what he is supposed to do or what is
expected of him, chances are that the time and energy spent on a particular job analysis is a sheer
wastage of human resources. Therefore, proper care should be taken while conducting job analysis.

A thorough and unbiased investigation or study of a specific job is good for both the managers and the
employees. The managers get to know whom to hire and why. They can fill a place with the right person.
On the other hand, existing or potential employee gets to know what and how he is supposed to perform
the job and what is the desired output. Job analysis creates a right fit between the job and the employee.

Purpose of Job Analysis

As discussed already, job analysis involves collecting and recording job-related data such as knowledge
and skills required to perform a job, duties and responsibilities involved, education qualifications and
experience required and physical and emotional characteristics required to perform a job in a desired
manner.

The main purposes of conducting a job analysis process is to use this particular information to create a
right fit between job and employee, to assess the performance of an employee, to determine the worth of
a particular task and to analyze training and development needs of an employee delivering that specific
job.

Lets understand the concept with the help of an example. If the job of an executive sales manager is to
be analyzed, the first and foremost thing would be to determine the worth of this job. The next step is to
analyze whether the person is able to deliver what is expected of him. It also helps in knowing if he or she
is perfect for this job. The process doesnt finish here. It also involves collection of other important facts
and figures such as job location, department or division, compensation grade, job duties, routine tasks,
computer, educational, communicational and physical skills, MIS activities, reporting structure, ability to
adapt in a given environment, leadership skills, licenses and certifications, ability to grow and close sales,
ability to handle clients, superiors and subordinates and of course, the presentation of an individual.

Purpose of Job Analysis

Job Analysis plays an important role in recruitment and selection, job evaluation, job designing, deciding
compensation and benefits packages, performance appraisal, analyzing training and development needs,
assessing the worth of a job and increasing personnel as well as organizational productivity.
 Recruitment and Selection: Job Analysis helps in determining what kind of person is required to
perform a particular job. It points out the educational qualifications, level of experience and
technical, physical, emotional and personal skills required to carry out a job in desired fashion.
The objective is to fit a right person at a right place.

Performance Analysis: Job analysis is done to check if goals and objectives of a particular job
are met or not. It helps in deciding the performance standards, evaluation criteria and individuals
output. On this basis, the overall performance of an employee is measured and he or she is
appraised accordingly.

Training and Development: Job Analysis can be used to assess the training and development
needs of employees. The difference between the expected and actual output determines the level
of training that need to be imparted to employees. It also helps in deciding the training content,
tools and equipments to be used to conduct training and methods of training.

Compensation Management: Of course, job analysis plays a vital role in deciding the pay
packages and extra perks and benefits and fixed and variable incentives of employees. After all,
the pay package depends on the position, job title and duties and responsibilities involved in a
job. The process guides HR managers in deciding the worth of an employee for a particular job
opening.

Job Designing and Redesigning: The main purpose of job analysis is to streamline the human
efforts and get the best possible output. It helps in designing, redesigning, enriching, evaluating
and also cutting back and adding the extra responsibilities in a particular job. This is done to
enhance the employee satisfaction while increasing the human output.

Therefore, job analysis is one of the most important functions of an HR manager or department. This
helps in fitting the right kind of talent at the right place and at the right time.
ob Analysis Process
Where to place the employees in order to best utilize their skills and talent? How to determine the need of
new employees in the organization? How to eliminate unneeded jobs? How to set realistic performance
measurement standards? How to identify the jobs and prepare a plan to fill them?

Well, all this can be effectively done by a proper and thorough job analysis. Managers deal such kinds of
challenges in day-to-day company operations where they need to fulfill effectively and efficiently fulfill the
organizations requirements related to human resource recruitment, selection, performance, satisfaction
and cutting down and adding extra responsibilities and duties. And there is no scope where they can avert
the risk of being wrong.

An effective and right process of analyzing a particular job is a great relief for them. It helps them maintain
the right quality of employees, measure their performance on realistic standards, assess their training and
development needs and increase their productivity. Lets discuss the job analysis process and find out
how it serves the purpose.

Job Analysis Process

 Identification of Job Analysis Purpose: Well any process is futile until its purpose is not
identified and defined. Therefore, the first step in the process is to determine its need and desired
output. Spending human efforts, energy as well as money is useless until HR managers dont
know why data is to be collected and what is to be done with it.
What to Collect during Job Analysis ?
Gathering job-related information involves lots of efforts and time. The process may become cumbersome
if the main objective of it is not known. Any information can be gathered and recorded but may be
hazardous for health and finances of an organization if it is not known what is required and why.

Before starting to conduct a job analysis process, it is very necessary to decide what type of content or
information is to be collected and why. The purpose of this process may range from uncovering hidden
dangers to the organization or creating a right job-person fit, establishing effective hiring practices,
analyzing training needs, evaluating a job, analyzing the performance of an employee, setting
organizational standards and so on. Each one of these objectives requires different type of information or
content.

While gathering job-related content, a job analyst or the dedicated person should know the purpose of the
action and try to collect data as accurate as possible. Though the data collected is later on divided in to
two sets - job description and job specification but the information falls in three different categories during
the process of analyzing a specific job - job content, job context and job requirements.

What to Collect ?
Job Content

Job Context

Job Requirements

1. Job Content: It contains information about various job activities included in a specific job. It is a
detailed account of actions which an employee needs to perform during his tenure. The following
information needs to be collected by a job analyst:

Duties of an employee

What actually an employee does

Machines, tools and equipments to be used while performing a specific job

Additional tasks involved in a job

Desired output level (What is expected of an employee?)

Type of training required

 Fig 1.1 Categorization of Job Analysis Information

The content depends upon the type of job in a particular division or department. For example, job
content of a factory-line worker would be entirely different from that of a marketing executive or
HR personnel.

2. Job Context: Job context refers to the situation or condition under which an employee performs
a particular job. The information collection will include:

Working Conditions

Risks involved

Whom to report

Who all will report to him or her

Hazards

Physical and mental demands

Judgment

Well like job content, data collected under this category are also subject to change according to
the type of job in a specific division or department.

3. Job Requirements: These include basic but specific requirements which make a candidate
eligible for a particular job. The collected data includes:

Knowledge or basic information required to perform a job successfully

 Specific skills such as communication skills, IT skills, operational skills, motor skills,
processing skills and so on

Personal ability including aptitude, reasoning, manipulative abilities, handling sudden and
unexpected situations, problem-solving ability, mathematical abilities and so on

Educational Qualifications including degree, diploma, certification or license

Personal Characteristics such as ability to adapt to different environment, endurance,

willingness, work ethic, eagerness to learn and understand things, behaviour towards
colleagues, subordinates and seniors, sense of belongingness to the organization, etc

For different jobs, the parameters would be different. They depend upon the type of job, designation,
compensation grade and responsibilities and risks involved in a job.

Who Will Conduct Job Analysis: The second most important step in the process of job analysis
is to decide who will conduct it. Some companies prefer getting it done by their own HR
department while some hire job analysis consultants. Job analysis consultants may prove to be
extremely helpful as they offer unbiased advice, guidelines and methods. They dont have any
personal likes and dislikes when it comes to analyze a job.

How to Conduct the Process: Deciding the way in which job analysis process needs to be
conducted is surely the next step. A planned approach about how to carry the whole process is
required in order to investigate a specific job.

Strategic Decision Making: Now is the time to make strategic decision. Its about deciding the
extent of employee involvement in the process, the level of details to be collected and recorded,
sources from where data is to be collected, data collection methods, the processing of information
and segregation of collected data.

Training of Job Analyst: Next is to train the job analyst about how to conduct the process and
use the selected methods for collection and recoding of job data.

Preparation of Job Analysis Process: Communicating it within the organization is the next step.
HR managers need to communicate the whole thing properly so that employees offer their full
support to the job analyst. The stage also involves preparation of documents, questionnaires,
interviews and feedback forms.

Data Collection: Next is to collect job-related data including educational qualifications of

employees, skills and abilities required to perform the job, working conditions, job activities,
reporting hierarchy, required human traits, job activities, duties and responsibilities involved and
employee behaviour.

Documentation, Verification and Review: Proper documentation is done to verify the

authenticity of collected data and then review it. This is the final information that is used to
describe a specific job.

Developing Job Description and Job Specification: Now is the time to segregate the collected
data in to useful information. Job Description describes the roles, activities, duties and
 responsibilities of the job while job specification is a statement of educational qualification,
experience, personal traits and skills required to perform the job.

Thus, the process of job analysis helps in identifying the worth of specific job, utilizing the human talent in
the best possible manner, eliminating unneeded jobs and setting realistic performance measurement
standards.