Alan Ibbotson

Whose Job is it Anyway? The Importance of Job Descriptions.
May 15, 2007

Most jobs in retail are pretty self-explanatory right? Sales people sell, stock people stock – perfectly simple and clear.On the surface perhaps, but consider this example:

You operate a neighborhood hardware store. One of your top sales people has made yet another wonderful sale and has depleted the selling floor of all your drill bits. The salesperson assumes the stock person will fill in the floor so he walks away leaving a big gaping hole on the drill bit wall. Meanwhile the stockperson is as busy as can be unpacking newly delivered merchandise. He assumes the sales associate will fill in the floor. While all this is going on you’ve had 2 customers walk out because they don’t think you have the drill bits they need! Whose job is it to fill in the floor? Without clearly defined jobs you have a problem on your hands!

Thankfully, there is a simple way to solve this problem. Each person on your team needs a job description.

Job descriptions help to –

• Clarify roles and responsibilities – everyone knows exactly what they are supposed to do.
• Increase morale because it’s clear what it means to do a “good job” and what it means to go “above and beyond.”
• Facilitate the recruitment process because the job you are looking to fill is clearly defined so it is easy to explain to prospective candidates.
• Define career paths within your company. Those more junior can see what it takes to execute a job more senior to their own.
• Impact the bottom line. When everyone performs the necessary tasks you can be certain customers are being properly serviced so they’ll come back and shop with you!

In most cases, job descriptions do not need to be overly complex especially if you are a small company.

A good job description will –

• Explain the major functions, duties and responsibilities of the job.
• Highlight the specific skills that are most relevant to the job.
• Explain what it’s like to work in your environment.

A job description will rarely be a laundry list of every single task associated with a job.

As a business owner you are responsible for defining the roles of those who work for you but you don’t have to go it alone. Invite those currently executing the job to provide feedback on what they think their job is and what it should be. This can be a very revealing exercise! In fact, I invite you to try it and watch for my next Blog for some tips on writing job descriptions.

Posted by Alan Ibbotson on May 15, 2007 | Comments (0)