Collect the following resources to help you: your campus position description form, your latest official position description (if you don’t have one, ask HR), the classification standards for your current classification and the one to which you aspire to campus job postings, the position description of another employee in the classification you are aiming for, the CSEA Know Your Rights flyer on Reclassification and In Class Progression, verb lists and other practical aids for reclassification created by CSEA.

http://www.calstate.edu/HRAdm/Classification/index.shtml

Write down everything that you do in no particular order, over a few weeks’ time.

Think of about 3-4 broad categories into which all the details can be divided such as budget, academic personnel, student services, chair support, special events, etc. Assign percentages of time to the large categories, not to individual duties.

The verbs you use are critical. They describe the level at which you work as well as your actual duties. Use action verbs like coordinate, organize, manage, advise, interpret, research, analyze, initiate, oversee, decide, recommend, create, design, edit, program, etc. Write in complete sentences and be consistent with your verb tenses and persons.

Express your overall responsibilities at their highest level. Then describe what you do to carry out those responsibilities, what tools you use, and state the end result desired. If you type travel claim forms it is probably because you are responsible for reporting all travel in your office, and you are also interpreting and enforcing campus and department travel policies, and tracking expenditures. The following is an example: Incumbent is responsible for the reporting of all travel in the History Department for 15 faculty. Incumbent completes all travel claim forms electronically and submits them to accounting with the appropriate backup, monitors and tracks the expenditures in PeopleSoft for accuracy, and interprets and applies department and university travel policies and procedures, in order to ensure compliance with all regulations, and to make sure that the Department stays within budget.

Write a draft and show it to a friend. Better yet, form a small group of people with the same classification and meet regularly, setting specific goals and deadlines until you are finished. Always ask someone to proof your work. Your position description becomes official after it is signed by your supervisor and dean/director, and filed in Human Resources.