Career Development Lab

Job Description

Instructions:

Congratulatons! You are the boss (or the boss’s nominee) and the selection team leader. You task is to specify the job

requirements, organize the process of competitive selection and select the best possible candidate for the job based on the

candidate’s mastery at the required skills. You also need to specify job requirements in such a way that allows possible

candidates to completely understand job requirements and prepare their applications. We suggest that for this exercise, you

identify a kind of position with which you are familiar (or even the one that is similar to the job that you know about or are

considering applying for). To get ideas for crafting its description, you may want to use Monster.com or a similar resource.

There is no need for you to copy any existing document, please feel free to improvise. The most important thing is that you

need to make sure of is that at least 5-6 portable skills are included in the description. Often, employers ask for “personal”

skills, such as adaptability, creativity, attention to detail, multi-tasking, an ability to work under pressure, etc. In reality, qualities

such as these are not skills, but personal characteristics. Like portable skills, they are transferable and not job-specific. The

difference is that they are linked to personality and are very difficult to change. Now, it is time for you to prepare the

description.

This document is prepared for Career Brand Management specialization offered on Coursera.org by
State University of New York’s Empire State College via OPEN SUNY.
© Valeri Chukhlomin, 2016. Image credits: maximillion1/shutterstock.com
 Job Description Worksheet
Job characteristics Job description
Organization (indicate real or fictional)

Context (industry, size, location)

Divison (size, supervisor)

Position title (indicate real or fictional)

Supervisory responsibilities if any

Position summary

Key duties/responsibilities

Required qualifications

Required professional (“hard”), job-

specific skills

Required portable (“soft”) skills

(make sure to request 5-6 skills!)

Required personal characteristics

Date:_______________
Please feel free to insert your answers in the form, however, if more space is needed you may print additional pages.

This document is prepared for Career Brand Management specialization offered on Coursera.org by
State University of New York’s Empire State College via OPEN SUNY.
© Valeri Chukhlomin, 2016. Image credits: maximillion1/shutterstock.com