What Are Job Tasks?

Job tasks are duties or responsibilities that you perform on a job. Most workers perform numerous tasks on their jobs. For example, a secretary may arrange meetings, type letters and run errands for her boss. The tasks that people perform on jobs are usually related to their job description. A job description is a list of duties and responsibilities employers use to describe a job.

You will usually learn certain job tasks during job training. Sometimes, a coworker will teach you how to perform certain tasks. For example, an experienced restaurant worker may show you how to prepare sandwiches for customers. You may learn how to run the register on another day of training. The amount of tasks you perform on a job will increase as you become more experienced. You will likely train others on various tasks once you have been working your job for a while.

Your job tasks will vary according to the type of work you do. For example, carpenters perform more labor-related tasks than salespeople or doctors. A carpenter may take measurements, hammer nails in boards and drill holes when necessary. Salespeople present their products to consumers or businesses, and doctors diagnose patients who are sick.

The type of tasks you perform will usually be commensurate with your education. For example, architects actually design buildings that carpenters and contractors build. The architect acquires his skills by going to college and studying architecture.

A person's job tasks are usually parts of larger projects that must be completed. For example, as a marketing research manager, you will need to write a questionnaire and hire an agency for a particular project. Subsequently, you will need to analyze the survey data and write a report when the surveys are completed. You may be assigned several tasks at a time. Hence, you will likely be required to complete these tasks within a certain time frame.

Some tasks are more strategic in nature. For example, as an entrepreneur you will spend much of your time making plans for your business. You will need to decide how to best advertise your business and price your products. You may base some of your strategic decisions on the competition, keeping your prices on par with competitors, for example. Additionally, you will need to decide which types of consumer of business customers to target. Your tasks will become more strategic as you advance into higher-level positions.