A job description is often perceived as a formal document, which briefly and dryly describes the main qualities of an employee. But such a paper often takes on the role of a documentary basis for making decisions regarding the employment of a citizen at a new place of work, the adoption (adoption) of a child, or establishing the amount of responsibility for a committed offense. In such situations, a good, beautifully and well-written characterization of an employee becomes of great importance. This should be remembered by both the employees themselves and their employers (managers).

In general, a characteristic from the place of work may be required by:

• new employer,
• banking institution,
• bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
• guardianship authorities,
• tax,
• military enlistment office, etc.

Sometimes a job description really becomes a formal document, the content of which can be drawn up on the basis of standard forms. But much more appreciated is a rather detailed and stylistically beautiful presentation of those professional and personal qualities of an employee that may be of interest to the addressee in the first place. For example, an employer who is only interested in perseverance and stress resistance in a new employee will look for just such qualities in such a document. This means that a sample reference from an accountant's place of work is not always suitable for compiling the same document in relation to a security guard or a professional driver.

How to write a characterization from the place of work to your subordinate? What qualities of an employee should be emphasized? Are there rules for compiling such documents? What must contain a characteristic from the place of work?

How to write a job description?

Since there are no provisions in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation or any other official regulatory document obliging organizations to use a unified form of characteristics, when compiling such a document, it is worth adhering to the unspoken rules used by specialists working in the field of personnel workflow. Any characteristic from the place of work should include items that are mandatory for any business document:

• title,
• organization details,
• content part,
• Date of preparation,
• responsible person's signature.

Sometimes in such a document the data of the addressee are indicated: for example, “for submission to the court of the city N”, etc.


The content of any job description should include 3 sections:

1. General information about the employee. Here the passport data of the citizen (full name, date of birth, place of residence), as well as marital status are indicated.
2. Information about work experience and positions. It should be about the work activity of the employee in the organization that draws up the document: the time of work in a particular position, refresher courses, career advancement, the number of employees in submission, labor successes, achievements, etc. Data can also be provided here and about the disciplinary sanctions that have taken place (it is also recommended to indicate the reasons for their imposition on the employee).
3. Description of professional and personal qualities. Usually template definitions are used here, such as “hardworking”, “responsible”, “executive”, etc. However, it is this point that should be given special attention.

When compiling a characteristic from the place of work, it is important to pay attention to precisely those personal and professional qualities of the employee that can interest the recipient of the document. Obviously, the military registration and enlistment office or the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be interested in such moments as the relationship of the employee in the team and his communication skills, and the employer hiring a new accountant will be interested, first of all, in punctuality, scrupulousness, perseverance of the employee and his attention to detail. A person of a creative profession will be described from the best side by such qualities as “creativity” and “original thinking”, and from the future leader they will probably expect “the ability to clearly set tasks”, “demandingness”, “the ability to organize the workflow” and “willingness to take on responsibility in all situations.

Examples of characteristics from the place of work

The characteristic from the place of work is usually provided by the personnel department, but its compilation is always entrusted to the immediate supervisor (supervisor) of the employee. It is most convenient to draw up such a document on the letterhead of the company, which eliminates the need to specify the details of the organization. At the same time, it is also allowed to use a regular A4 sheet, on which it is enough to reflect the data in the following form:

This universal form of characteristics from the place of work on our website.

Another example of compiling a document in an extremely concise form gives a description of an employee-economist (characteristics):