Job Descriptions and Person Specifications in Recruitment
A job description sets out the duties, responsibilities and reporting line of a specific job role, while a person specification sets out the skills, qualifications, experience and personal qualities an ideal candidate for that role should have.
Method
- Distinguish a job description, about the JOB, its duties, hours, and reporting line, from a person specification, about the PERSON, their qualifications, skills, experience and qualities.
- Learn the typical contents of each: a job description includes the job title, main duties, hours and reporting line; a person specification lists essential and desirable qualifications, skills and experience.
- For state or identify questions, quote the correct document and give the specific detail asked for.
- For explain questions on why a business uses these documents, give one point, such as clarity of expectations or fair comparison of candidates, plus a linked consequence, such as reducing the cost of hiring the wrong person.
- Learn how these documents are used at each recruitment stage: writing the job advert, shortlisting applications against the person specification, and setting interview questions around the job description's duties.
- For evaluate questions on whether a business's job description or person specification is fit for purpose, check whether the stated criteria genuinely match what the role, or the case, actually requires.
Worked example
A dental practice is recruiting a receptionist and has written a person specification requiring an excellent telephone manner and experience using booking software, but has not specified any minimum qualifications. Explain one reason why this focus is appropriate for the role.
- Identify the role's core tasks: answering the phone and booking appointments.
- Identify what the person specification asks for: telephone skills and booking software experience, both matching those core tasks.
- Identify what it does not ask for: formal qualifications, which are less relevant to this specific role.
- Link this to recruitment quality: focusing the criteria on what the job actually needs increases the chance of shortlisting candidates who can do the job well, rather than screening out capable people over an irrelevant qualification.
- Write the explained answer, combining the role's real requirements with why the person specification matches them.
Practice questions
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Q1State the difference between a job description and a person specification.Show answer
Answer: A job description sets out the duties of the role; a person specification sets out the skills, qualifications and qualities the ideal candidate needs.
Q2Identify one item typically found in a job description.Show answer
Answer: The job title, main duties, hours, or reporting line.
Q3Give one item typically found in a person specification.Show answer
Answer: Required qualifications, skills, experience or personal qualities.
Q4State one recruitment document used to help write a job advert.Show answer
Answer: The job description, and the person specification.
Q5Explain one benefit to a business of using a person specification when shortlisting applicants.Show answer
Answer: It gives clear, consistent criteria to judge every applicant against, making shortlisting fairer and more focused on the skills the job actually needs.
Q6Identify the term for a qualification or skill that is useful but not required for a role.Show answer
Answer: Desirable, as opposed to essential.
Q7State one risk to a business of recruiting without a clear job description.Show answer
Answer: The business may hire someone unsuited to the actual duties of the role, leading to poor performance or the employee leaving.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Business exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain one advantage to a business of writing a detailed job description before recruiting for a vacancy.
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A logistics company is recruiting a warehouse supervisor. Its current job description simply says supervise the warehouse, with no list of duties, and its person specification only says must be reliable, with no reference to forklift qualifications, even though operating a forklift is a daily part of the role. Several new supervisors have struggled in their first month. Evaluate the likely effect of the company's vague job description and person specification on its recruitment of warehouse supervisors.
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See real GCSE Business past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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