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Guidelines for compiling a job description

The following information must form part of the job description:
  1. Job title (current and/or proposed if to be evaluated)
  2. Date
  3. Department
  4. Organisation chart
  5. Basic function and purpose of job
  6. Activities and responsibilities
  7. Name(s) of person(s) who compiled the job description and the date
  8. Head of Department's signature and the date of signature
  9. HRM officer's signature to confirm that the duties listed are commensurate with the level of the job.
  10. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, HR's signature to indicate acceptance of the job description.
NB: There is no job description form. Please simply provide the information as recommended below:-
  1. The job title should indicate the function in which the job is carried out and the level of the job within the function. For example: Creditor's Clerk / Accounts Manager / Senior Technical Officer.

  2. The date denotes when the job description was compiled/updated/reviewed.

  3. The department is required as opposed to the section (for example Chemistry is the department into which Analytical Chemistry would fall; Finance is a department, while Creditors is a section within the Finance Department.

  4. Organisation chart must reflect to whom the incumbent reports i.e. the job title of the Manager/Supervisor to whom he/she reports, the job titles of those (if any) who report directly to the incumbent, and any jobs at a similar level. For example:


  5. Basic Function and Purpose of the job should convey in no more than one or two sentences a broad picture of the job which will clearly distinguish it from other jobs, establish the role of the job holder and the contribution he/she should make towards achieving the objectives of the University and his/her own function. It would begin with the words: "The purpose of the job is ..."
    For example: Department Secretary
    "The purpose of your job is to support the head of the department and other staff, of the department by providing secretarial services and by administering your office to the satisfaction of the head of department."

  6. Activities and Responsibilities. The steps required to define these are as follows:

    1. Identify and list the tasks that have to be carried out. No attempt should be made to describe how they are carried out, but some indication should be given of the purpose or objectives of each task.

    2. Analyse the initial list of tasks and, as far as possible, simplify the list by grouping related tasks together. Use descriptive headings to enable that a quick appreciation be obtained of the range of activities, e.g. all work related to processing of marks could be listed under "marks processing".

    3. Arrange the list in descending order of importance.

    4. Describe each task in short, numbered paragraphs. No more than one, or at the most two sentences should be used for the description. A typical sentence describing a task should start with an action verb. For example: organise, supervise, prepare, service, liaise with and so on.

    5. Indicate what you estimate to be the percentage of time the incumbent is likely to have to spend on each task and/or the frequency with which the task is carried out and the proportion of time involved. A reasonable guess will suffice. If you wish to be more precise, the following formula has been used by some.

      For example Task: service the ABC committee once a month. Calculation: The duration of the meeting is 2 hours; 1 hour is spent drawing up and circulating the agenda and a further hour is needed for the minutes. Thus a total of 4 hours per month, therefore, 4 X 12 = 48, 48/1949 X 100 = 2.46 therefore 2.5% of the job is spent on this task. (12 months @ 4.33 weeks per month @ 37.5 hours per week = 1949 hours per year).

      * Remember this is a summary job description so Section 6 should ideally be about a page long. However, this will vary from post to post.


  7. Compilation details must include the name and signature of the person(s) who compiled the job description as well as the date on which it was compiled.

  8. The head of department's signature is required and indicates his/her approval of the content.

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