As a preliminary note, we suggest that you read through the worksheet, put it down for a few days, then come back to it.

The purpose of the Job Description Worksheet is for you to communicate to others a basic understanding of the most significant aspects of your job. The completed worksheet is an important document because it will enable the following work and decisions:

An updated job description,
Design of job classifications and career ladders, and
Assignment to a job classification and ultimately, a pay range.

The worksheet is organized in sections to make it easier for you to organize your thoughts and convey job content information. When answering a question, include information about job requirements, not your personal qualifications. Your answers should provide enough detail to show how and why the job is done, who it affects, the relationship to other positions in the organization, and the work environment. If additional space is needed for any answer, attach a separate sheet(s) of paper and refer to the appropriate section heading.

Section I. POSITION SUMMARY

The objective of this section is to develop a one or two sentence summary of your job. Imagine that you want to describe your job to one of your colleagues in a different department. How would you do this briefly and concisely? Or, how would you write a one paragraph help wanted" ad? Consider these examples:

Performs regularly recurring, straightforward, and standardized duties associated with maintaining and reviewing accounting and other financial records. Provides general clerical assistance.

Plans, installs, and maintains all components of the local area and wide area networks governing the data communications among personal computers. Plans and designs the implementation of the LAN/WAN infrastructure including hardware/software recommendations.

Performs a wide variety of diagnostic inspections, maintenance and repair functions on vehicles, construction equipment, and other machinery utilized by the College.

Section II. EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND EXPERIENCE

What knowledge, skills, and abilities are necessary, however acquired, to perform your job at a fully competent level? Even though you may possess knowledge, skills, and abilities that are different or over and above the job requirements, try to focus on what is required to be fully competent. In the last section of the worksheet you can elaborate on how additional skills can be linked to possible career ladders.

1. Formal Education, or equivalent: what level and type of formal education or training program should be required for the job?

High School Degree-required to provide basic reading, english composition, and analytical skills associated with secretarial skills.

Associate Degree in Computer Science--to provide skills in basic programming and computer operations needed by MIS department.

Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering--to provide skills in designing efficient gear assemblies.

2. Length of Experience: beyond education and other formal training, how many years of previous experience would a new hire need to be prepared for this job?

3. Types of Experience and Formal Training: during the prior experience, what kinds of experience and exposure would be helpful for this job? Also, is there specialized training that would be required? For example:

Computer Assisted Drawing-AUTO CAD training required to effectively and efficiently prepare engineering designs and drawings.

4. Licenses, Registrations, Certificates: some jobs require special licensing, e.g., Registered Nurse, Commercial Drivers License, Pesticide Applicators License.

5. How long would it take ...?: given the education, experience, and training required for the position, what length of time would it take to learn the job.

6. Learned Physical Skills ... and Learning Time: the purpose of this question is to identify special physical skills needed for the job like keyboarding speed, 10-key, hand-eye coordination for welding, etc. How- long does it take to master them?

Section III. NATURE AND SCOPE

A. Work Relationships: In this section you should list the major, important, and necessary job-related contacts you have with others OUTSIDE your immediate work group. Also, indicate the purpose and frequency of each contact. For example:

B. Decision-Making: Give one or two examples of important technical, procedural, budget, program, policy or other decisions that you must make to carry out the responsibilities of your job. For example:

Purchase of office supplies in sufficient type and quantity to meet needs of eight person secretarial pool.

Screening and selection of staff (new hires) for positions that I supervise.

Determining the type of computer system and peripheral equipment for a small office.

Initiating major new projects or services.


C. Problem Solving Challenges: what is needed in this section are two examples of the most complex problems which you are required to solve. For example:

? for an Attendance Secretary, at a grade school

D. Supervision of Others: Check the appropriate box which best describes your supervisory responsibilities, if applicable. Do not check a box if you do not supervise or direct the efforts of others.

E. Equipment Used: This section is for indicating tools, special office equipment, and machinery to accomplish job assignments.

F. Work Environment: Please describe your working conditions by checking all of the appropriate boxes. Indicate the working conditions based on you normal work conditions not extremes that may occur on a rare occasion, such as once yearly.

Section IV. ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

When you list the major responsibilities of your job, please consider each one in three levels of detail. First, provide a general statement of the responsibility. Second, list the tasks you must complete (how) to get the responsibility accomplished. Third, describe the end result that is expected of each responsibility. List your major responsibilities in order of how you believe they are important to the job. The following is an example of a major activity of an Accountant and a Secretary:

-- Accountant --

Responsibility. Monitor the organization's budget and provide all departments with monthly reports of their performance and account variances.

Tasks. Review accounting summaries for transactions and accuracy. Contact department heads to review special transactions. Order custom reports for each department. Prepare a summary for the Controller and distribute reports to department heads

End Result. Management summaries and departmental reports are completed and distributed by the 6th of the next month and are an accurate reflection of the organization's financial performance.

-- Secretary --

Responsibility. Composes correspondence and other documents of an important
and often confidential nature from dictation and notes.

Tasks. Composes test using a pc-based software and advanced keyboard skills. Selects the appropriate formats, verifies and corrects grammar and composition as required, suggests changes in composition.

Results. Correspondence and documents are in acceptable formats, accurate, and distributed on a timely basis.

Section V. COMMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

A and B. Career Ladders Learning. The worksheet includes a section to receive your input on potential career ladders to and from your current position. Your input is important on items such as job classifications that would be an advancement for you, new skills and learning you would need to advance, or would like in order to keep up with the trends in your current job. For example:

     Career Ladder: (for a student records clerk) advancement to a senior or lead clerk, a records systems
     analyst, eventually a records supervisor.

     Skills and Learning: course in XXX records system, a community college class in UNIX programming
     using APICS language, a supervisory development course.

C. Comments. Use this opportunity to provide any additional information which will be helpful to fully understand your position. The comments might cover environmental factors, historical factors, special circumstances, or any other data/information you feel is important.

Please give your completed questionnaire to your supervisor for review and additional comments if desired, for purposes of clarification or added emphasis.

D. Supervisor's Comments. Supervisors, you may find that it is helpful to elaborate on worksheet items such as a job skill or responsibility to reinforce its importance, a missing or poorly explained responsibility, the role of the position in the department, or an area of potential disagreement.

Supervisors, do not change the responses of the staff member. If there are differences, you may find it best to discuss them with the staff member.