Writing a Job Description

Part Two
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After understanding the basics of what you need in your new recruit, it's time to start writing up the job specification.

A job spec is a written statement describing the role in its entirety. It needs to include all of the technical details of the job such as the salary and day to day tasks, as well as including what you want from the person such as, skills and personal qualities. You can look at it as a hiring 'blueprint'.

At this point, you will need to bring your managers together and spend a fair amount of time working out the details below. Just bare in mind that a job spec is not the same as a job posting or advertisement but it will help you at that stage as well as when you start to assess CVs and prepare interview questions.


What you'll want to include in the technical side of the job spec:

•   Job Title
•   Summary of job description
•   Aims of the position
•   Responsibilities
•   Day to day tasks
•   Salary
•   Supervisory Relationship


And the human side:

•   Skills
•   Experience
•   Qualifications
•   As well as understanding what abilities are necessary for the role, have a think about character traits and personal qualities. Will certain attributes help the team to complete the job more efficiently (e.g. Works well under pressure)? Will the candidate fit well with the team or are they likely to clash?

Try not to be too vague when working out what you want and need here; it can save you a lot of time when it comes to selecting the right candidate.




Part 1 - Knowing what you need Part 3 - Assessing CVs