Job Description and Person Specification Guidance

Every post should have a job description (what the job entails) and a person specification (what attributes the job holder needs to do it).

The job description is a clear written statement of the main duties and responsibilities of a job, explaining what is done on the job, how it is done, and why. Each responsibility usually begins with an action verb.

It should aim to:

show how the job fits into the structure;
state who the employee is responsible for;
confirm the post's immediate line manager;
make a clear statement of the purpose of the job;
summarise the duties and responsibilities of the postholder; and
specify performance criteria (what standards are expected and in what circumstances).

A job description should:

be based on a systematic review of the job;
be written in clear, simple, unambiguous language (avoiding jargon and abbreviations); and
not imply any unfair discrimination.

If substantive changes are necessary to an existing Job Description, it may be appropriate to review the allocated grade. In this case, you will need to speak to refer to the guidance on job evaluation in the HR handbook http://intranet.northants.cc/HR/policies/policies_home.htm Section C04.

The person specification sets out the essential qualifications, skills knowledge, abilities, experience or training required to carry out the job successfully. It provides objective criteria from which to shortlist, enables the selection panel to develop questions based on the criteria, and ultimately provides the criteria on which the appointment decision will be based.

To construct the person specification, you should take each of the main duties, activities, responsibilities or tasks in turn and list the skills, knowledge etc. required to carry out that task. These can then be grouped to eliminate duplication. The criteria should then be ranked in order of importance.

You should make sure that:

it covers all of the main areas of the job;
the standards required under each heading are realistic and justified;
the attributes/competencies in the specification are capable of being measured and tested;
the distinction between essential and desirable criteria is clear and realistic;

If a CRB check is required for the role, this must be stipulated in the essential criteria
Where a political restriction applies (Spinal Column Point 44+), this should be stipulated as a note to the Person Specification.

only criteria required to do the job are included so as not to exclude people or discriminate;
qualifications are only requested where they are genuinely needed for the role. You should make sure that:

The qualifications are really necessary
They are still current
You have identified whether there are other ways of specifying the skill level you require
It is clear that you will consider equivalent/alternative qualifications.

the language is clear, simple and unambiguous,

Benefits

The time invested in writing a Job Description and Person Specification will be rewarded through:

Helping applicants to make informed decisions about whether to apply, reducing the number of unsuitable candidates.
Reducing the reliance on irrelevant and potentially discriminatory criteria in the selection process.
Providing the basis against which to compare applicants, ensuring decisions can be objectively justified.
Providing a consistent framework from which to compose the advert, selection criteria, interview questions and on-going performance measurement.

Examples of existing Job Descriptions can be found on the HR Intranet.Equality and Diversity in Employment

All stages of the recruitment process should be in accordance with the Council's Equality and Diversity Employment Policy.

You should ensure that the Person Specification is clearly driven by the requirements of the job, i.e. the Job Description. This will help you to reduce the risk of discrimination and the examples below should help you to recognise situations that may be discriminatory, however unintentionally.

Asking for 5 years experience. This may rule out younger people who have the skills required but have not had the opportunity to demonstrate them over an extended period. Concentrate on the skills needed.
Asking for a qualification that cannot be objectively justified may indirectly discriminate against older workers who were educated when it was less common to have the qualification or individuals who were educated in a different educational system.
The use of words such as `energetic' and `active' are often irrelevant and potentially discriminatory.

Do you require a driving licence because you need someone to drive or because you want an individual to be independently mobile to travel between sites? The ability to travel between sites is the criterion that needs to be tested, applicants will then be able to identify how they will do this, for example, using public transport. Stating that `applicants must be willing to travel' would indicate the requirement for the role, but does not specify how this should be done and therefore does not discriminate.
Do you need experience of a particular type of computer software or are there equivalent applications? Many people use adapted technology with its own software which will have a different name but often does the same job. Therefore, rejecting a disabled person on that criteria could be discriminatory.
Asking for 10 years experience at a senior level may put women at a disadvantage. As a group, less women are likely to be able to comply with this requirement than men, having potentially taken time out of the work environment to have children, and therefore, this could be discriminatory. Again, think of the skills required not the time taken to acquire them.

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