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Here, in no particular order, are some suggestions from the UHR Talent Acquisition team to help your position descriptions flow as smoothly as possible through the review and approval process:
1. Start by thinking about how the supervisor will assess performance in this position.
- What skills, knowledge, and behaviors will the employee's performance be reviewed on? These things should form the foundation of the position description.
- Basing a position description on these clear, essential competencies makes everything easier, for reviewers, candidates, and employees.
2. Be concise. Academics and administrators alike tend to use too many words, which negatively affects clarity and comprehension.
- Less concise: "The person in this role will be expected to utilize their time and skills to complete a wide variety of tasks, such as ordering supplies promptly and answering the phone in a courteous manner while always displaying professionalism to serve the department and its stakeholders."
- More concise and easier to analyze: "Orders office supplies and answers the main office phone."
3. Collaborate with your recruitment consultant/buddy throughout the process. Even if you have to wait to hear back from your recruitment buddy, getting on the same page will ultimately make the process much quicker:
- Your PD will be closer to approval-ready upon submission, reducing much of the back-and-forth with your recruitment consultant.
- As you work closely with your recruitment consultant, they will gain a deeper understanding of your team’s processes, priorities, and values. This will make their reviews more efficient and improve their ability to represent and support your needs effectively.
- For much more on collaborative relationships in UO HR, revisit our profile of Kate Harvey and Sara Bowman's partnership!
4. Use appropriate tools for editing and revising PDs.
- Consider re-watching MyTrack training videos if it's been a while. They contain both technical and content-related information that can help.
- Use MyTrack's revision history feature to see edits and past versions of a PD.
- Go through the PD checklist before you submit.
- When you're drafting a position description with supervisors, we suggest you use the Word template and enter it into MyTrack only when it’s ready for submission.