Defining Job Descriptions, Recruitment Performance Measurement

Define all job descriptions clearly at every level. This is vital to the performance of a recruitment process and if it's done wrong, it's very likely that you will be the one who ends up paying the price. A good recruitment process will make a distinction between a job description and a title. A title is essentially shorthand, whereas a job description is a recruitment tool as well as a management tool. It serves as the bait which attracts a potential candidate, and it can only cause problems if a candidate is attracted and subsequently discovers that the job was inadequately described. It also serves as a yardstick with which to measure the employee's overall performance and fulfilment of responsibilities.

A title, however, is something that needs to fit with the place the job fits in the organisation and the organisation culture. Sometimes it is possible to distinguish between internal job titles and external job titles. Interestingly job titles are usually very important to current and prospective employees so need to be agreed within the overal context of the company. Some titles such as Director can confer particular legal status, although in practice Director is used much more freely in companies. As a final comment on titles, these days care needs to be taken when creating job levels through a title which have an age related implication - such as senior and junior - and if in doubt this should be avoided.