Job Descriptions FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Job Descriptions.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Job Descriptions Overview.
Setup
Do I have to set anything up before I can write the first job description?
Yes — your job titles. A job description is always written for a title, so the title has to exist first, under Job Titles & Families. The Library lists every active title and shows which ones have no description yet; that list is your work queue. Family, level, pay grade, code and competencies are read from the title and never re-typed into the document.
Who can create, publish and read job descriptions?
Three tiers, and everyone falls into at least the last one.
- Admins — business and super admins, plus anyone granted App Administrator for Job Descriptions. They author, publish, archive, import, run reports and change settings. They are also the only people who see drafts and unpublished edits; everyone else reads published versions only.
- Supervisors — anyone with active direct reports. They read the published description of any title held by someone in their reporting line.
- Employees — everyone reads the published description for their own title, on desktop or on their phone, and acknowledges it when asked.
Granting App Administrator is how you hand day-to-day ownership to an HR partner without making them a business admin.
Permissions and access
Why can’t a supervisor open the job description for someone outside their team?
Because a supervisor’s reach is their own reporting line. They see the published description of their own title, plus every title held by someone below them in the reporting tree — nothing else. If the person genuinely reports to them, check that the reporting relationship is set on the employee’s profile and that their membership is active.
I finished editing — why do employees still see the old version?
Editing never changes what employees see. Your edits are held as an unpublished revision that only admins can open; employees keep reading the last published version until you publish again. The document page tells you this directly, with a link to the version employees are currently reading.
Day-to-day
What happens when I publish a job description?
Publishing does four things in one step.
- It freezes a full, permanent version — every section, plus the title’s family, level, pay grade, code and competencies exactly as they stood that day.
- It records who published it, when, and the change summary you typed.
- It makes that version the one employees see.
- Unless you clear the checkbox, it asks every current job holder to acknowledge it, with a due date and reminders.
A description needs a position summary and at least one essential function before it can be published.
I only fixed a typo — how do I publish without asking everyone to sign again?
Clear the Ask current job holders to acknowledge this version checkbox in the Publish window. The new version still goes live, and nobody is asked afresh. Each holder who already has an open request keeps it — the request simply moves onto the new version, with the same due date. Nothing is lost and nothing doubles up. Leave the checkbox ticked for any change that alters what the job actually is.
How do I ask every job holder to confirm their description again when nothing has changed?
Start a re-acknowledgment campaign from the Acknowledgments tab. It asks every current holder in scope to confirm the version already published — no content change of any kind. Two rules matter:
- People who already have an open request are skipped, so they never get two asks for the same thing.
- People who signed earlier are asked again, and their earlier signature stays on record.
Scope the campaign to every published description or to selected titles. You also set the days to acknowledge and can add a note that shows on the report. The confirmation message tells you how many people will actually be asked, not how many hold the titles.
Can re-acknowledgment happen automatically on a cadence?
Yes. In Settings, set Re-acknowledge every N months. The default is 0, which means off; the range is 0 to 60 months. With a cadence set, one campaign opens per calendar month. It asks every job holder whose last signature is older than the cadence to confirm their current description again. These campaigns appear on the Acknowledgments report alongside any you start by hand.
Does publishing need approval first?
Only if your organization sets that up. Add an approval workflow for Job Descriptions with the Job description publication trigger, under Admin → Approval Workflows. With a workflow in place, you submit for approval instead of publishing, and approved content publishes automatically — no second click. With no workflow, publishing is direct. Settings shows which of the two states you are in.
An approval covers the exact content the approver saw. Edit after approval and you need a fresh approval.
Why can’t I edit this job description right now?
Almost always because an approval request is open, which locks the content. That is the promise the approval makes: the approver signs off on this text, not on whatever it becomes afterwards. Use Withdraw approval request on the document page to unlock it, edit, then submit again. The same block applies to restoring an old version while a request is open.
If you see no Edit button at all, you are reading as an employee or supervisor rather than an admin. Use Suggest a change instead.
Can I go back to an earlier version?
Yes. Open Version history, pick a version, and restore it. Restoring copies that version’s content into the working copy and records the move as a new entry — history itself is never rewritten or deleted. Restoring does not publish; review the restored content and publish it when you are ready. Every version is kept indefinitely, and any two can be compared side by side, section by section.
How do I bring in our existing Word and PDF job descriptions?
Use the Import tab. Upload up to 50 files per run in Word (.docx or .doc), PDF, or plain text. Each file is read, split into the structured sections, matched to one of your job titles, and saved as a draft — imports never publish anything. The run happens in the background and finishes with a notification listing what was created and what was skipped.
If your descriptions already live in spreadsheet columns rather than documents, use the Job descriptions target on the shared Smart Import page instead.
Why was one of my import files skipped?
Four reasons, and the notification names which one applies to each file.
- No matching job title. The notification names the title, and the code when the file had one. Add that title under Job Titles & Families, then import the file again. Matching tries the position code first, then an exact title name, then a partial name match.
- That title already has a description. Existing work is never overwritten by an import.
- No readable text was found in the file.
- The document could not be split into job-description sections.
Does the compliance check stop me from publishing?
No — it is advisory in every case, and the author decides. Check this job description scores the working copy out of 100 and lists findings by severity, and the panel separates two kinds:
- Rule findings are deterministic and repeatable: ADA shape, overstated physical demands, FLSA and EEO completeness, biased or exclusionary language, reading level, and pay-transparency readiness.
- AI review findings are advisory suggestions and may differ between runs. They are labelled with an AI badge. Clarity, vagueness and jargon notes from the AI review never rise above Low severity. Only protected-group language and absolute physical requirements written into prose can carry a higher one.
The reading-level check flags anything above a 12th-grade reading level. Only the prose is graded — the demand grids are not sentences, so they are left out.
Why don’t I see “Create posting in Job Board”?
Two conditions have to hold. The description must be published, because the posting is built from the published version rather than the working copy. And Job Board must be enabled for your workspace. You also need admin access to Job Descriptions.
When it runs, it creates a draft requisition linked to the same title. The recruiter tailors and publishes it in Job Board, so the posting and the record never drift apart. If the description shows the pay grade’s range, the posting inherits it too.
Someone spotted a mistake but can’t edit the description — what can they do?
They use Suggest a change on the document page. It is the only door for readers, who cannot edit. The note is limited to 2,000 characters, is kept on the document, and every Job Descriptions admin is notified. A document keeps its 50 most recent suggestions. The 10 newest appear in a panel on the page, each with the author, the version they were reading, and the date.
When something looks wrong
“My Job Description page is empty — where is mine?”
One of three things, and the page says which.
- No job title is set on your profile. Ask your administrator to assign one; your description appears there once it is published.
- The description for your title has not been published yet. You will be asked to review it when HR publishes it.
- It was archived. Your acknowledgment history is kept, and you will be asked again if HR publishes a new one.
“I already signed this — why am I being asked to acknowledge it again?”
Two situations ask a second time, both on purpose.
- A new version was published. Each signature is pinned to the exact version it was given for, so a new version means a new request. That pinning is what makes the record defensible.
- A re-acknowledgment campaign is running. It asks you to confirm the description you already have, unchanged, because time has passed. The notice says so, and your earlier signature is untouched.
Acknowledging closes the request immediately, along with any reminder sitting in your inbox.
“I keep getting reminders about my job description — when do they stop?”
Reminders begin three days after the request is sent. After that they arrive at most once a week while the request stays open, and they stop eight weeks after it was sent. Acknowledging stops them at once. They also stop if the description is archived, or if a newer version supersedes the request. Past the eight weeks the request sends nothing further, but it still shows as outstanding on the admin report.
Nobody was asked to acknowledge the version I just published — why?
Work through these in order.
- The checkbox in the Publish window was cleared. That is the “minor edit” path — the version goes live and nobody is asked afresh.
- The setting is off. Check Ask current job holders to acknowledge each published version in Settings.
- Nobody currently holds the title. Only active people holding that title are asked; service and AI-agent accounts are never asked to sign a job description.
- They were already asked for this same version — requests are never duplicated for the same person and version.
Why does the acknowledgment report show a different number of people than currently hold the title?
Because the two columns count different things, deliberately. Current holders is who holds the title today. Requested is how many acknowledgment requests exist for the published version. Three things make them diverge:
- Someone took the title after the version was published, and Ask new hires and transfers to acknowledge their job description is switched off.
- The publisher cleared the ask checkbox for that version.
- Someone who was asked has since moved to a different title. Their request and any signature stay on the record.
What happens when I archive a job description?
Employees stop seeing it, and any acknowledgment still waiting on them is closed out as no longer required. Everything else is kept: past versions, past signatures, and the employee’s own acknowledgment history. Two follow-ons are worth knowing. An archived description cannot be published as-is — restore a version first, which returns it to draft. And you cannot archive one while an approval request is open, so withdraw the request first.
Licensing and limits
Does Job Descriptions need a licence, and who turns it on?
Yes. Job Descriptions requires a licence and is off by default for every workspace — nobody gets it without opting in. A business admin enables it from the Apps Marketplace. They can then delegate day-to-day ownership by granting someone App Administrator for the app. Pricing and packaging live on the app’s directory listing.
What are the limits and default values?
| Setting or limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Job descriptions per job title | One |
| Versions kept | Unlimited — nothing is pruned |
| Ask job holders to acknowledge each published version | On by default |
| Ask new hires and transfers to acknowledge | On by default |
| Days to acknowledge | 14 by default; accepts 1–365 |
| Re-acknowledge every N months | 0 (off) by default; accepts 0–60 |
| Campaign days to acknowledge | Starts from your Settings value; accepts 1–365 per campaign |
| Campaign name and note | Name up to 120 characters; note up to 1,000 |
| Reminder cadence | Starts 3 days after the request, then weekly; stops after 8 weeks |
| Show the pay grade’s range on new job descriptions | Off by default |
| Job Descriptions AI assistant in Ask AI | On by default |
| Default reasonable-accommodation statement | Up to 2,000 characters |
| Suggestion from a reader | Up to 2,000 characters; the 50 most recent are kept per document |
| Bulk Word/PDF import | Up to 50 files per run |
| Accepted import file types | Word (.docx, .doc), PDF, plain text |
| “Published · review due” state in the Library | Published more than 12 months ago |
| Percent-of-time across essential functions | Cannot exceed 100% |
| Demand frequencies | Never, Occasionally, Frequently, Constantly — leaving an activity at Never omits it |
| Export formats | PDF, Word (.docx); Library and Acknowledgments export to CSV |
More help
- Job Descriptions Overview — what the app is, how it fits together, and what to set up first
- Job Titles & Families — where titles, levels, pay grades and competencies are maintained
- Job Board Overview — what happens to a posting created from a published description
- Ask AI — the read-only Job Descriptions assistant finds a description, summarizes its duties, runs the compliance check, and lists who has not acknowledged, always scoped to what you can already see