Hire top candidates with this system administrator job description template

System administrators are responsible for ensuring that your organization’s servers meet your customers’ needs without exceeding your budget. Top system administrators need to be proficient in Active Directory to handle administration tasks effectively.

Hiring a system administrator all begins with creating an excellent job description and giving applicants pre-employment tests like TestGorilla’s Active Directory test to accurately evaluate their skill level.

Job descriptions are a great way to advertise openings in your organization. As such, you should pay close attention to how you draft them to increase your chances of securing quality candidates for your company.

In this article, we’ll explain the importance of job descriptions, provide a system administrator job description template, and list the elements you should include in your system administrator job description.

What is a system administrator job description?

A system administrator job description states the kind of system administrator your business is looking to hire. It contains crucial information about the role, such as the job requirements, duties, and skills needed to perform well in your establishment.

You can also use a system administrator job description to advertise an opening in your company and communicate your expectations of employees once they have the job.

Thus, the system administrator job description you craft lies at the heart of your entire hiring process.

Why are job descriptions important in your recruitment process?

Job descriptions have a larger impact on your company than you might think. No law requires you to have a system admin job description, but here are a few reasons why they are essential to your success: 

1. They provide an opportunity to sell your organization

Effective system admin job descriptions give you an opportunity to market your business by showing the public what your company does. Remember to provide only the most important details so that you don’t lose your target audience’s attention.

2. They’re a great way to track employees’ performance

Job descriptions are a great way to monitor how well your system administrators perform and manage their roles. Drafting a precise system admin job description also enables you to easily create key performance indicators.

Laying out your system administrator responsibilities makes it much simpler to measure new administrators’ success since you can compare their performance against the targets you state in the description.

3. You can use them to attract the right candidates

Getting the job description right gives you a better chance of attracting top system administrators. With a detailed job description, you’ll be sure to receive applications from the right candidates, which can save you time and resources.

When you clearly define the responsibilities you expect of your system administrator, applicants who don’t fit the requirements will be less likely to apply, enabling you to focus on only the best prospects for the job. 

In a recent study, about 45% of employers admitted that they struggled to find employees with the skills they needed. These kinds of difficulties can result from a poor job description structure that attracts the wrong candidates to send in their applications. 

4. They offer your company protection after terminations

Even a good job description is not a foolproof hiring tool on its own. Sometimes, unqualified applicants might still make their way through the recruitment process, which is why it’s a good idea to filter candidates with TestGorilla’s system administration pre-employment test.

However, job descriptions do provide backup documentation that can protect your company if you need to terminate a poorly performing employee. 

If you have outlined the job requirements for your system administrator, it should be easy to prove how your employees’ performance doesn’t meet the standards you set before you hired them. This can help you justify why you had to let them go.

5. They clarify the tasks employees need to execute

Clearly defining the role, responsibilities, and duties your system administrator must perform gives applicants an idea of what the job entails. It also helps you distinguish the roles each of your employees is responsible for.

What should you include in a job description template for a system administrator?

You might find writing job descriptions a bit difficult if you don’t know what elements to include. Remember to add the following when drafting your system administrator job description:

• Job title: Applicants need to know what role they’re applying for, or else you’ll receive a bunch of applications from candidates who aren’t qualified system administrators.

• Position title: State the official title of the position.

• Reports to: Inform prospective employees whom they will report to.

• Department: Include what department your system administrator would operate in to provide more information about the role.

• Effective date: Adding a deadline to your job description shows that the opening is available for a limited time and that your establishment is punctual and serious about the role.

• Job summary: A good job summary gives an overview of what the role entails and provides your applicants with an image of what success as a system administrator in your firm requires.

• Responsibilities and duties: Strong job descriptions include the applicant’s responsibilities if they land the role. This gives applicants an idea of what to expect from a system administrator position at your establishment.

• Required skills: Although a candidate is expected to have the core system administrator skills, you should also list any additional skills your company needs.

System administrator job description template

Sometimes, a job description template is more useful than an actual sample job description because it clearly shows you how to draft yours.

Below is a system administrator job description template to guide you as you build your own description. 

[Job title] 

[Position title]

[Department]

[Effective date]

Reports to: State who the employee will report to if hired for the position.

Job summary: Give a short description (4-6 sentences) of the role. Explain why your business needs a system administrator and what success in the position looks like. 

Responsibilities and duties

• List the important responsibilities and duties the employee will need to carry out in the role of a system administrator at your organization 

• The sentences in this section should have a similar structure

• Try to use gender-neutral language

• Include any supervisory responsibilities you expect your system administrator to oversee

• Use the present tense when describing the duties and responsibilities of your system administrator

Required skills

List the skills and abilities your system administrator needs to perform their role adequately. Curious about skills for similar roles? Check out these 7 essential skills for network administrator for in-depth examples.

Qualifications

• Include your preferred certifications for this role

• Add the required education level

• State any licenses you expect your system administrator to have

• Include your preferred experience level

Optimize your system administrator recruitment process with TestGorilla’s Active Directory test

Active Directory is a set of services that links users with network resources to enable them to perform some type of work. Your system administrator needs to be proficient in Active Directory because it helps them manage permissions and control access to network resources.

TestGorilla’s Active Directory test focuses on four key areas: fault tolerance and load balancing, deployment planning, administration, and troubleshooting.

This test will help you discover the top intermediate-level system administrators who apply to your open role.

Sign up for free today with TestGorilla to start implementing a stress-free recruitment process.