Articles tagged 'job descriptions'

Are Rarely Performed Job Functions “Essential” Under the ADA?

by Eric B. Meyer on Apr 9, 2013, 9:12 AM | No comments yet

By Eric B. Meyer

You run a delivery service using large trucks and require that drivers be qualified by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Although your facility managers aren’t often behind the wheel of the big rigs, you nonetheless require that they too be DOT certified.

One day, a manager with a disabling eye injury comes to you and asks for an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act: to be excused from driving trucks so that he may focus on “managing.”

Assuming that no other reasonable accommodation exists, must you give it to him? Read more…

Recruiting and Staffing

I’ll Say It Again: We Need to Get Rid of Resumes and Job Descriptions

by Lou Adler on Mar 7, 2013, 9:12 AM | 5 Comments

As some of you may know, I think the continued use of traditional, skills-infested job descriptions prevents companies from hiring the best talent available.

By default, they wind up hiring the best person who applies.

That’s the same reason I’m against the indiscriminate use of assessment tests. While these tests are good confirming indicators of on-the-job performance, they’re poor predictors of it (square the correlation coefficient to get a sense of any test’s predictive value).

Worse, they filter out everyone who isn’t willing to apply without first talking with someone about the worthiness of the position. Read more…

Talent Management

How to Avoid Hearing “That’s Not in My Job Description”

by Don Charlton on Feb 28, 2013, 9:55 AM | 1 comment

“That’s not in my job description.”

Many frustrated employees have muttered that phrase. Due to some pretty sloppy examples of job descriptions, the sentiment could ring true.

The phrase can pack a punch, too. Dive into what it means exactly and much of the time, you find an unwillingness to adapt. Sometimes a job well done doesn’t resemble the job for which you were hired though. That doesn’t mean the job can go undone! Read more…

Recruiting and Staffing

Get Rid of Job Descriptions and You’ll Hire Better People

by Lou Adler on Feb 14, 2013, 9:10 AM | 63 Comments

For the past 30 years I’ve been on a kick to ban traditional skills — and experience-based job descriptions.

The prime reason: they’re anti-talent and anti-diversity, aside from being terrible predictors of future success.

Some naysayers use the legal angle as their excuse for maintaining the status quo.

To debunk this, I engaged David Goldstein, a pre-eminent legal authority from Littler Mendelson (the largest U.S. labor law firm) to compare the idea of using a performance-based job description to the traditional job description. Read more…

HR News & Trends

Weekly Wrap: Are These Really the Best Excuses For Being Late?

by John Hollon on Feb 8, 2013, 12:15 PM | 2 Comments

Over the years, I’ve heard all sorts of excuses from people late to work — some reasonable, some silly, some infuriating.

One of my all-time favorites is the time I had a problematic employee fail to show up to work, only to be told by one of my editors that “Lee” was actually around but that he was out sleeping in his car.

In the company parking lot. At 9:30 in the morning.

Here’s How to Write a Job Description So No One Good Will Want to Apply

by Tim Sackett on Feb 4, 2013, 8:10 AM | 6 Comments

You know what position I would love to apply for!? Junior (Jr.) Human Resource Manager, said no one ever!

I hate spending three seconds on job descriptions, because JD’s just scream “Personnel Department,” but I have to just take a few minutes to help out some of my HR brothers and sisters.

Recently, I came across a classic JD mistake when someone had posted an opening and then broadcasted it out to the world for a “Jr. Industrial Engineer.” I almost cried. Read more…

HR Basics, Recruiting and Staffing

Three Awesome Examples of Great Job Descriptions

by Eric Gaydos on Aug 2, 2012, 9:12 AM | 4 Comments

If your company is struggling to find new talent, is it possible that your job descriptions could be to blame?

It’s a question worth asking, because your “now hiring” advertisements determine, in part, just who applies for your position. Craft your ads the right way and you’ll capture the attention of talented innovators.

Write a generic post, on the other hand, and you may as well head to the nearest corner and shout, “Who wants a job!”

If you’re looking for a little inspiration to up your hiring game, here are three examples of job descriptions that pack a punch. Remember, if you’re going to spend hours of your time asking strangers open-ended questions in the interview phase, you might as well stack the deck in your favor. Read more…

Recruiting and Staffing

Hiring a Jedi: What’s With the Spread of So Many Strange Job Titles?

by Eric Gaydos on Apr 20, 2012, 7:30 AM | No comments yet

Job titles are getting stranger by the hour

It might be fun as heck to tell your friends that you’re a professional rock star, but attracting others with that title might seriously complicate the recruiting process.

According to a search of Indeed.com, somewhere in America, 57 Jedi will be hired over the coming months. Who said there’s a recession?

Alongside the incoming classes of rock stars and Ninjas (677 and 484 respectively), these Jedi will find themselves atop the very pinnacle of gainfully employed geekdom. And it’s awesome to have a fun job title. But what happens if the perfect hire only happens to search for “Front-End Developer?” You might miss them completely. Read more…

HR Basics, Legal Issues

Job Descriptions Are Not Exemption Descriptions

by John E. Thompson on Nov 18, 2011, 7:40 AM | No comments yet

By John E. Thompson

Among the famous last words in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act Hall of Infamy are, “Let’s write the job descriptions to make them exempt.” The problem is this: Job descriptions do not “make” employees exempt.

Instead, most FLSA exemptions apply, if at all, only on an employee-by-employee basis according to the nature of each individual’s actual work as judged against specific and often-detailed requirements (See * Note below).

Moreover, in any U.S. Labor Department investigation or in a lawsuit, the legal burden of establishing that a person is exempt rests with the employer, who must prove that each exemption requirement is met as to any individuals whose exempt status has been challenged. The Labor Department and the courts construe FLSA exemptions very narrowly, and doubt is often resolved against the employer. Read more…

Articles tagged 'job descriptions'

Are Rarely Performed Job Functions “Essential” Under the ADA?

I’ll Say It Again: We Need to Get Rid of Resumes and Job Descriptions

How to Avoid Hearing “That’s Not in My Job Description”

Get Rid of Job Descriptions and You’ll Hire Better People

Weekly Wrap: Are These Really the Best Excuses For Being Late?

Here’s How to Write a Job Description So No One Good Will Want to Apply

Three Awesome Examples of Great Job Descriptions

Hiring a Jedi: What’s With the Spread of So Many Strange Job Titles?

Job Descriptions Are Not Exemption Descriptions

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