Job seeker and applicant writing a resume and CV with a laptop.Tero Vesalainen/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
This is the weekly Work Life newsletter. If you are interested in more careers-related content, sign up to receive it in your inbox. Sent every Monday afternoon.
Hello,
Question for job seekers: What was the last memorable job description you saw?
For those who aren’t looking: When did you last update your current job description to reflect what you actually do?
I chatted with Rob Baker, the founder of U.K.-based HR consultancy Tailored Thinking, about the problems with job descriptions and how they should change to better serve employees and employers.
The consultancy bases its work around the concept of “positive deviance,” which is the idea that people or corporations can try unusual tactics and see positive results.
Job descriptions as barriers
Mr. Baker says that one main challenge with job descriptions today is that they are restrictive.
“People aren’t able to develop new skills and knowledge in terms of their goals, because often they’re confined by their job description,” he says.
Along with that, he says they aren’t very engaging for candidates.
“Typical job descriptions don’t refer to the purpose and the heart of the role,” he says, which is a big miss in a world where people want to do more purpose-driven work.
Creating a job canvas
Mr. Baker says job descriptions should be evolved into job canvases. He describes them as, “living, breathing documents that develop and grow with people.”
It can cover typical things like the key activities, skills and strengths needed to succeed. However, it’s updated over time to reflect changes in those areas and also includes other important career-related information like the core values the worker delivers to the business, key performance indicators, challenges they are facing and what key resources they currently rely on to get their job done.
Mr. Baker says this will allow for more job flexibility and coaching-oriented conversations, while also helping everyone get a better picture of what other people across the business actually do.
“The task is about creating a masterpiece of work that aligns with individual strengths and goals and organizational goals,” he says.
The future of job descriptions
Mr. Baker says he could see job descriptions evolving in a few different ways.
One is that they become more fluid and leave space for change. Instead of shaping job descriptions around what can be completed in a typical work week, they could look at different time frames like what should be achieved in a month or even in 30 hours per week.
Mr. Baker says this approach allows roles to shift over time, depending on the desires of the worker or the needs of the business.
For example, he says creating job descriptions based around a 30-hour week would allow candidates to have some autonomy around filling the rest of that time building skills and experience outside of their main role. Or, it could mean doing nothing and choosing to work a four-day work week.
“Allowing people to construct it in some way is something that is really exciting and doable within today’s work; particularly if people are crying out for more flexibility,” he says.
Fast fact
Workplace fun?
53 per cent.
That’s the number of workers in Canada who have negative feelings about work, with nearly 30 per cent of those workers feeling tired and overworked. This article looks at how companies are re-engaging workers with fun, more personalized experiences while also fostering connection in a hybrid world.
Career guidance
The return of ‘who you know’
Hiring has slowed in many industries. Additionally, the use of tools like ChatGPT and automated bots to apply for jobs — especially among new graduates — has left career seekers and recruiters alike in a bit of a tizzy. Former public company CEO and Rotman assistant professor Dan Richards says people must tap in to internal referrals to stand out.
He advises: Start by identifying 10-20 target companies you’d be interested in working for. Then, find someone who works at your target company on a website such as LinkedIn and see what you have in common like a shared hobby or alma mater. Lastly, reach out. Show you’ve done your research on the individual and the company and ask for something specific like 20 minutes of their time to seek advice.
Quoted
Siri, open Find My Friends
“I think location sharing has revolutionized business processes. They’ve transformed organizations and the amazing things that we can do through location sharing, when it’s for the right purpose, is phenomenal,” says Dr. Katina Michael on The Globe and Mail podcast, Lately.
Dr. Michael, who is a professor at the school for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University, discusses the growing popularity of location sharing apps among families, friends and now businesses.
On our radar
Paranormal recruitment
According to one career coach, ghosting candidates — or never following up after several interviews — is unprofessional but not uncommon. Legislation has been proposed in Ontario that would ban this type of ghosting, requiring larger employers to respond to all candidates that they’ve interviewed.