THE RIGHT PHRASE FOR THERIGHT SITUATION―EVERY TIME Perfect Phrases for Writing Job Descriptions helps you craft job descriptionsthat attract the best talent and accurately convey job responsibilities. Andafter you find that ideal candidate, this valuable resource will assist you withperformance reviews, goal setting, and accountability.Hundreds of tips, examples, and sample phrases to help you: Get candidates excited about opportunities in your company - Attract and recruit the very best talent - Foster communication between supervisors and employees - Evaluate performance and provide clear feedbackto new employees Carole Martin is a consultant with more than 18 years’ experience in Human Resources Management. She is the author of Interview Fitness Training , Boost Your Interview IQ , Perfect Phrases for the Perfect Interview , and Boost Your Hiring IQ . Carole Martin is a consultant with more than 18 years’ experience inHuman Resources Management. She is the author of Interview FitnessTraining , Boost Your Interview IQ , Perfect Phrases for the Perfect Interview ,and Boost Your Hiring IQ . Perfect Phrases for Writing Job Descriptions Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Writing Effective, Informative, and Useful Job Descriptions By Carole Martin The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Copyright © 2010 Carole Martin All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-07-163560-8 Contents IntroductionPart One: The Job AnalysisChapter 1: A Well-Defined Job DescriptionChapter 2: Identifying the Key Factors of the JobChapter 3: Identifying the Skills RequiredChapter 4: Requirements of the JobPart Two: Writing the Job DescriptionChapter 5: Bringing It All Together: Assembling the PartsPart Three: Quick Phrases ReferencesChapter 6: Clerical to Management PositionsChapter 7: Positions in Various Industries and FieldsPart Four: How to Write a Successful Job Posting or AdChapter 8: Reaching the Right CandidatePart Five: The Job Description: Performance ManagementChapter 9: Setting GoalsChapter 10: Measuring Performance: Benchmarks of PerformancePart Six: Miscellaneous Phrases for Special SituationsChapter 11: Special PhrasesAbout the Author Excerpt CHAPTER 1 A Well-Defined Job Description The first and foremost use of the job description will be to locate qualifiedcandidates for an open position. By creating your ideal candidate description you will stand a much better chance of finding the person whom youare seeking. Ask yourself: "What would be my ideal situation to be solved by finding theright person?" Begin to think of this description as your wish list . Let's start with some basic questions to ask yourself: "Why is it necessary to fill this position—at this time?" "Could the responsibilities of this job be assigned to another employee?" "What do I hope to accomplish by hiring a new person?" This line of thinking and these questions should be your first step to be surethat you can justify the hiring of this person. Once you have justified the needfor the hire, you can progress to the next step: to determine the experiences,qualifications, and skills that are necessary for a person to succeed in thisposition. Notice the phrase "to succeed" is used rather than "to fill" this position. Oneof the biggest mistakes in hiring is to choose someone who can "fill" theposition without the thought of long-term success. Depending on the job marketand the economy, you will sometimes have few candidates to choose from andtherefore settle for 80 percent of your "wish list." In a "buyer's market" when you have numerous candidates to choose between, youcan not only search for 100 percent of your desired qualities and experiencesbut also seek "added value." Added value are skills or abilities that are above and beyond what isessential or even nonessential for the job. They are skills, traits, andexperiences that would be a plus in this position. An example would be a personwho is able to communicate in sign language or who is bilingual. These are notrequired skills to perform the job but would be something added that you couldoffer your customers who have special needs if someone brought those skills tothe position. The next set of questions to ask yourself is about the value of importance: When weighing the value of what is important to the success of the business,what extra services could I offer if the person I hired had more than therequired skills? What could this person bring in addition to the basic requirements that wouldadd value to the position? How can these skills or abilities add value to the business or give additionalservice to our customers? What new service could be added as a result of hiring a person with extraskills? When all candidates appear equal in terms of experience and knowledge, it issometimes the added value that will be the tiebreaker and determine the bestcandidate for the job. In other words, this would be a bargain or good deal toget more than you wished for in a candidate