Be Accurate
- Don't overstate or understate duties.
- Describe the job as it exists today--not as it may be in 6 months.
- Look at the tasks performed by the employee--not at how well the employee does those tasks. (It is critical to keep performance and personality out of the job description).
Positions Proposed for Establishment
When developing a PD for a job not yet in existence, additional thought and planning is required. The writer must think through what work will be done, and how, within either an existing or developing program. It is the writer’s responsibility to envision what the job will do and then put that vision into words that describe position on the PD form. It is this very exercise that allows management to define and assign the work and to use resources productively.
Allow Time to be Thorough
Writing a complete and accurate PD, especially of a proposed position, is not a quick or easy task. It often takes more than one draft. Allow enough time for thinking through the job, for discussion and guidance from Human Resources staff and for rewriting as needed.
A common shortcoming is writing the PD by paraphrasing a particular class specification (often in anticipation of a particular salary range). At best, this approach leads to overly general descriptions and, at worst, the PDs are fictitious. A PD based on anything other than the writer’s best understanding of the actual and current job duties is inaccurate and fails to serve its many purposes.
Grouping Tasks and Assigning Percentages to Major Job Duties
Frequency Factors Used by the U.S. Employment Services
Intermittent 1-5%
Occasional 6-33%
Frequently 34-66%
Constant 67-100%
Once the major duties of a position have been listed, they should be prioritized by order of importance. At this time, it makes sense to cluster like duties into logical groupings.
The columns marked as "% of Time" are used to add the percentage of time allocated for each duty. The total of the duties must equal 100%. If there is a need to be flexible in the position, you may add the category, "other duties as needed" and assign a percentage, however, that percentage should be relatively low.
Examples of Poor and Well Done Task Clustering
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