-Today, I'm going to walk
you through completing
a description form using the
template that I made available
in my last blog.
And you can watch that video
by clicking on the annotation
here, or by going to my blog,
at optimusperformence.ca/blog.
And you'll be able to access
that and download that job
description template.
So we're going to
be using this today.
And I've actually completed one.
I have it here on screen.
And we're going to look
at that together and go
through each step of the way.
And I'll explain it.
So let's get going.
So first off is the title.
Now, this particular one is
an administrative position.
So I call it
Administrative Assistant.
The company is my company,
Optimus Performance, department
administration, reports
to me, the president,
and communicates with who-- me,
the president, my associates,
the office manager,
clients, and suppliers.
So summary of overall role
and responsibility-- this
is important to give a global
perspective to the person
so they know how their role,
how the completion of the tasks
that they're doing, contributes
to the overall success
of the company or
the department.
So in this one, I
have the purpose
of this role is to support
the smooth functioning
of the company and assist
the president by taking
responsibility for all
administrative tasks.
This includes providing
customer support,
fulfilling client and
associate requests,
and preparing marketing
materials as required.
By completing the
following tasks well,
this person will
free the president
to focus on sales activities
and on delivering training
and coaching
services to clients.
Now, you could
write this summary
after you write the tasks,
but I like to write it first.
Let's go through the tasks.
So these are basically the
specific tasks and duties
that you want this person to do.
It doesn't state how well
you want them to do it.
It just states what
the task is-- so
word processing of
documents, data compilation
and record keeping, assist
in preparation of proposals,
prepare correspondence
and marketing materials,
prepare PowerPoint
presentations,
and so on and so forth.
Now, you can go through this.
I won't go through each one.
But it's basically
administrative tasks.
They're pretty simple.
I chose a simple
job description just
to give you this as an example.
I'll make this completed
one available, too.
So the next section is
knowledge and skills
that are essential
for this role.
In other words, the
person must come
already able to perform the role
with these essential knowledge
and skills.
So they must be
attentive to detail.
Administrative
tasks require that.
So they need to have patience.
You could write that, as well.
I didn't put that there.
Takes care to complete
tasks fully and well,
good computer skills in
Windows Office Suite,
especially Word and
Excel-- now, you
may want to test this person.
We'll maybe go through how
to do that in another blog.
The person should
be well organized,
bilingual-- in this
case, we function
in two languages-- and
a responsible attitude.
I like to put that
because I want
to know that if the person
is given something to do,
or actually, that they take
responsibility for carrying out
all their tasks that are
listed on the previous page
without having to be told to
do every day or every step
of the way-- that after
they've learned what to do,
can just take
responsibility for it.
And I think any
manager or business
person wants that
from their staff.
Now, I wrote here knowledge
or skills desirable.
In this case, I put the
task of preparing PowerPoint
presentations, and advanced
PowerPoint skills--
not something everybody
comes equipped with.
And in this case,
I would probably
provide special training
to this person--
and I did with my last
administrative assistant--
in order to get
them up to the level
that I require in terms
of the type of PowerPoint
presentations that I use
in my training programs.
Now, I like to add minimum
performance standards
to define what level
of quality and quantity
I expect from the person.
This is good to have, because
you could actually then use
this as part of your
performance evaluation.
So you can discuss how well
they're performing the task.
But you could also look at
these particular standards
to measure them.
And you could do something
as simple as measuring
how well they're performing
on a scale of one to 10,
one being low, 10
being very high.
So word-process
documents is required.
That's not very
measurable, mind you.
Filing is done accurately
and punctually.
So that's something that's more
observable, more measurable,
the way it's defined here.
Keep files and records
well organized.
That's easy to check.
Bills posted are
detailed and correct.
The bookkeeper will know, if
this person is helping them
with postings, how
well it's being done.
So that's good to get
feedback from the bookkeeper.
Prepare proposals according to
defined structure and methods.
Well, we do have defined
structure and methods,
so it's easy, then, to
see how well they're
preparing those
proposals accordingly.
Order materials to
arrive when needed,
so meaning that when materials
are required, they're on hand.
That's another way to put it.
So there you have it.
It's pretty simple.
But it's a great tool.
And if you're not sure why,
go back to my 10 top reasons
to write a job description.
Download the form,
start completing yours.
I hope this was helpful.
Thanks for listening
again, and we'll
see you soon in the next blog.
