Book review: Perfect Phrases for Writing Job Descriptions
 Book author: Carole Martin
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Australia
To date McGraw-Hill Business has published over 40 books in the ‘Perfect Phrases’ series, ranging the broad (The Complete Book of Perfect Phrases for Successful Job Seekers) to the very specific (Perfect Phrases for Landlords and Property Managers). More
The latest, Perfect Phrases for Writing Job Descriptions, cuts across the spectrum of industries and audiences. Whilst the author, Carole Martin, writes for an audiences of (often HR) managers in larger organisations, the book is sufficiently wide in scope to apply right down to the smallest of businesses.
Keeping the book under 200 pages, and replete with examples, means that the guide is both easy to read and easy to dive in and out of.
Even if you have written more than a few job descriptions before, this guide will likely serve as at least a good skills brush-up. It’s feasible that it will also work as a solid gap-filler, completing the picture on certain aspects of drafting a job description that readers may have never been fully acquainted with.
In effect, the book gives your brain permission to work through the complex process of writing a job description at about a tenth the speed it would otherwise move at.
For people who have never really written a job description, the book is a treasure-trove of useful tips about most every aspect of drafting a solid job role.
Author Carole Martin has a knack for sharing easy-to-remember tools. For example, once you sit down to actually write a first draft of the job description, you’ll do well to remember three basic questions:
- Who are you seeking? (e.g. a seasoned professional)
- What personal qualities are required? (e.g. high energy, analytical thinker)
- Why do you need to hire someone? (e.g. to improve customer relations)
Martin covers a range of job types, including those for a new role versus writing a job role for a replacement position. She also addresses the ‘far too big’ question: to copy and paste from a previous job description or to start afresh on a dreaded blank Word doc. The answer, it seems, is less than straight-forward.
She includes examples of job descriptions for various ‘across the board’ roles, such as for accountants or IT managers, as well as more niche roles ranging from dieticians to database administrators.
In addition, Martin includes a later chapter on writing job posts and ads, an essential aspect of most any recruitment process.
The last pages are given over to several lists of useful phrases that will commonly be called on in any job description. Whilst they may seem obvious, it’s handy to note, for example, the myriad ways of writing the seemingly obvious ‘how to apply’ instructions.
A few seasoned HR experts may feel that a book like Perfect Phrases for Writing Job Descriptions is an unnecessary read. They may be right.
But for most of us who will likely find ourselves contributing to the process of recruitment at some stage in our professional lives, this guide will most probably prove to be a wise investment in reading time.
The bottom line: Useful, useful, useful
Good for: Most anyone who will need to draft a job description at some point in their career
Our rating: 9/10 |
By Ben Zipper, Editor, Women & Leadership Australia eNewsletter
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