HR and people
Writing and updating job descriptions
A clear job description helps with recruitment, feedback and training. AI drafts it; the conversation with the employee is yours.
5 min read
In many small businesses, job descriptions don't exist or are years out of date. Yet they're useful: for recruitment, for a performance review, for planning training. AI makes writing them much easier.
Start from practice
Ask the employee, or their manager, to write down what they do in an ordinary week. A list of tasks, however messy. Let the AI give it structure.
A good job description
- Purpose of the role in one or two sentences.
- Core tasks: five to eight, not every small task.
- Responsibilities: what does this person decide?
- Collaboration: with whom, internally and externally?
- Knowledge and skills: what's needed?
- What good work looks like: how can you tell someone is doing the job well?
Updating with AI
Roles change, including because of AI. Tasks that used to take a lot of time, such as reports or first drafts of texts, go faster. That frees up room for other work. Ask the AI to indicate, in an existing job description, which tasks might change with AI. Discuss it with the employee. It's a good conversation about development, not a cost-cutting exercise.
Watch out for
- A job description isn't a contract, but it can have consequences. If in doubt, have your payroll provider or HR adviser check it.
- Discuss every new or changed description with the employee.
Exercise
Your answers stay only in this browser.
Prompt to copy
Below is a list of a [role]'s tasks over a week. Turn it into a job description with: purpose, five to eight core tasks, responsibilities, collaboration, knowledge and skills, and what good work looks like. Then flag which tasks could be done faster or differently with AI tools, as questions for a conversation with the employee.
[paste the task list]
