Questions a Recruiter must Ask before putting together a JD...

The essence of any position profile or job description must answer three basic questions. Why is this job being done? What are the objectives? How will these objectives be achieved? If not, there will be employees working very hard to achieve goals that compete or conflict with those of the organization.

The first question that must be addressed before putting together any JD should be "WHY?"

An example answer to the "why" for a customer service representative role:

“This position exists to ensure existing customers are retained and new customers are added to the company’s database resulting in increased revenues.”

Explanation: This area should address the overall organizational need that led to its creation. Think of the things that must have been going wrong in the organization that led to this job. Customer complaints were piling up and no one was getting back to them, orders were lost or wrong or no one knew when the customer would receive their orders.

The second question must be "what" and "how"? And write the answers to these in the responsibilities and skills sections respectively.

Lets see this through examples of the CSR role. The recruiter requires to ask short and task oriented question and thus frame the JD accordingly.

Objective #1:?To ensure customer service is continually improving

Tasks:

? develop and implement customer surveys

? analyze results and make recommendations

? implement and follow up on all improvements

Objective #2:?To ensure customer complaints are resolved and number of complaints are reduced

Tasks:

? log all customer service problems

? organize and prioritize daily customer service call lists

? maintain records of all customer service transactions

Objective #3:?To ensure customers get their orders on time

Tasks:

? track all customer orders

? prepare or track delivery schedules

? call customers on status of orders

Objective # 4:?To ensure customer service policies are current and relevant

Tasks:

? analyze latest customer survey report

? analyze existing policies and document variations

? make recommendations for improvements

Objective #5:?To ensure customer information is available to the company

Tasks:

? enter all customer data into database

? conduct database audits and make corrections

? prepare customer service reports

I hope these examples clearly demonstrates how asking meaningful questions can frame result oriented and niche job descriptions.