Writing a Role Description That Reflects the Actual Job.
A useful role description explains the work, responsibilities and support someone can expect. Here is how to make it accurate enough to guide hiring and everyday decisions.
Writing a Role Description That Reflects the Actual Job
Excerpt
A useful role description explains the work, responsibilities and support someone can expect. Here is how to make it accurate enough to guide hiring and everyday decisions.
A role description can look reasonable on paper and still bear little resemblance to the job.
Over time, people take on extra tasks, reporting lines change and temporary arrangements become permanent. When a vacancy arises, using the old description can carry those problems into the next appointment.
Start with the work as it stands today, then decide what the role should include.
Check what the person actually does
Speak with the person doing the job and those who work closely with them. Review a normal week, along with duties that arise monthly or during busy periods.
Ask:
What takes up most of their time?
What have they taken on that is missing from the description?
Where do responsibilities overlap with another role?
What regularly gets delayed because other work takes priority?
Use this review to identify what belongs in the position and what needs to move elsewhere.
Be specific about responsibilities
Broad phrases such as “support the sales team” or “manage the portfolio” leave too much open to interpretation.
Describe the work clearly. For example:
“Coordinate photography bookings, prepare listing information for approval and track campaign deadlines.”
For a property management role, specify whether it includes leasing, inspections, maintenance, arrears, renewals and owner communication. State which tasks are handled by other team members.
A candidate should be able to picture an ordinary working week.
Explain the limits of the role
Responsibility needs to come with clear decision-making authority.
Identify what the employee can decide, what needs approval and when they should involve their manager. This is particularly useful for complaints, spending, competing deadlines and requests outside the usual scope.
Also name who sets priorities. A shared assistant supporting several agents needs a clear way to handle conflicting requests.
Describe the workload and support honestly
Include enough detail to show the scale of the job.
That might mean the number of agents supported, the geographic spread of a portfolio or the volume of campaigns usually running at once. Add context where numbers alone could mislead.
Be clear about available administration support, training and supervision. If the role includes resolving a backlog, say so.
Avoid describing support as available when the person providing it rarely has time.
Separate essential skills from what can be taught
Keep requirements tied to the work.
Which skills must someone bring from day one? Which systems or tasks can they learn with support?
For example, experience handling difficult owner conversations may be essential. Familiarity with your particular software may be something you can teach.
An unnecessarily long wish list can obscure the few capabilities that matter most.
Make expectations usable
Describe what doing the job well looks like: accurate records, timely follow-up, clear client updates and early notice when work falls behind.
Keep the finished description short enough to use in interviews, induction and staff discussions. Date it and review it when responsibilities change.
Before finalising it, ask someone who knows the role: “Could a capable person reasonably deliver this with the time and support provided?”