Employee Management for Small Business. Lin Grensing-Pophal

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      1.2 Job specifications

      Job specifications fill the same purpose as specifications for bridges, buildings, and other structures. They indicate the materials needed to get the job done. Job specifications describe the personal qualifications that are required for a job and include any special conditions of employment such as hazardous environmental conditions.

      As you review the job description you will want to ask yourself the following questions as a guide to determining the specifications for the position:

      • What is the purpose of the job?

      • What day-to-day duties are performed?

      • What other duties are performed?

      • How is the position supervised?

      • What other positions receive supervision from this position?

      • How much, or how little, control is exercised over this position?

      • What machines or equipment must be operated?

      • What types of records need to be kept by this position?

      • To what extent is this position involved in analysis and planning?

      • What internal and external contacts are required of this position?

      • What verbal, numerical, or mechanical aptitudes are required?

      2. Determining the Requirements of a Position

      When you are determining hiring criteria, you will need to examine experience, education, intelligence, and personality requirements. By establishing these requirements objectively through the use of job analysis, job descriptions, and job specifications, you will eliminate bias that might be caused by personal values and will be able to look objectively at traits tied directly to performance of the job.

      As you define selection criteria, you will need to look at the recent job performance of the former employee and isolate two or three characteristics that have had the most impact on his or her successful job performance. Before you begin your search for qualified applicants, consider the following:

      • Education. What level of education is necessary to perform effectively in the position? High school? College? Special training? Will job performance require any type of special certificate or license? Be careful here. What you need to do is identify the minimum qualifications required, not what would be nice to have. While you may think it would be great to hire someone with a master’s degree to head your bookkeeping staff, requiring a bachelor’s degree — perhaps even an associate’s degree — might be most appropriate.

      • Experience. How much previous, related experience should a new employee have? Will training be offered on the job? Experience and education requirements are often tied together: i.e., “Bachelor’s degree plus a minimum of three years’ experience in the field.”

      • Physical requirements. What specific physical skills will be necessary? Manual dexterity? The ability to lift ___ pounds?

      • Personality requirements. Is this a position that requires close adherence totight deadlines? Overtime? Ability to work with a variety of personality types? Ability to negotiate?

      Be careful that each requirement you identify is specifically job related. This can help you avoid potential problems later. For example, a job-related requirement for a typing position might be the ability to type at least 60 words per minute. Requiring that the candidate be female or have a master’s degree might not be job related.

      Don’t make these job determinations in a vacuum. Ask other members of the organization for their perspectives. If appropriate, talk to the person who is leaving the position. Ask colleagues at other organizations for their insights and experience.

      Once you have taken these steps in identifying and defining specific requirements of the position, you are ready to move on to the next step — recruitment.

      3. Where Do You Look for Help?

      Whether you are staffing up in anticipation of increased human resources needs, replacing an employee who is leaving, or just thinking about the possibility of future hiring needs, your first question will be, “Where do I find the person I need?”

      There are several options available to you — each offering unique advantages and disadvantages and each requiring slightly different approaches.

      3.1 In-house

      The most qualified applicant for a position may well be a person you already have on staff. Most companies have procedures established for hiring from within. The reasons for this are many:

      • The morale of employees improves when they may be considered for internal promotions or new opportunities.

      • Management can identify those employees who are interested in career advancement.

      • Management already knows the job history and capability of internal job candidates.

      • Less time is needed for employee orientation and training.

      • Turnover is reduced, as employees look for career progression within their company.

      • The company is able to make better use of its human resources.

      There are also disadvantages created by hiring from within.

      • The number of potential job candidates is limited to qualified personnel in the company.

      • It limits the introduction of new blood, which sometimes results in internal stagnation.

      • Internal recruitment produces a “ripple effect” in terms of hiring. As one person leaves a position to take another, a new vacancy is created. This effect continues down to the lowest-level jobs, which must then be filled through other means.

      It is important for a company considering an internal job-posting system to establish a formal process for using the system and to communicate that process to all employees. Most commonly, when there is a job opening, all employees are notified of the position and given specific information on the job title, salary, department, supervisor’s name and title, responsibilities of the job, qualifications, and skills required. The posting remains displayed in a prominent place for a specified number of days. The supervisor or manager doing the hiring reviews internal applications before going outside the company. Generally, employees are required to notify their current supervisor or manager when applying for an internal position.

      Even if you have an internal process for posting available jobs, there may be times when you decide not to follow this process. For instance, a position may have been created especially for a particular employee, or a job can be best filled through a predetermined and logical career path. Keep in mind, though, that straying from this process can create ill will, and employees will wonder why you are not following the process that has СКАЧАТЬ