Job specification is another aspect of job analysis. It describes the type of employee required (in terms of skill, experience, and special attitude, and test scores of various types) and outlines the particular working conditions that are encountered on the job.
It is essentially a set of specification about people required on the job. The job specification (in the usual form) includes a brief job summary designed to give the recruiter a feel of the job and to set the stage for greater detail.
According to Dale Yoder, “The job specification, as such a summary properly described is thus, a specialized job description, emphasising personnel requirement and designed especially to facilitate selection and placement.”
Job specifications are used when a company advertises in mass media for hunting talents, recruitment, and selection. Job specifications are different from job description.
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While a person focuses on job specifications, the organization is responsible for developing and documenting job descriptions. The various elements of job specifications are physical specifications, mental specifications, behavioural specifications, and personal specifications.
Learn about:-
1. What is Job Specification 2. Meaning of Job Specification 3. Definition 4. Purpose 5. Characteristics 6. Contents
7. Elements 8. Significance 9. Guidelines 10. Difference between Job Specification and Job Description 11. Advantages and Disadvantages 12. Example or Sample Specification of Commercial Clerk and Commercial Sales Clerk.
Job Specification: Meaning, Definition, Purpose, Characteristics, Elements, Significance, Examples and Guidelines
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Contents:
- What is Job Specification
- Meaning of Job Specification
- Definition of Job Specification
- Purpose of Job Specification
- Characteristics of Job Specification
- Contents of Job Specification
- Elements of Job Specification
- Significance of Job Specification
- Guidelines for Preparing Job Specification
- Difference between Job Specification and Job Description
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Job Specification
- Example or Sample of Job Specification of Commercial Clerk and Commercial Sales Clerk
Job Specification – What is Job Specification?
Job specification is another aspect of job analysis. It describes the type of employee required (in terms of skill, experience, and special attitude, and test scores of various types) and outlines the particular working conditions that are encountered on the job. It is essentially a set of specification about people required on the job. The job specification (in the usual form) includes a brief job summary designed to give the recruiter a feel of the job and to set the stage for greater detail.
Job specifications translate the job description into terms of the human qualifications which are required for the successful performance of the job. Job specifications serve as a guide in hiring. They deal with such characteristics as are available in the application bank, with testing, interviews and checking of references. Thus, it is the statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities required for the proper performance of the job.
It is a standard for personnel and specifies the qualities required for acceptable performance. Therefore, it is a written record of the requirements sought in an individual worker for a given job. In other words, a job specification is a summary of the personal characteristics required for a job.
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Following this summary, job specification indicates in detail the definite qualities required of the job holder. It may stipulate a specified period of experience in a particular job. It may state physical requirements, such as height, weight, special strength, and others. It may identify the tests to be taken and required scores. It may specify the general and special educational requirements.
Thus the preparation of sound job specifications involves three distinct activities:
(a) Collecting relevant data about the job,
(b) Analysing the data and transferring it into a written job description, and
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(c) Deriving from that description a job/person specification.
Keeping the Job Specification in Perspective:
Recruitment should not be ‘a hit-or-miss’ affair. Although there cannot be a guarantee of success every time, the risk of error can be reduced significantly if the recruiter adopts a systematic approach. Starting with a clear understanding of the job, the recruiter can purposefully present it to prospective candidates through advertising, correspondence, and interviews.
Armed with a precise specification, the recruiter can approach the assessment stage better, equip with reliable selection techniques, and consequently recognize the candidates who are most likely to perform the particular job successfully, in that particular context.
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Since development and change are features of most successful organizations, a job specification must be in tune with time to be effective in the recruitment process; it must be reviewed regularly to specify new targets and new areas of challenge.
A job specification may have to be adjusted to meet the realities of the labour market, the relevant legal framework, and the company policies. If adequate numbers of quality personnel are available, the organization may have to adjust the job to fit the best applicant.
Observation indicates that the scope and nature of a job can change over time, even day to day. The priorities get re-assessed in the light of new organizational needs or because of pressure from management or in relation to the wishes of the boss. A job specification needs to be adjusted accordingly.
Relation of Job Specification to Procurement:
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Job specification which emerges from the initial stage of analysing the job has practical relevance at each stage of acquisition of human resource, for instance –
(1) To attract candidates, the job advertisements should be a distillation of the job specification, written in a style which will attract suitable readers, and deter the unsuitable ones (at recruiting stage).
(2) In assessing candidates, the job specification serves as the yardstick against which the recruiter judges the relevance and adequacy of the candidates’ attributes (at the selection stage), and
(3) In placement, the job description forms the basis of the candidates’ placements, serves as a guide to his/her induction and training, and indicates the criteria against which his/her subsequent performance will be assessed.
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Thus the first practical step in the recruitment programme is to analyse the job and prepare the job specification, and from this draw up the man specification.
Job Specification – Meaning
Job specification or employee specification is a statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities in terms of educational qualifications, experience, skills, and aptitude required for a job. It is a logical expansion of the job description as it is accompanied with every job description.
It is known as employee specifications, a job specification is a written statement of educational qualifications, specific qualities, level of experience, physical, emotional, technical and communication skills required to perform a job, responsibilities involved in a job and other unusual sensory demands. It also includes general health, mental health, intelligence, aptitude, memory, judgment, leadership skills, emotional ability, adaptability, flexibility, values and ethics, manners and creativity, etc.
Or Job specification – A statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. Job specification is derived from job analysis.
Or It can be defined as a statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. Job specification is derived from job analysis.
Job Analysis is a primary tool to collect job-related data. The process results in collecting and recording two data sets including job description and job specification. Any job vacancy cannot be filled, unless HR manager has these two sets of data. It is necessary to define them accurately in order to fit the right person at the right place and at the right time. This helps both employer and employee understand what exactly needs to be delivered and how.
Job Specification – Definition Given by Various Authors: Edwin B. Flippo, Dale Yoder, Gary Desslar, Bohlander and Snell
Job specification has been defined by various authors.
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Some of the popular definitions are as follows:
According to Edwin B. Flippo, “A job specification is a statement of minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job properly.”
According to Dale Yoder, “The job specification, as such a summary properly described is thus, a specialized job description, emphasising personnel requirement and designed especially to facilitate selection and placement.”
Gary Desslar has defined job specification as, “A list of job’s human requirements that is the requisite education, skills, personality and so on.”
According to Bohlander and Snell (2004), “Job specification is a statement of the needed Knowledge, Skills, Abilities (KSAs) of the person who is to perform the job”. Bateman and Snell (2002) stated that, “Job specification describes the employee characteristics needed to perform the job”.
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Therefore, job specification can also be called ‘the standard of personnel for the selection’.
Job Specification – Purpose
Job specification has several advantages in many functions of HRM. For example, it highlights the particular working conditions that help in selecting the appropriate candidate for the job.
The job specifications are used for certain significant purposes, which are as follows:
i. Searching deserving candidate – Assists the HR department to find the right candidate for the defined profile. It also helps the HR executives, who are not technically aware of the exact requirement, to get the appropriate candidate. In addition, it helps the interviewer in preparing the questionnaire to short-list the candidates.
ii. Inducing the candidate to look into the offer – Requires that the job specification help the candidate to decide his/her suitability for the stated job profile.
iii. Establishing organizational competency – Involves setting up the core competencies of the organization that can provide an edge to the organization over its competitors. The identification of the organizational competency demands implementation of the competency programs specific to organizations.
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iv. Recognizing candidates’ competency – Ensures the selection of the right candidate. Job specification identifies the exact duties and competencies of various job positions, with which skills and abilities of the employees are matched.
v. Providing direction to candidate – Requires that the job specification gives brief description to candidates so that they can determine if their experience and qualifications suit to the job position.
Job Specification – Characteristics: Physical Characteristics, Psychological Characteristics, Personnel Characteristics, Responsibilities and Demographic Characteristics
The characteristics of job specifications are:
1. Physical Characteristics – It includes health, strength, endurance, age range, body size, height, weight, vision, voice, foot coordination, colour discrimination and motor coordination.
2. Psychological Characteristics – It includes qualities like manual dexterity, mechanical aptitude, judgement, analytical ability, resourcefulness, mental alertness and concentration.
3. Personnel Characteristics – It includes the qualities like personal appearance, good and pleasing manners, emotional stability, aggressiveness and submissiveness, extroversion or introversion, leadership, cooperativeness, skill in dealing with others, unusual sensory qualities of sight, etc.
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4. Responsibilities – It includes the qualities of supervision of others, responsibility for production process and equipment, responsibility for the safety of others, responsibility for preventing monetary loss.
5. Demographic Characteristics – It includes features like age, sex, education, experience, and language ability.
Job Specification – Contents
Job specifications, also known as man or employee specifications, is prepared on the basis of job specification. It specifies the qualities required in a job incumbent for the effective performance of the job.
Various contents of a job specification can be prescribed in three terms:
(i) Essential qualities which a person must possess;
(ii) Desirable qualities which a person may possess; and
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(iii) Contra-indicators which are likely to become a handicap to successful job performance.
Based on job description and job specification, employing organizations insert advertisements in newspaper, other publications, internet etc. in order to minimize the size of the advertisements, most of the organizations prefer to include various contents of the job description and job specification only briefly; the details of such contents may be mentioned in the application forms to be filled-in by the prospective candidate or may be communicated to the candidate at the time of interview.
In cases where candidates are selected not for specific jobs but for a pool of jobs like IAS, PCS, etc. in government service; management trainees in business organizations; probationary officers in commercial banks/financial institutions, etc., positions existing in various ministries/departments, business functions (production, marketing, finance, human resource, etc.) are notified.
The content of a job specification are various qualities that a job incumbent should possess may be divided into two broad categories- technical qualities and behavioural qualities. Technical qualities consist of knowledge and skills related to ‘how a job should be performed’. Knowledge refers to the possession of information, facts, and techniques of a particular job.
Skills refer to the proficiency required to use the knowledge to perform the job. Generally technical qualities are job specific, that is, technical qualities which are relevant to a particular job will not be relevant to another job if both jobs differ significantly. Behavioural qualities are not job-specific but are of universal nature and are applicable in most of the jobs.
Job Specification – Top 5 Elements: Physical Specifications, Mental Specifications, Emotional and Social Specifications, Behavioural Specifications & Personal Specifications
A job specification goes beyond job description. It underlines the mental and physical attributes required of the job holder to carry out the job effectively. A job specification is a combination of statements of employee characteristics including qualifications required for successful accomplishments of the tasks, leading to satisfactory performance of defined duties, comprising a specific job or functions.
It is basically derived from job analysis and is a conglomeration of knowledge, skills, and abilities, and the requisite education, training, and experience required to perform a job conforming to the quantitative target and qualitative requirements. These also constitute the minimum recruiting criteria or minimum qualifications for the job.
Job specifications are used when a company advertises in mass media for hunting talents, recruitment, and selection. Job specifications are different from job description. While a person focuses on job specifications, the organization is responsible for developing and documenting job descriptions. The various elements of job specifications are physical specifications, mental specifications, behavioural specifications, and personal specifications.
Of course, some jobs need licenses or certifications. For example, an electrical mechanic needs certification by the competent authority. An auditor of environmental management system needs certification with regard to ISO 14000 EMS, and a quality auditor should preferably have ‘lead assessor’ certification to his credit.
Element # 1. Physical Specifications:
Some specific physical features may be essential to perform a particular job. The physical abilities and skills must be specified. The kind of physical effort required and the duration of such exertion are the points discussed here. For example, continuous walking, standing, or lifting of heavy objects is essential for certain jobs. The features include height, weight, vision, finger dexterity, voice, hand and foot coordination, motor coordination, colour discrimination, age, gender, etc.
Aircraft pilots essentially need eye-hand-foot coordination, which must be specified in advertisements. While recruiting them, these physical attributes must be judged. Presently, in most companies, computer monitors and a joystick are employed to test these attributes. The coordination makes a pilot capable of multitasking.
Fulfilment of this criterion makes an aspirant capable of being selected, provided he possesses the requisite aptitude. The ambitious person having flair for flying can only reach his coveted desire if he possesses the unique skill of eye-hand-foot coordination.
Element # 2. Mental Specifications:
Intelligence, memory, judgement, ability to plan, ability to estimate, to read, to write, to think, concentrate and conceptualize, and analytical ability come within the purview of mental specifications. Intelligence test measures the over-all intelligence quotient (IQ) of a candidate.
Element # 3. Emotional and Social Specifications:
Individuals are required to discharge duties in work environment that demand particular behavioural disposition. A person working in the reception of an organization or a public relations department needs to interact with many unknown people throughout the day. His/ her personal appearance must be conducive to the work situation.
Visitors need realistic information with regard to various aspects of production, purchase, cost, availability, presence of any dignitary, etc.
For instance, the person in the reception must have a high degree of emotional stability, should be reasonably submissive, and be an extrovert. Their social adaptability, public relation skills, cooperativeness, leadership, initiative and drive, manners, and most importantly, helping attitude, etc., are the essential prerequisites for success in the profession.
Element # 4. Behavioural Specifications:
While executing and performing the duties and responsibilities, a person needs to execute a set of manners, behavioural disposition, etiquette, and conform to norms. Accomplishing the task is not an end in itself. It is the employee behaviour that constitutes the organizational culture.
Juniors learn from the demonstrated behaviours of organizational superiors. When persons are recruited, either through campus interviews or experience, they need to be acclimatized with the organizational culture. Otherwise, cultural contrast may jeopardize the functioning of the organization.
Seniors are expected to behave in a particular manner. There cannot be a written document in this aspect. It is largely a matter of feeling. However, these are to be kept in mind during the recruitment, selection and placement process.
Element # 5. Personal Specifications:
Personal specifications include attributes of the person essential to perform the job correctly and adequately. The person’s characteristics must be relevant, independent, and assessable.
a. Relevant – Only those characteristics, connected demonstrably with the success or failure of the job, should be specified. For example, a salesperson must have a high degree of tolerance and be a good listener, be smiling and communicative, and have in possession full knowledge of the product.
b. Independent – Overlapping elements should be avoided.
c. Assessable – Only those attributes that can be assessed with the selection tools that are available (usually application form and interviews) should be included.
Job Specification – Significance: Preparation of Employee Specification, Training and Development & Recruitment and Selection
The various significance of job specification are as follows:
1. Preparation of Employee Specification:
Job specification provides information regarding the attributes like qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge and other personal attributes required of a worker to perform the job duties. This helps in preparing employee specification containing detailed information about the employees put to job.
2. Training and Development:
Job specification identifies the need for training and development programme. The human qualifications and skill that a job demands can be acquired through training and development of employees.
3. Recruitment and Selection:
Job specification helps the recruiter to get an idea of the personal, physical, mental, social and psychological characteristics required of a job incumbent to perform the job effectively. Accordingly the recruiters identify the person with requisite qualification and help to fill a job by the best suitable candidate.
Job Specification – Guidelines for Preparing Job Specification
There are a number of guidelines that must be considered while preparing job specifications.
The following points mention these guidelines in brief:
i. Treating the qualification required for the job as the main component of the job specification. It should include educational qualification; professional qualification; experience; knowledge; and communication, leadership, decision-making, and writing skills required for a specific job
ii. Citing the job location from where the work will be performed
iii. Disclosing the tools and technologies to be used in a job
iv. Mentioning clearly the additional roles and responsibilities associated with a specific job
v. Defining the Cost to Company (CTC) and the grade of the position clearly
vi. Mentioning all the relevant information clearly
vii. Using the simple and clear language
viii. Preventing the usage of certain words, such as frequently, some, occasionally, and several.
Job Specification – Difference between Job Specification and Job Description
In contrast to job description, job specification is a measuring rod of personnel and its combines qualities required for acceptable performance of a particular job like formal education, experience, psychological attitude, physical measurement, etc.
The qualities as assessed and recorded on job specification document involve an element of subjectivity. The proper assessment of these qualities depends upon the value judgements of a number of people such as job analysis, job holder and his supervisor.
If kept separate from job description document, job specification document includes two sections—job identification and human requirements. The exact list of human requirements will vary from company to company and according Id the uses to which job specification is to be put. Such attributes as education and experience are always indicated.
As far as possible, the specifications written for each element of the job should be quantified.
Job Specification:
(i) Meaning – A written statement of the qualities required for performing a job.
(ii) Contents – Education, training, experience, aptitude etc. required for a particular job.
(iii) Purpose – To Facilitate recruitment, selection training etc. of people for the job.
(iv) Sequence – Prepared after job description.
Job Description:
(i) Meaning – A written statement of the contents of a job
(ii) Contents – Title, duties, working- Conditions supervision, relationships involved in a job.
(iii) Purpose – To Identify, define and describe a job
(iv) Sequence – Prepared before job specification
Job Specification – Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of Job Specification:
1. It is helpful in preliminary screening in the selection procedure.
2. It helps in giving due justification to each job.
3. It also helps in designing training and development programmes.
4. It helps the supervisors for counselling and monitoring performance of employees.
5. It helps in job evaluation.
6. It helps the management to take decisions regarding promotion, transfers and giving extra benefits to the employees.
7. A job specification is useful for recruiting as it helps to specify job postings and website recruiting material.
8. The job specification is also useful for distribution in social media, for screening resumes, and for interviewers.
9. Job specification helps candidates analyze whether are eligible to apply for a particular job vacancy or not.
10. It helps in recruiting a team of an organization that understands what level of qualifications, qualities and set of characteristics should be present in a candidate to make him or her eligible for the job opening.
Disadvantages of Job Specification:
Though it assists managers in decision making process but it has its own limitations.
1. The process may take very long and consume lots of human efforts. Since, it involves collecting detailed information.
2. Personal biases of job analyst can cause severe problems.
3. The data collected may not be 100 percent genuine.
Job Specification – Examples and Sample of Job Specification
Job Specification of Commercial Clerk:
Sample specifications are as follows:
(a) Stimulate sales by assisting customers and offering suggestions
(b) Communication expertise while talking to customers in person and by phone
(c) Stock shelves, counters, and tables with merchandise
(d) Provide prompt and courteous service to all customers
(e) Possess and utilize product knowledge to promote sales
(f) Responsible for ensuring store appearance is clean and presentable at all times
(g) Enter transactions in the register accurately to ensure updated record
(h) Be conversant with store policies, procedures, and promotions.
Job Specification of Commercial Sales Clerk:
Sample specifications are as follows:
(a) Willingness and urge to approach customers and offer assistance
(b) Safely operate power equipment
(c) Assemble furniture
(d) Flexible schedule to accommodate day, night, and weekend shifts
(e) High school diploma or equivalent
(f) Exceptional customer service skills
(g) Excellent listening and oral communication skills