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If your company is looking for exceptional and diverse candidates to fill a role, you first need to make a job description. Creating a well-rounded job description with a well-written (and inclusive) role description would be best to catch job applicants.
But what is a role description?
A role description is a dynamic document that outlines a candidate’s responsibilities and role in your company. It is dynamic because it evolves alongside your organization’s needs, the team, and the specific role.
Role descriptions are essential tools in the hiring process. They give new hires and employees a clear picture of what you expect from them by:
- Clearly outlining the skills and knowledge they need to fulfill the tasks required for the role.
- Detailing who they will work with and who they will report to.
- Outlining how their work fits into the company’s success and objectives.
- Ensuring company tasks are delegated appropriately and to the right people.
Read also: Role description vs job description – how to tell the difference
Key elements of effective role descriptions
An effective role description should include the following information:
- Job title
- Key responsibilities and day-to-day tasks
- Specific duties and technical skills
- Work environment and company culture
Job title
You can’t describe a role without clarifying the job title–it’s the first thing candidates see, so it must be accurate and understandable.
A clear job title like “Software Engineer” immediately tells interested candidates what they might expect from the role.
Key responsibilities and day-to-day tasks
A role description should describe what a candidate’s day would look like daily. You could use bullet points to list each responsibility of the role. For instance, the critical responsibilities for “Digital Marketing Specialist” could include:
- Develop and manage digital marketing campaigns across multiple channels.
- Monitor and analyze website traffic using Google Analytics.
- Collaborate with the content team to create engaging social media posts.
- Stay updated on the latest digital marketing trends and tools.
By listing these tasks, you give candidates a clear understanding of their daily work.
Specific duties and technical skills
If the open role requires specific duties or technical skills, you should also list them in your description. Doing this attracts qualified candidates with the right expertise.
Still keeping with our “Digital Marketing Specialist” role, special duties could include:
- Proficiency in tools like Adobe Photoshop, HubSpot, or SQL.
- Writing and editing skills for blog posts, social media, and email campaigns.
- Experience managing budgets and tracking ROI for marketing campaigns.
Work environment and company culture
A role description isn’t complete if you don’t help candidates visualize what it’s like to work in that role at your company. Include details about the physical or remote work environment, team structure, and the company’s values.
For example, you could say, “We are a fully remote company that offers flexible working hours and a supportive culture focused on growth and well-being.”
Sharing these details sets the right expectations and allows candidates to assess if the work environment aligns with their preferences.
You can use Ongig’s Text Analyzer to create job and role description templates that are inclusive and easy to understand. Here’s how to do so in 5 steps.
Where can you use a role description?
A role description is a part of a job description.
You can use a role description not only when you write job descriptions for your recruitment ads, but you can also use it to:
- Outline career progression paths for positions in your company.
- Assess the critical point indicators for performance management and reviews to evaluate your team members.
- Analyze learning gaps to design additional training and development.
Benefits of creating role descriptions
Why should you take time to craft mindful role-specific descriptions? Let’s look at some of the reasons.
Role descriptions give job seekers clarity
Job seekers need to know exactly what’s expected of them to determine whether they fit the role well. A role with well-defined responsibilities paints a clear picture of day-to-day tasks, key expectations, and how the role fits within the organization.
For example, instead of stating, “Assist with marketing efforts,” a clear responsibility would be, “Plan and execute social media campaigns to drive engagement and increase follower count.”
This specificity helps candidates self-assess their qualifications and saves time for both applicants and hiring managers.
Role descriptions make the hiring process easier
When team leads outline clear responsibilities for the roles they need on their team, it helps hiring managers identify the most suitable candidates. You can pinpoint individuals that align with the vacant role by listing the general, specific, and technical skills a role needs.
Role descriptions help improve performance evaluation
Defining responsibilities also helps after someone joins your team. When the responsibilities are clear and specific, new hires know what is expected of them. The role description serves as a benchmark for evaluating the hires’ performances.
For instance, if a role description includes “Prepare weekly sales reports and present findings to the leadership team,” this task can be measured during performance reviews. Did the employee deliver reports on time? Were the findings insightful and actionable?
Such clear expectations create a fair evaluation process.
Examples of well-written role descriptions
Google’s GSoC program contributor role description
Google Summer of Code program is an annual program in which Google rewards contributors who contribute to open source programs in the summer. The program needs designated GSoC contributors in all participating organizations. Google published a role description to standardize the role across all organizations and eliminate confusion.
Liefery’s product manager role description
Liefery’s product manager role description is comprehensive and covers every aspect of the role. It explains what the role expects of the person, the soft and hard skills required, and the unique skills needed. There’s no room for confusion, as anyone applying for that role knows precisely what is expected.
Kickstarter engineering and data role description
There are different paths within Kickstarter’s Engineering and Data team. Kickstarter published unambiguous role descriptions to explain the core duties for each role for the various paths in the department.
How to write a meaningful and inclusive role description
Now that it’s clear what a role description is and what it does, how do you write an excellent one? Here are some tips you might want to consider:
1. Ensure your role description is inclusive and free from bias
Non-inclusive role descriptions can be off-putting to prospective candidates. A study shows that non-inclusive language can cause your company to lose about 39% of your job applicants. Here are some things you can keep in mind:
- Instead of using pronouns like ‘he or she’, use ‘they’ instead.
- Use words that don’t signal gender. For example, instead of writing mailman or chairman, use words like postal worker and chairperson.
- Avoid using words like mature, student, millennial, or tech-savvy because these signal a bias against age.
- Don’t use Latino, Native English Speaker, Eskimo, Oriental, etc., because it may create biased against a specific ethnic group.
There are many other gender and racially-charged words besides those mentioned above. So, how do you eliminate these exclusive words from your role descriptions? You should be more conscious of these words when you write, and that’s a big first step.
But personal bias can still get in the way, no matter how good your intentions are. You can turn to technology to help you. Software like Ongig Text Analyzer scans your role descriptions, flags non-inclusive words, and suggests replacements.
2. Involve your team members when writing role descriptions
You can only know some things when defining a role description for a particular role. Positions requiring technical expertise, like marine engineers, product stack developers, or product managers, can have specific role descriptions that are difficult to describe if you are not in the field. Involve people in the area and ask for their help to ensure your role descriptions tick all the boxes.
3. Don’t use jargon and stick to simple job titles
Jargon or company speak is best defined by as a specialized language of a professional or occupational group. This language can help simplify processes in your company, but people outside your circle usually need help understanding these words. When you write external role descriptions, be conscious of jargon.
Keep job titles clear, simple, and concise. Job titles like Chief Happiness Manager or Social Manager Ninja might sound very modern and savvy, but they may not give potential candidates an exact sense of the job.
Plus, these may be different from the keywords they search for. Use simple terms like Human Resources Manager and Social Media Manager instead.
4. Be conscious of the must-haves and nice-to-haves
An HP study shows men apply for jobs when they meet 60% of the requirements, while women apply if they meet 100% of the job requirements.
With this statistic in mind, resist the temptation of asking for too many qualifications because this can be off-putting to women and limit your talent pool. This can also make your team members feel inadequate if they feel they don’t fulfill these requirements. When writing a role description, be clear about the skills they need to do the everyday requirements of the job and the desirable skills — but they can learn as they do the job.
Job requirements are an essential part of your job description, so you can attract diverse candidates (if you use it externally), and they can serve as guidelines for what your company expects from your team members as they do their jobs.
The Connection Between a Role Description and Career Development
Using a Role Description to Create Pathways for Growth
A well-crafted role description is more than just a list of job duties—it’s a guide for growth. Therefore, by clearly outlining the purpose of the role, key information, and required qualifications, it becomes easier for current employees to see how their skills align with their job expectations. A concise job description can serve as a roadmap, helping employees identify the skill levels and necessary experience they need to progress within the company.
When HR professionals focus on crafting an accurate role description that emphasize both soft skills and specific tasks, they give employees a broader concept of their employment position. For example, a customer service representative who excels in effective communication might see opportunities to grow into supervisory or training roles. This kind of forward-thinking approach fosters development and boosts engagement.
Role Description in Performance Reviews and Promotions
A strong role description is also an essential element in performance evaluations. So, referencing the main tasks, job responsibilities, and evaluation criteria outlined in the role definition, helps managers to fairly assess an employee’s job performance on a day-to-day basis. When the expectations set in the position description match the reality of the individual roles, it creates a clear standard for measuring success.
Additionally, during the recruitment process, many companies use detailed job descriptions to find the best candidates for an open position. These same descriptions can later guide discussions around promotions. For instance, if a job posting for an administrative assistant highlights effective communication and organizational skills, those become benchmarks for advancement. Employees can focus on meeting these benchmarks to position themselves as the right candidate for new roles within the company.
Bridging the Gap Between Expectations and Opportunities
A good role description isn’t just for prospective employees. It’s also a resource for current employees as well. When employees understand the classification title, job function, and specific set of responsibilities of a particular position, they can better prepare for new job opportunities. This clarity also benefits the company by ensuring the selection process for vacant positions prioritizes top talent who are already familiar with the company’s culture.
Why I Wrote This:
Ongig is on a mission to help you create inclusive role descriptions that attract a diverse set of candidates by flagging exclusionary words. Please get in touch with us for a demo today.
Shout-outs:
- What is a role description? (BDC.ca)
- How to Write Meaningful Role Descriptions (Zaavy.io)
- How to Write Roles & Responsibilities on a Job Description (Dr. Kelly S. Meire)
- Definition and Examples of Jargon (Richard Nordquist)
