Chapter 3: Analyzing and Designing Work
12 Job Description
2. Job Description
The job description is essentially a standardized summary of a job analysis. Job descriptions are usually very concise documents but they should always include the following components:
- Date
- Job title
- National Occupation Classification (NOC) code
- Job functions (the tasks the employee performs)
- Knowledge, skills, and abilities (what an employee is expected to know and be able to do, as well as personal attributes)
- Education and experience required
- Physical requirements of the job (ability to lift, see, or hear, for example)
Samples of job descriptions
Notice how the job description includes the job function; knowledge, skills, and abilities required to do the job; education and experience required; and the physical or psychological requirements of the job. These two examples are missing the NOC code. The purpose of this code is to provide a categorization to compile labour statistics. It is relatively easy to find this code on the National Occupation Classification website.
Once the job description has been written, it can be modified to use for recruiting or filed in the HR department records. Before we discuss specific recruitment strategies, we should address the law and how it relates to hiring. This is the topic of Section 4.2 “The Law and Recruitment”.
2.1. The National Occupation Classification (NOC) Code
The NOC provides a standardized nomenclature for describing the work performed by Canadians. It serves as a framework to:
- define and collect statistics related to work and jobs in Canada
- analyze labour market trends in Canada
- extract practical career planning information
For example, statistics gathered for Human Resource Manager (NOC 0112) shows the following trends:
View unit group
Human resources managers plan, organize, direct, control and evaluate the operations of human resources and personnel departments, and develop and implement policies, programs and procedures regarding human resource planning, recruitment, collective bargaining, training and development, occupation classification and pay and benefit administration.
These are the statistics for pet-sitter (NOC 6163):
Pet-sitter in Canada | Labour Market Facts and Figures
Find key facts and figures about working as a pet-sitter in Canada: available jobs, wages, career prospects, skills, job requirements and more. Visit Job Bank to learn about this occupation or for more information about the Canadian labour market.
Tips to Writing a Good Job Description
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Be sure to include the pertinent information:
- Title
- NOC code
- Department
- Reports to
- Duties and responsibilities
- Terms of employment
- Qualifications needed
- Think of the job description as a snapshot of the job.
- Communicate clearly and concisely.
- Make sure the job description is interesting to the right candidate applying for the job.
- Avoid acronyms.
- Don’t try to fit all job aspects into the job description.
- Proofread the job description.
