Write your own job description? 1

[livingston]

Hello Everyone.

I was offered a position at another company. It was a little more money but required me to move and I am not ready to do that. In addition the position would have been more supervisory than hands on. I told my supervisor about the offer in an attempt to get more responsibility (not necessarily more money).

Well I got what I asked for. My resposibilities have just recently been 'adjusted'. I am not sure if it is an improvement or not. My boss informally told me how he saw the position and I asked for a position description. He said that I should write my own and give it to him......should I start looking for another job again?

 

[shin25]

livingston,

I think your boss is right by asking you to write up your own position description.

Your boss probably wants to see if you really think of yourself to be worth to take on more responsibility. Your quality and your level of responsibilty you are going to decide, your boss only going to see how you are handling your responsibilty.

After all, once you give the description, he is going to review it and give back his comments. This is how it works in my office.

 

[possumk]

I did almost this exact thing about 6 months ago. I had an opportunity elsewhere, asked for the same opportunity where I am at, and basically created the position by writing out what I wanted to be doing & discussing with the boss.

On a scale of 1-10 of how well it's worked out, I'd say it's a 4 (10 good, 1 bad).

The biggest challenge is getting to actually do what I wanted to do. Even though I wrote it out and worked things out with the boss, it's been hard to carve out the niche in the organization. In my situation, I'm too loaded up with doing the work to get into the supervisory and organizational stuff I wanted to do. In my case, I think there is also a disconnect between me, my boss, and his boss. Writing the job description is important, but you have to be vigilant about following up with your boss if you are not headed in the right career direction. Even though my top level boss says "Thou Shall Do X" it's not been possible to extricate myself from other work to do "X". If my 2 bosses were on the same page from the beginning, it may have worked out better.

I hope it works out for you, but if you don't feel that you have support from all directions, I might consider looking around again.

 

[zdas04]

In 23 years with a major oil company, the only job description that I moved into was the first one. After that I wrote my own job description for every job (I think it was 7 different assigments). I wrote most of them before I talked to my boss--it really works well to present the boss with whole cloth.

David

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

The harder I work, the luckier I seem

 

[jmw]

Writing your own job description is a real good idea and some managers like to use this as a tool to understand how someone thinks but I'd suggest that you only do it provisionally at the start of a new responsibility and review it later.

A task requires a particular set of skills and operations.
Your job is to identify needs and see how many of them you can supply and how many your co-workers supply and identify any lacks.
This will be easy once you have experienced the job but at this moment you are speculating. How good your speculation is depends on how well you understand the task without having done it.
This gives the boss a very god idea of how you will do but if he is fair, he will allow that you will want to review this later on. This might be because you duplicate the skills of someone else and you have to decide which of you does something and why.
Of course, much depends on the boss.... this could be an excellent and beneficial exercise or it could be you are about to be the victim of a bad boss.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[heieup]

Its fairly common and I've done it relatively recently.

Think of it this way. You have asked for a modification to your responsibilities which has in some respects happened. You've asked your boss for clarifiation and he has put the ball back in your court to say how you see your role now that it has changed.

So put together what you see your role currently involving, and if tehre are things that still aren't covered then it might be the time to add these in and discuss them with your boss as well. Ultimately he will review it and should discuss with you to agree the scope of your role as something that suits both you and the company.

 

[livingston]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I feel a little better now.

 

[SomptingGuy]

I know someone who applied for a pure simulation job and convinced the interviewers that what they really needed was a 50/50 simulation/analysis person. Needless to say he got it.

 

[PSE]

Writing your job description is not uncommon in my experience. Work responsibilities evolve with anything from technological to organizational changes and job descriptions can become outdated. Key to success in fulfilling your work in relation to that description is buy-in from management. If the position defined does not end up being supported by the boss or management in general, it will fail. Draft it up and present it to your boss. Be prepared for some modifications or revisions.

I generally write them using the mindset of how would I fulfill the position with a candidate if I were the boss. What are the routine tasks, periodic "stretcher" tasks, the tools used by the company, and what other skillset(s) may be needed or desired. All come into play.

Regards,

 

[prohammy]

livingston,

In a way writing your own job description is very similar to writing your own performance review. Both of these allow you the oppurtunity to see what is expected of you within the structure of the companies day-to-day practices, code of conduct and various other factors.

(Time for the misty eyes)

I remember when I had to right my first performance review (big faceless US multi-national). I was convinced at the time that it was a way just my boss looking for a lazy way out, and consequently didn't exactly put all that much effort into it. Along came the review day and I got a less than receptive greeting from said boss. I explained that I thought it was merely a formality that I had to go through and he set me straight on that point as well pretty quickly. I was given another chance and spent the weekend thinking and writing about my position, aspirations and desire within the company. Following and further review, we both agreed on some basic improvements that I could focus on, further training that the company provided and further project work that helped me develop some new skillsets.

(Drying eyes)

Think of the work you put in to this document as a way of showing that are not just what you are now, but are what you aspire to be as well. Show that you are ready to do what you have discussed and present your idea of yourself and your job so that it is clear to others


Kevin

“It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class." ~Author Unknown

"If two wrongs don't make a right, try three." ~Author Unknown

 

[Ashereng]

I think your boss is great, and a bit unique. Most bosses do not ask their charge what they want like this.

By having you write your own job description, he has a better idea of what you want exactly. Lots of people say "I want more responsibility.", but what does that mean exactly? It probably means one thing to you and a different one to your boss.

By writing down what you want - I want to supervise the design group, or I want to be the manager of this project - with the more detail the better, it makes everyone clearer on how to retain you. It also forces you to think very clearly, and minutely, on what it is you want.

If your boss isn't keen on retaining you, he probably would not be giving you an opportunity to customise your job.

I think you should definitely make a mental note that this boss wants you to stay. If that is an important "trait" of your ideal job, you have it - and you are lucky to have it.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[jmw]

Nice point from Ashereng, when trying to identify a good boss from a bad boss, I'd say he is right, any boss who'd invite you to write your own job description has to be a good boss (or trying hard) as bad bosses generally would not allow such a thing.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[KENAT]

Alternatively, the 'bad' boss is trying to give you enough rope to hand yourself.

In some situations it can be difficult to get rid of staff and management will create reasons.

By writing your own job description and failing to fulfill it, you're handing an excuse to your boss to fire you.

Or, by writing a job description that doesn't fulfill what the manager sees as the need, you're also giving management ammo.

Doesn't sound like the case in this situation but beware.

(Sorry, I guess I'm down on management right now!)

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[FACS]

I was asked to write my job description once.
I wrote out my bosses job description and handed it in as mine.

Got the job year-and-a-half later



Charlie

http://www.facsco.com

 

[jmw]

Nice one FACS. And who do you work for now?

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[livingston]

It's nice to know that I can always depend on Kenat to echo my cynical tendencies!

 

[jmw]

Cynical? Pragmatist? Realist?
I kinda have Kenat's worldview, especially regarding management.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[KENAT]

My headmaster/art teacher at school once accused me of being a cynic when I was about 15-16.

I took it as a complement. livingston &jmw, I'll take your posts the same way;-)

Turned out he meant it as an insult/admonishment.

By the way, I meant to say "enough rope to hang yourself".


KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[jmw]

Please do, I meant mine as a compliment.
I've had the same levelled at me.
In fact I was once described as a "cynical terrorist" in the work place simply because I failed to tug my forelock or doff my cap or whatever to the management and didn't hesitate to speak my mind.
I too took it as a compliment and in this case think it was meant to be (this was from one of the Investors in People team who was feeling a bit frustrated with the management himself knowing that as the bearer of bad news he would be shot when he presented the findings; the bad news? management expected them to come in and tell them how bad their workforce were but all they discovered was how bad the management were...especially at communications).

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[livingston]

Kenat, mine was a compliment as well. You have to enjoy someone who 'says' what you are 'thinking'!