Job Descriptions for the Roles You Hire Every Month

Use it each time you hire for a role again, before you post an ad or brief a trainer. Without one, every hire learns a slightly different job, and nobody can say what the person may decide alone. Write it once per role and update it when the work changes. Elvina does not write job ads, recruit or decide who is hired.

Write the purpose as a single sentence, then list the duties the role repeats, most frequent first. For each duty, say what the person may decide alone and what needs a manager. Split the requirements into what someone must bring on day one and what you will teach, so you do not screen out people you could train.

Then add the working conditions and the training appendix: the duties a new hire must do alone by the end of week one, each with a standard, a check and a teacher. Fill in the duties in the blank template below, then check them against the filled example. A fictional paint store with a busy color desk filled in the header fields, the appendix and one duty.

• Job title and reports to: color desk associate, reporting to the store manager
• Purpose: every customer leaves with the right color, finish and amount for the job
• Needed at hire: can lift a full five-gallon pail and work two Saturdays a month
• Taught after hire: tinting, color matching and product knowledge
• Working conditions: standing most of the shift, near tinting machines, Saturdays included
• Training appendix: tint from a formula · standard: the dried sample matches the chip · check: the manager compares three orders · teacher: the assistant manager

Download the blank template: CSV · Markdown (.md) · Word (.docx)

A good job description fits on a page or two, and every duty has a clear limit. A duty with no limit leaves new people asking about everything or deciding things they should not. If a requirement could be taught in the first week, move it to the taught list. The O*NET database, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, lists typical tasks for each occupation it covers. Compare your duties with it to catch anything big you missed, then keep the appendix to what week one really needs.

Elvina works from the training appendix, not from the whole job description. For each first-week duty, Creation Studio drafts a lesson and a job aid from your procedures in Company Knowledge. A manager approves both before they are assigned on the Learning Platform. A first-week readiness check built from the same duties is available now. You decide who is hired, what the role pays and when the new person works alone, and Elvina makes none of those calls.

Public sources, checked on the date shown.

• O*NET OnLine, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, lists tasks by occupation; for retail salespersons, the first is greeting customers and learning their needs. Source: https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/41-2031.00 (checked 2026-10-02).