Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Understanding Job requirements

Job requirements broadly mean what the employer expects the employee to do for a particular position. While applying for any job, one must be fully aware of the job requirements for a specific position so that the candidate can justify whether he is competent to meet those requirements. By scanning those requirements, he can prepare himself better for an interview in another way.
The best way to understand the job requirements is to understand the job description and job specification mentioned by the employee. Some job ads give the jobs requirements specifically, depending on space limitations. But one needs to look beyond the advertisement and go deeper when preparing for an interview. There are certain tips which would help you identify job requirements
You can consult your friends and contacts in this field: People who are already in this field will be able to tell you in details what is expected of you in this line as they have experience working for that position.
Read the job ad carefully: Most organizations point out the basic job requirements in their advertisement. Such requirements are generally in terms of qualifications, experience and behavioral skills. You can go through these and deduce what more skills may be relevant for the job.

Job requirements- An important tool

Every job has certain requirements which are determined by the organisation based on past experience or through consultation with senior employees. These requirements must be met by a particular candidate in order to be successful in a specific job position. Job requirements or standards keep changing according to the job as the position determines the requirements and the fulfillment of those requirements determines performance.
Job requirements can be in the form of technical skills or behavioral skills which a candidate is expected to possess. Technical skills or qualifications are the most important requirement in any job, but some jobs give equal importance to soft skills or social skills.
There are some behavioral skills like teamwork, motivation to work, initiative, etc. which can be universally applied to different jobs; but there are requirements of other behavioral skills which vary according to the job. For example, jobs where one has to interact with more people would require a high level extroversion and god communications skills. Some jobs require high levels of emotional maturity or ability to deal with stress.
Technical requirements would include educational qualifications and degrees and prior experience in the field, any knowledge or interest in extra-curricular activities which would directly add to the performance in a particular job position.

Contents of Job requirements

Job requirements are an important criteria fixed by an organization to narrow what they expect a candidate to do for a specific job position. By analyzing the job requirements, the candidate also understands what exactly he is supposed to do and what is required for optimal performance. These job requirements are mentioned by employers in job ads. There can be different job requirements and they can be divided into different categories.
There are some factors which directly contribute to one’s performance, so the employer looks if the candidate has the right educational qualifications, degrees and certification and adequate experience depending on the job position.
After this, job requirements also include mental abilities – the employer has check if the candidate is capable of handling a particular responsibilities, and so he must stand up to the mark when it comes to aptitude, IQ and reasoning ability.
Certain jobs are more physical, like army, navy, air force, and hence require the candidate to be in good shape. For such jobs it is required that the applicant must have good health, hearing, sight, speech, posture, physique etc.
Job requirements thus vary from job to job and are an important tool to determine if the candidate fulfils the requirement standards so that he is successful in that particular task.

Importance of Job requirements

--> Job requirements are mentioned by an organisation in order to let the candidate know what are the job responsibilities expected and qualifications required for a specific job position. These help the applicant to prepare himself for the interview and also analyse if this is the job that he really wants or is fit for. From the company’s point of view, by stating these job requirements they make their priorities clear about the kind of person they are looking for a specific job.

Job requirements is like an umbrella term which encompasses basically all the qualities that an organisation is looking for in its employee that are needed for a post. They include everything from education requirements, qualifications, marks, degrees, certificates, performance in extra-curricular activities, prior job experience etc. Besides that, soft skills or behavioral skills are also part of job requirements because more and more organisations are recognizing the need for having a wholesome personality and not just external qualifications. These would include traits like teamwork, cooperation, sincerity, communication skills, and interpersonal skills. Good physical condition is also important for certain job profiles.

For example, for a job in the field of advertising, one would need to have a degree in mass communication, advertising or sales etc. He would also require extremely good communication skills and creativity.