How to Review and Critique 
a Job Description 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Merces Consulting Group, Inc.  
Royal Oak, MI 
 
October, 2012 
 
Merces Consulting Group, Inc.
Job Description Review Guidelines

A job description needs to be accurate, up-to-date, and a useful management tool. It serves
as an understanding between the organization, employees and their managers about what
employees are to be accountable for. The job description establishes expectations – and
should be worded in such a way that expectations are as clear as possible.

Job descriptions also serve as the foundation of the performance management process.
Nothing should be on a job description unless we can evaluate performance on it, and
anything that we can evaluate performance on should be in the job description. The best way
to evaluate the quality of the job description is to actually use it to appraise performance.

• If two employees who have very different levels of performance come out the same in
your evaluation, something is missing in the job description that would serve to separate
them.

• If a poorly performing employee appears to be “fully functioning” after being evaluated

on the job description, something is missing – either there are elements of the job that
aren’t clear, or there is no standard against which you can measure performance. A
quick way to see what’s missing is to say “why do I think this isn’t a good employee” and
see what’s missing.

The purpose of this exercise is to determine if the job descriptions are ready for use as a
performance management tool, and if not, to ensure they are fixed and made more useful
before the formal performance appraisal process begins.

GENERAL STRUCTURE

All job descriptions should have:

Summary Description

The Summary Description is one or two sentences that describe the basic purpose of the job.
This should not include statements of how the job is to be done, skill requirements or anything
other than simply the responsibility of the job. Think of this as the answer to a stranger’s
question “so what do you do for a living?”

Here is a critique of a “summary description” for an administrative position (numbers in

brackets added as references):

This position involves [1] varied complex and confidential tasks [2] essential
to the efficient operation [3] of the organization’s administrative office [4].
Good judgment, self-motivation, and responsible decision making are
essential in this position [5]. Working with minimal supervision [6], the
Administrative Assistant provides [7] administrative support [8] to the
Corporate Project Manager and Marketing/Promotion department of the
corporation [9].
JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 2 
[1]
Typicaally start this summary
y with “Responsible foor” or sometthing like th
hat… that iss, make
it a direc
ct sentence e. Here we are told wh
hat the job w
will involve, not what tthe job is.
[2]
“Varie
ed complex and confidential tasks s” – this is a good phra
ase, as it in
ndicates the
e overall
complexxity of the work
w (althou
ugh at this point
p we do on’t know w
what those ta asks are, a
and we
should, but we hav ve to wait un
ntil item 8 below).
b
[3]
Avoid obvious sta
atements, oro anything related to how the wo ork is to be done. All w work is
expected to be don
ne correctlyy, efficiently, in a timelyy manner, e etc., so puttting it here is
unnecesssary. “Ess
sential to the efficient operation”
o iis not a function of thee job, it’s the
e
reason someone
s decided to create
c the jo
ob.
[4]
It is go
ood to inclu
ude the func a, if the job is specific to a functio
ctional area onal area inn such a
way thatt it makes a difference e. Here, it says
s “of the
e organization’s admin nistrative offfice” but
later on we see tha at it is specific to a pers
son and a d departmentt. Either reedundant orr
inaccura ate.
[5]
This entire
e sente
ence relates
s to how thee job should
d be perforrmed and esssential
requirem
ments of the
e person in it, and sho
ould not be included.
[6]
“Work
king with miinimal supe
ervision” does give us an important characte eristic of the
e job
and should be inclu
uded in som
me form, buut can be do
one more eefficiently.
[7]
Repea
ating the title is unnecessary, it’s right above
e this sectio
on.
[8]
This is
s the “furthe
er explanattion” of whaat was first m
mentioned in item [2] above, but is
separate ed from thee qualifier fo
ound there. Better language for [[2] and [8] w
would be “a
a variety
of complex and con nfidential ad
dministrativ
ve tasks.”
[9]
Define es who the services arre provided
d for. Mightt be unnece
essary if the
e role is deffined
better in
n the title.

L
Let’s try a re
e-write, kee
eping in min
nd the comments abovve:

“Res
sponsible for
f independently pe erforming a wide range of comp plex
and confidentiial clerical and adminnistrative ttasks to su
upport the
Mark
keting/Prommotion Dep partment.”
”

T
This is clear, concise, and gives the
t reader a very quick answer to
o what the jjob is all ab
bout.

D
Duties and
d Responsiibilities

T
This is the heart
h of the ption. It should be pre
e job descrip esented in a ed “outline” form,
an organize
n
not a scatte
ered list of tasks. The basic struccture should
d look like tthis:

© Merces Consulting Gro

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JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 3 

1. State
ement of responsibility
y

a. Task/dutty in supporrt of respon

nsibility
b. Task/dutty in supporrt of respon
nsibility

ement of responsibility
2. State y

a. Task/dutty in supporrt of respon

nsibility
b. Task/dutty in supporrt of respon
nsibility

MMost jobs will

w have between two and six res sponsibilitiess. Some mmore comple ex manage ement
ppositions may have mo ore (but unlikely any would
w ever hhave ten), ssome very routine jobss may
oonly have one.
o A “responsibility” is a single sentence d description of somethin
ng the empployee in
tthe job is ch
harged with
h completing g. For example:

• “main
ntains the operation
o off the compa
any’s netwo
ork server” is a respon
nsibility

• “issu
ues login pa
asswords” is
s not a resp
ponsibility…
… it is a taskk

YYou can usually tell a responsibil

r ity from a ta
ask, becausse with a reesponsibilityy, it is natural to
eexpand the statement by explaining what it means,
m usuually with a series of le
esser
rresponsibilitties or task
ks that are part
p of the major
m respoonsibility. F
For example e, the
rresponsibilitty noted abbove might further be explained
e li ke this:

• Main
ntains the operation of the compa
any’s netwo
ork server.

o Loads uppdated netw work softwaare and enssures it is operating peer standards
o Performss periodic maintenance
m e on netwo ork hardwarre and softw ware accordding to
pre-estabblished procedures
o Monitors hardware performanc ce and reco ommends p purchase off new hardw ware
when reqquired by neeed for addditional capa
acity or to rreplace equ
uipment no longer
functionin
ng
o Providess recommen ndations to manageme ent on poteential upgrades to servver
hardwaree and softwware.

WWriting a seeries of sub

b-bullets forr “issues log
gin passwo rds” would simply be tthe steps re equired
tto issue a lo
ogin password, which is not appro opriate for a job descrription. The
e reality is tthat
““issues login password ds” might be e considereed a bullet u
under “maintains the ooperation o of the
ccompany’s network se erver.”

S
Some good
d tests of wh
hether something shou
uld be inclu
uded in this section incclude:

• Can you objectiively evalua ate performmance on the statemen nt?

• Is it something
s unique
u to th
his job, rath
her than sommething thaat is expectted of everyyone in
the organization
o n?
• Is thee item really
y essential to performing the job? ?
• Is it something
s that
t should really be inn another ssection, succh as the se
ection on
know wledge and skills?
© Merces Consulting Gro
oup, Inc.
JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 4 

EEXAMPLE: This is a critique

c of a list of duties and resp ponsibilitiess from an a
actual job
ddescription for a Medic cal Recordss Technicia an, with com mmentary o on each itemm. First notte that
tthere is no distinction
d between
b responsibilitie es and taskks, the itemms are in noo order whatsoever,
aand that the
ey include ittems that should
s be in
n different p
parts of the descriptionn. The critiq
que
mmay appearr harsh, butt is done too deliberately highlight why certain things should, or sho ould
nnot, be inclu
uded in a joob description.

1. Mainntains confid
dentiality, security
s andd standardss of ethics w dical records
with all med
inform
mation. [C
Comment: unclear
u as to whethe er this referrs to ensurring that th
here
are policies
p in place, or following
f them
t – if it is followin
ng them, thhe gist of tthe
state
ement is “ffollows pro ocedures,” ” which is obvious, b because alll jobs are
suppposed to foollow procedures. This Th is not a an essentiial stateme ent.]

2. Carriies out resp

ponsibilities
s in accordaance with C
Corporate policies and procedures,
including HIPAA A and state e/federal reg
gulations an
nd laws. [C
Comment: s same as inn item 1
abov ve; all empployees sho ould carry out all ressponsibilities in acco
ordance wiith
policcies and prrocedures and goverrnment reg gulations aand laws. It is appropriate
to mention
m what policies s or regulattions are bbeing follow
wed in somme cases, so that
it is understoood what rulebook to follow.]
f

3. Deveelop and maaintain expertise of reg

gulations fo elease of information.
or proper re
[Commment: thiis is a state
ement of th he knowled dge requirred to perfo orm the jobb, not
the duties
d of th
he job. Thiis should be
b in the qu ualification
ns section.]

4. Evalu
uates inform
mation to determine coompliance oof the law. [Commentt: this is a valid
task,
k, not a resp
ponsibility
y, but is un
nclear as to
o what it mmeans.]

e stamps alll requests and

5. Date a highligh hts pertinen
nt data to fa
acilitate pro
ocessing.
[Com
mment: thiis is a little
e specific, but
b less so o for a clerrical job, w
which is whhat this
appe
ears to be.]]

6. Valid
dates requeests and authorizations
s for releasse of medica
al information accordinng to
estabblished procedures. [C
Comment: this is a va alid statem
ment of a re
esponsibillity,
indic
cates that there shou uld be somme sub-bulllets (which h it doesn’tt have), an
nd
inforrms the reaader that th
his responnsibility is performed d following
g a set of
guid
delines.]

7. Retriieves medic
cal records from EHR and hard ccopy charts. [Commen nt: this is a task
state
ement, tied
d to a respoonsibility. Avoid abb breviations
s or inside
e lingo, eve en
wherre you thin used repeatedly, on tthe first use, spell
nk they willl be underrstood; if u
it ou
ut. Examplle: electron
nic health records
r (“E
EHR”).]

8. Workk in a consccientious manner

m while
e releasing medical re
ecords in ann efficient,
effec
ctive, and accurate maanner. [Commment: sta atement off how the e employee is s
suppposed to work,
w and content
c is redundant.
r t. All emplo
loyees sho ould work iin a
consscientious manner, anda all worrk should b be done efffficiently, e
effectively aand
accuurately.]

© Merces Consulting Gro

oup, Inc.
JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 5 

9. Perfoorms quality
y checks on n all work to
o assure acccuracy of tthe release
e, confidentiality,
and proper
p invooicing. [Com
mment: good thing to o include, but promp pts a questtion –
“is th
he employyee perform ming qualitty checks o on their ow
wn work, o or on the wwork of
otheers? Makes s a big diffference, annd is uncleear here; es ssential th
hat it be cla
arified.]

10. May receive req quests inclu uding assistting walk-in

ns and telep
phone inquiries, and
retrie
eving inquirries. [Comm ment: be ca areful withh “may” – ““may” cou uld mean “iit is
poss sible that” or it could d mean “th his is one wway it happpens.” If itt’s only pos
ssible
that something g would ha appen, it prrobably isn n’t an esse
ential part of the job. Here
it’s relatively
r clear
c that itt’s describing a way that inquirries might come in th he
doorr, although h the last phrase
p is confusing.]]

cesses invoices and maintains wo

11. Proc orking know
wledge of exxisting state
e fee structture.
[Commment: thiis contains s multiple items,
i one of which iis a statemment of dutties and
the other
o a kno
owledge sttandard. By B definitio
on, all empployees are e required to
mainntain the apppropriatee amount ofo knowledg dge for the tasks they y perform, so
puttiing this he
ere in unneecessary. While it miight be obv vious to so omeone on n the
insid
de, the phrrase “proce esses invo oices” doess not provvide much informatio on on
the complexity
c y or difficulty of the task.]
t

12. Perfo
orms day-to
o-day admin
nistrative ta as maintaining informa
asks such a ation files and
proce
essing paperwork. [Co
omment: simple
s basiic stateme
ent of a dutty.]

13. Notiffies HIM Dirrector if una

able to adhere to dailyy schedule. [Commen nt: an emplloyee
handdbook type e statemen nt, not relevant to a jo
ob descripption. All e
employeess should
be reequired to inform the eir superviisor if they
y are unablle to keep u
up with wo
ork.]

14. Abilitty to read and

a comprehend simplle, healthca
are/medicall terminolog
gy. [Comm ment:
neith
her a duty or responssibility, should be a s
statement in the qua alifications
s
secttion.]

15. Work k profession

nally, effecttively, and efficiently
e in
n a team ennvironment with customers,
mana agement an nd co-workers. [Comm ment: gene eral statem
ment aboutt how the
empployee shou uld work; could
c be a part of the e “how thee job is don
ne” part off a job
desccription thaat is used for
f perform mance app praisal, butt does not belong in this
secttion.]

16. Main
ntains a neaat, clean, an
nd professio
onal person
nal appeara
ance and o
observes
estab
blished dress codes. [Comment:
[ : employeee handboook statement, all emp
ployees
musst do this.]

17. Mainntains a cleaan and orde

erly work area, ensure
es that reco
ords and file
es are propperly
store
ed before le
eaving areaa. [Commen nt: potentia
ially decepptive statemment. The
immmediate resp ponse is “employee
“ handbook k statemen nt;” howeve er, this cou uld
cific duty of an emplo
referr to a spec oyee in this
s job that iis responssible for ennsuring
the security
s off the mediccal records
s office. Shhould be cclearly statted if this iis a
speccific job reqquirementt or just wh
hat is expe
ected of ev veryone.]

© Merces Consulting Gro

oup, Inc.
JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 6 

18. Main
ntains and operates
o offfice equipm
ment. [Commment: all eemployees s operate ooffice
equiipment of some
s sort;; very few actually
a “m
maintain” eequipmentt. If approp priate,
shouuld describ
be what off
ffice equipmment, and what “maiintain” mea ans. It’s liikely
that “maintain” here mea ans “fills paper
p tray,”” “changes
s toner,” ra
rather than
“con
nducts diag gnostic pro
rocedures on o faulty mmachinery and repairrs accordin ng to
mannuals, inclu
uding wirin
ng, program mming, etc c.”]

19. Answwers incoming calls. [C

Comment: all employ yees answwer incomin ng calls. T
This
mayy be a recep
ptionist funnction in th
his job, orr indicates that an emmployee in this
job is
i responsible for answering an nd routingg calls to otthers in the department.]

20. Perfo
orm other re
elated dutiees as assigned or requuested.
a. Demonsttrate behav vior of coop
peration and
d professionnalism whe en assisting
g with
other ass
signed dutiees.
b. Perform and comple ete special assignmennts in a time
ely, accuratte and orga
anized
manner.
c.. Demonsttrate ability to adapt to
o change in
n workload aand assignments.

[Com
mment: the requirem ment of “otther related
d duties” o or “anythin
ng else as
assig
gned” shoould be und derstood for
fo all jobs,, but is freq
quently inc
cluded to mmake a
poin
nt. The bulllets follow
wing the staatement arre employe ee handbook items.]

HHere is all of the content from the

t task lis
st above, a
and how it w
would look
k properly
fformatted:

dates reque
1. Valid ests and authorizations s for releasse of medica al information, followinng non-
discrretionary esstablished procedures
p .
a.. Receives s inquiries for
f requests s for releasse of medica al information through mail,
electronic communication or in n-person co ontacts
b. Evaluate es requests to determin ne complia nce with leg gal and reg gulatory
requiremments; deterrmines if release of infformation iss appropriatte
c.. Date stam mps all requests and highlights
h p
pertinent da ata to facilita
ate processsing and
retrieval of information
d. Retrieves s medical records fromm electronicc health reccord (EHR) system and hard
copy cha arts/files
e.. Provides s medical innformation to
t inquirer in appropria ate format.
f. Processe es invoices for informa ation retrievval, followin
ng defined C Corporate p policy
and statee fee sched dule guidelin
nes
g. Conducts s quality reviews of thee work of oother emplo oyees involvved in the re elease
of medical informatiion [POSSIBLE DUTY Y, NOT CLE EAR IF AN ACCURAT TE
STATEM MENT]
h. Explains reasoning for denial of o requests for informa ation, provid ding inquire
er with
policy infformation or
o describingg correct wway to reque est release..
2. Provvides clericaal and admiinistrative support
s for tthe medica al records offfice
a.. Answers calls to the e departmeent; providess response e or forward ds to other sstaff as
appropria ate

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JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 7 

b. Maintains files, proccesses hea alth record rrequests an nd related p

paperwork, makes
copies, sends
s faxes
s and performs other b basic clerica
al functionss as needed
d.
c.. Ensures that the wo orkspace is clean and free of deb bris or papeerwork; ensures all
files are returned to
o their securre locationss.
d. Provides s additional as assistan
nce and support as dirrected.

[note: th
his does no
ot constitu
ute a “revis
sed job des scription;”” it simply
organizees the thou
ughts in th
he original list, supple
lemented w with what
might bee considerred “obviouus” contennt for a job
b such as tthis.]

TThere were 20 items in n the original list. Of those 20, seeven were cclearly statements of tthe
ggeneral way y in which employees
e should worrk (including g the “all otther duties as assigne ed”),
employee handbook” definition.
ffitting the “e d Two,
T and pa art of a third
d, were qua alification ite
ems. Of
tthe remainin ng eleven, one was an n actual ressponsibility,, and the reemaining ten were taskks, or
pparts of taskks.

SSome statements (“atttends meetings,” “proc cesses pape erwork”) shhould neverr appear in job
ddescriptions
s unless theey are spec cific and unique to a jo
ob or a funcction. All em
mployees w will likely
aattend meetings from time
t to time
e, and we don’t
d apprai se perform
mance on “a attends meeetings.”
OOn the otheer hand, “attends state e and nationnal conferennces in ord
der to prese ent Corporaate
mmethods or approache es” is a clea
ar statemen nt about the
e requiremeents of a jobb. Rememb ber that
tthe purposee of a job de
escription iss not to rep
peat the em
mployee han ndbook, or tto include
eeverything a person do oes.

K
Knowledge
e and Skills
s Required
d

TThis sectionn should incclude all knowledge an nd skill elemments required in orde er for an em
mployee
tto perform all
a of the responsibilitiees of the job, at a fullyy functioningg level. It DDOES NOT T
ddescribe thee entry leve
el requireme ents, or what qualifica ations mightt appear in a want ad or job
pposting. Forr this reaso
on, the wordd “preferredd” never app pears in a jjob descripttion – some ething is
eeither needed or it is not.
n It does not matterr whether th he knowledg ge/skill is a
acquired outside
tthe job, or on
o the job. Whenever listing a sk kill, be clearr as to the level of the skill, preferrably
hhow it wouldd be applied.

EEducation – If there iss an educattion requireement, state e it clearly, e.g., “Bachhelor’s Degrree with
a major in Accounting
A or Financee. An alternnative would d be “thorou ugh undersstanding of the
ttheory and practices of accountin ng, typically acquired th hrough com mpletion of a Bachelorr’s
ddegree prog gram with a major or concentratio
c on is accou unting or finance.” Do not list a de egree
rrequirement unless the ere is either 1) a speciific major, cconcentratio on or area o of study) orr 2) the
ddegree is “sshorthand” for
f some more
m generaal body of kknowledge, e.g., “basicc level of re eading,
wwriting and mathematical skills typically acqu uired during g completio on of a highh school proogram”
oor “advance ed verbal an
nd written communica
c ation skills, a
and a highe er level of g
general kno owledge
ttypically acq
quired in a college deggree prograam.”

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JJob Descrip
ption Revieew Guideliines 8 

CCertificatioons – List certifications

c s or license
es only if the
ey are requuired for the
e job. If
ccertification itself is not required, but a certifiication accu
urately describes a levvel of skill, yyou
mmay use it asa an exam mple, e.g., le
evel of knowwledge of n network ope erations connsistent witth
aacquiring Microsoft
M Windows Netw work Admin nistration C
Certification.

KKnowledge e of Laws/R Regulation ns/Policies

s – State the
e specific re
equirementts and the d depth of
kknowledge required. Each
E organ nization sho
ould have a “glossary” of what terrms like
““understandding” “in-depth knowledge” or “ex xpertise” me
eans, so thaat the terms can be ap pplied
cconsistently
y. To ensurre clarity, th
hese statem
ments can a always have e the qualiffier of “curre
ent” to
indicate tha
at employee e have to maintain
m their knowledgge. Example: “Possessses thorou ugh
kknowledge of current Federal
F andd State lawss and regullations gove
erning the e employer-
eemployee reelationship, and the way
w in which h these are applied to the Corporration”

NNon-educa ational knoowledge (“e experience e”) – Neverr simply ind dicate a certtain numbe er of
yyears of exp perience. There
T are various
v reas
sons. The o obvious on ne is that evveryone lea arns at a
ddifferent ratte. The sec
cond, perha aps more im mportant reaason, is tha at what an e employee le earns
dduring a sett number off years is based on the eir job and the way the ey are used d. What on ne
eemployee maym experie ence in one e year may take anothe er ten. It iss better to sstate a speccific
bbody of kno owledge, with a qualifieer. Instead of saying ““must have e 10 years o of superviso ory
eexperience”” (which isnn’t even a good want ad a statemen nt), it would
d be better tto say “possesses
hhigh level of supervisoory skill and expertise, including th
he manage ement and d development of
mmultiple staff members s performing jobs of va arying respo onsibility annd level, typpically not
aacquired in less than five years of progressiv vely greater levels of rresponsibiliity.”

SSpecific sk
kills – State
e specific skkill sets in a way in wh hich it is eassy to measure whethe er the
eemployee possesses
p the
t skills, and if he or shes does n not, to be abble to expla
ain exactly w
what the
eemployee needs
n to do in order to
o prove abiliity with the skill. Manyy skills are important in a
mmedical envvironment inn order to be
b fully func ctioning on a job, altho ough emplo oyees may not
nneed to be specifically
y trained. For
F example e, it is reaso
onable for m many jobs tto have stattements
ssuch as “muust be familiar with and conversa ant in basic medical terminology u used in
ccommunica ating to patie
ents.

SSome skills are more general,

g but it is imporrtant to be sspecific – “ccomputer litterate” is no
ot a
o a skill. A statement such as “ability to use
sstatement of e Microsoft Word sufficcient to pro oduce
ssimple correespondence and basic c reports an nd docume nts” is a go ood stateme ent. List an
ny
sspecific softtware progrrams used, and the de egree to wh hich an emp ployee musst know how w to use
tthem. If the
ere are specific progra
ams used in n a departm ment, list theem and the degree of
eexpertise neeeded, e.g.., “employee must hav ve thorough h knowledge e of all the major functtions of
XXYZ billing software, in
ncluding the
e ability to change
c dattabases succh as fee schedules.”

N
Nature of Work
W

T
This section n includes a variety of items that will vary fro
n of the job description om job to jo
ob.
T
These may include sta atements ab bout the lev
vel of directtion (e.g., “w
work is perfformed undder only
limited guidance) or the complexity of the woork (e.g., “w
work involve es extensivve research to
determine the nature of
d o the situattions encou
untered, and d to determ mine an app propriate co
ourse of
a
action”). A glossary off these term
ms should be
b develope ed for the C Corporation over time.

© Merces Consulting Gro

oup, Inc.