Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
What Is Job Analysis, and Why Do It Before You Hire?
A Help-Wanted Sign Is Not a Job.
After 1,000+ clients, business consultant Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, sees this one all the time. You post for a helper. They show up Monday, ask what to do all week, and are gone by Friday. The problem usually is not the person. It is a job nobody wrote down. Below: how to fix that before you hire.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
What Exactly Is Job Analysis?
Short Answer
Job analysis is the process of identifying the tasks, time demands, responsibilities, and qualifications a job requires. It is the groundwork for the job description, the hiring criteria, the pay range, and the training plan.
The new job = your weekly hours − the hours only you can do
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“Write down everything you did this week and how long it took. Mark the few things that truly need you. Everything else is the job. Hire for that, not for a wish.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Hazel, a painter from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as she makes the same hiring mistake real owners do. Her story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Sort the tasks with Dr. Paul, use a template, or learn the steps first. Either way, the job gets written down before the ad goes up.
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Start learning →From Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest
Meet Hazel: A Squirrel Who Couldn’t Keep a Helper
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he meets Hazel, a squirrel who paints for a living. Her studio is busy, orders are stacking up, and she has hired two helpers in two weeks. Neither one lasted past Friday. Hazel thinks she keeps hiring the wrong creature. Doctor Owl suspects the problem is the job itself.
Why It Matters
Why Do Vague Job Ads Lead to Fast Quits?
Most small business owners hire when they are drowning. They post for a helper or an assistant because they have never had to put their own day into words. The hire arrives on day one and waits for direction while the owner makes up tasks between customers. By the end of the week, both of them are frustrated, and the hire is gone.
The problem was never the person. It was a job that did not exist on paper. Job analysis fixes that before the first interview. It comes before a job description, and before you decide who looks good in the chair.
Signs you have this problem:
- Your job ad uses words like ‘helper,’ ‘assistant,’ or ‘someone to help out.’
- New hires keep asking ‘what should I do now?’ in their first week.
- You could not list the tasks you would hand off tomorrow.
- The last two hires quit within a month.
- You hired someone you liked and then found the job did not suit them.
- You are not sure if you need a part-time or a full-time person.
In the Fabled Forest
Hazel’s sign read Helper Wanted, Must Be Helpful. That was the whole job. Her second helper swept the same floor three times and asked ‘what now?’ fourteen times before he quit. He was not lazy. Nobody had told him what the job was.
What Goes In It
What Should a Job Analysis Cover?
A small business job analysis fits on one page. It answers five questions:
- Tasks. Every task the role will own, written as actions: prime canvases, answer quote emails, deliver orders.
- Time. How many hours each task takes in a normal week. This decides part-time or full-time.
- Owner-only work. The tasks that stay with you because they need your skill, your relationships, or your judgment.
- Requirements. Must-haves and nice-to-haves. What the person needs on day one, and what you can teach.
- Schedule. Which days and hours the work actually happens, so the role matches the rush.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl had Hazel log one week in charcoal on the back of a canvas. It came to about fifty hours. She guessed most of it was painting. It was twenty-two.
Timing
When Should a Small Business Do a Job Analysis?
- Before your first hire. This is where it pays off most. You only get one first impression with a new employee.
- Before you replace someone. The old job may not be the job you need now. Do not copy the last ad.
- When a role keeps turning over. Two quits in the same seat usually point to the job, not the people.
- When a job quietly grows. If one person now does two jobs, write it down before they burn out or leave.
In the Fabled Forest
Hazel only sat down to do it after her second helper quit. Doctor Owl’s point: two quits in two weeks is not bad luck. It is a missing job description.
The Numbers
How Many Hours Make a Real Job?
Here is Hazel’s week, sorted into four columns. Fill in the same columns for your own week before you post a single ad.
| Task | Hours a week | Only Hazel? | Goes in the new job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Painting | 22 | Yes | No |
| Customer letters and quotes | 4 | Yes | No |
| Stretching, priming, mixing paint | 9 | No | Yes |
| Framing and wrapping | 7 | No | Yes |
| Deliveries | 6 | No | Yes |
| Cleaning | 2 | No | Yes |
| Total | 50 | 26 stay with Hazel | 24 hours: about three days |
Illustration from the book. Your categories will differ. If the ‘goes in the new job’ hours add up to less than about fifteen a week, consider whether a hire is the right fix yet.
Step 1: Size the job. 50 total hours − 26 owner-only hours = 24 hours a week for the new hire. At 8 hours a day, that is a three-day job, not a full-time one.
Step 2: Price the job. 24 hours × $16 an hour = $384 a week, or about $20,000 a year before payroll costs. Use your local market rate, not this example.
Step 3: Check the payback. You get 24 hours of your own week back. If those hours go into work only you can sell, like more paintings, more quotes, or more customers, the job should pay for itself. If they do not, wait on the hire.
Illustrative numbers. Hazel’s week comes from the book; the wage is an example only.
Step by Step
How Do You Do a Job Analysis Before Hiring?
Four steps, one sheet of paper, and one normal week of your own time.
Track one normal week.
Jot down each hour by broad category for a typical week. Be honest. Most owners think they spend more time on their core work than they do.
Mark the tasks that truly need you.
Usually it is fewer tasks than you expect: the craft, the key customer conversations, the pricing. Everything not circled is a candidate for the new job.
Size the job from what is left.
Add up the hours that are not circled. That number tells you whether you need a part-time or a full-time person, and roughly what the job will cost.
Write must-haves and nice-to-haves, then the card.
Must-haves are what the person has to do on day one. Nice-to-haves can be taught. Only now write the posting, using the tasks and must-haves word for word.
In the Fabled Forest
Hazel rewrote her card in plain black: three days a week, the exact tasks, three must-haves, one nice-to-have. A young hare answered it. By his second week, he stopped asking what came next.
Hazel’s Full Story
Want to See How Hazel’s Hire Turned Out?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole week: the charcoal log, the card Hazel rewrites line by line, and the candidate everyone expected her to pick, and why she didn’t.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one people problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
Watch
How Does a Job Description Fit in a Business Plan?
Dr. Paul walks through the job description section of a business plan: who does what, and why a lender wants it in writing. It is the same list you build when you analyze a job before you hire.
Job Description Section for a Business Plan
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA.
A Business Consultant’s View
What Do Business Consultants Find When Owners List Their Tasks?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Consultant
When owners log a real week for Dr. Paul, the result is almost always the same surprise: far less of the week goes to the work only the owner can do than the owner thought. The helper job they wanted to post is often two different jobs with different skills, like admin and production, squeezed into one ad. Dr. Paul has owners circle only what truly needs them, then builds the first hire around the hours that free up the most owner time. That one change usually does more for retention than any interview technique, because the new person arrives to a job that actually exists.
FAQ
What Else Do Owners Ask About Defining a Job?
What is the purpose of job analysis?
What is the difference between job analysis and a job description?
How long does a job analysis take for a small business?
Keep Going
Where This Leads
This is foundation 1 of twenty. These pages build on it. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
What Is Workforce Planning?
How many people you need, and when, before the rush.
What Does Hiring for Fit Mean?
Write the behaviors that match how your place works.
What Is a Behavioral Interview?
Ask for real past examples, not hypotheticals.
How to Write a Job Description
Turn the analysis into a clear posting (Book 1 guide).
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Hiring your first or next employee and want help defining the role? See business consulting and prices.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.