Specifying a role means writing down what the job involves and what kind of person can do it. The first list is the job description. The second is the person specification.
Both feed the advert, so they appear whenever a case describes a business hiring someone.
This skill opens recruitment and training, because later choices about where to look and how much to train depend on it.
Why start with the job, not the person?
A business that hires without a clear list of tasks ends up judging candidates on how well they interview. A task list gives every candidate the same fair test.
Think of ordering food. You decide what you want before you read the menu. A role works the same way: tasks first, then the person who fits them.
How to specify a role, step by step
- List the tasks. Write what the employee will do each day or week. This is the job description, with hours, location and who they report to.
- Turn tasks into skills. For each task, ask what a person needs to do it. Repairing a gear needs mechanical skill.
- Add qualifications and experience only where the job needs them.
- Sort into essential and desirable. Essential means the job cannot be done safely or properly without it.
- Remove anything irrelevant. If a requirement cannot be traced to a task, delete it.
Worked example
Kedai Basikal Tan in George Town, Penang, needs a service assistant. The owner, Mr Tan, wrote notes: “fix bikes, talk to customers, open shop Tuesday to Sunday 9 am to 6 pm, must have repaired bikes before, good with people, own a car, aged under 25, bonus if holds a bicycle repair certificate.”
Step 1, job description items: repair and service bicycles; answer customer questions at the counter; work Tuesday to Sunday, 9 am to 6 pm.
Step 2, person specification items: has repaired bicycles before (skill and experience); communicates politely with customers.
Step 3, essential or desirable: repair experience is essential, because the main task is repair. The repair certificate is desirable, because the job can be learnt on site.
Step 4, test the rest. “Own a car” is not needed for work done in the shop, so remove it. “Aged under 25” does not describe any task, and it would shut out people who could do the job. Remove it too.
Final specification: the post is a service assistant who repairs bicycles and serves customers, six days a week. The person must have bicycle repair experience and a courteous manner. A repair certificate is a bonus.
Notice that every item that stayed can be pointed to in a task.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to mix the two lists and add requirements that do not belong to the job.
Mistaken answer: “The job description for the service assistant says the person must be under 25 and have a car.”
These are personal details, not tasks. They also put people off who could do the work well.
The correction is to put tasks in the job description and skills in the person specification. Then check each person specification line against a task. If you cannot name the task, the line is not relevant.
Check yourself
Try these without notes, then open each answer.
1. Sort these into job description (JD) or person specification (PS): (a) lock up the shop at 6 pm; (b) three years’ experience in bicycle repair; (c) friendly manner with customers; (d) order spare parts every Monday.
Show answer
(a) JD, it is a task. (b) PS, it is experience. (c) PS, it is a personal quality. (d) JD, it is a task.
2. Warung Laut Biru in Kuantan advertises for a cook. One requirement is “must have a degree in marine biology”. Is it relevant? Explain in one sentence.
Show answer
It is not relevant, because cooking the menu does not need a marine biology degree. Cooking experience or a food hygiene certificate would link directly to the tasks.
3. A café in Kota Kinabalu wants a part-time barista. Suggest one essential and one desirable requirement, and say why each is in that group.
Show answer
Essential: ability to operate an espresso machine, because making coffee is the main task. Desirable: a barista certificate, because the café can teach the skills on the job. Other sensible answers link each requirement to a task and justify the grouping.
Where this leads next
Once you can write a clear specification, move on to comparing internal and external recruitment to decide where to look for the person. When a case gives costs for advertising or hiring, the ratios with interpretation limits tool helps you practise careful reading of figures. Then test the whole topic with the recruitment and training practice set.
Some students write long person specifications that sound complete but cannot be traced back to the job. That is the kind of pattern our teachers look for in online one-to-one Business tuition.