Filling open positions with top candidates is difficult. It requires a great amount of planning, dedication, energy and investment. Even when you put forth all of your efforts, however, you can be left with an applicant pool that leaves something to be desired. How can you avoid this and position your company to attract the top candidates in the field? There is no simple answer, but crafting a great job description can go a long way, and the Benefits Manager job description sample that follows is an example of how to capture the interest of the most desirable candidates. You can review it for an idea of how to compose and structure your position’s job description and posting.
Benefits Manager Job Description Sample
This Benefits Manager Job description sample outlines some of the essential elements and standard features of a job description and posting for an open Benefits Manager position.
Benefits Manager Job Summary
The Benefits Manager position is housed within the Payroll department and focuses on providing access to and resolving problems for benefits products that internal employees receive. An understanding of concepts such as employment laws, relevant benefit programs and products, budgeting and human resources is helpful for success in this position. Candidates should also be comfortable communicating and mediating between employees, benefits providers and managers.
Benefits Manager Job Responsibilities and Duties:
- Work with internal employees to understand needs and tailor benefits packages to their position
- Audit expenses related to benefit payouts
- Assemble information regarding benefits products such as insurance, 401K and vacation time
- Conduct cost analyses before selecting benefits for employees
- Supply employees with documents related to enrolling, maintaining and understanding their benefits coverage
- Answer any questions regarding details of benefits
- Report to management all data on disbursement and enrollment in programs
- Update company records with information relevant to each employee’s enrollment
- Communicate with benefit providers to ensure services are supplied according to agreement
Benefits Manager Skills and Qualifications
- 3-5 year of experience in human resources or payroll
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or related field
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Conflict resolution skills
Company Profile
Western Corporate Holdings serves our community by offering staffing services to a variety of sectors. We provide temporary workers for openings in health care, secretarial positions, education and general labor. We strive to do more than just fill open positions, however. We strive to connect with each of our clients, provide them with fantastic staff and build relationships that will last. Our success is dependent upon the satisfaction of our clients and our team. We understand that both our temporary staff and our internal employees are integral to these goals, so we offer competitive pay and benefits as well as a positive work environment where we reward teamwork and collaboration.
Benefits Manager Job Responsibilities
There are key sections of a resume that make it clear whether a candidate is going to be a good fit for a position or not. In the same way, the job responsibilities portion of your benefits manager job description is crucial to attracting applicants. According to a recent study by CareerBuilder, 85% of applicants listed clearly defined job duties as the number one factor in their decision to apply. Therefore, this section should communicate day-to-day expectations in such a way that lets jobseekers know immediately whether they are right for the position.
To help candidates envision themselves in the action of the job, craft this section of the benefits manager job description into a list with each bullet point beginning with a present-tense action verb. Be careful not to intimidate candidates with a laundry-list of duties. Instead, focus on the 5–10 most important responsibilities of the position. Include business-critical teams or projects, as well as key deliverables and how these functions relate to the success of the company as a whole.
Some examples of benefits manager job responsibilities are as follows:
- Oversee health insurance, retirement and disability plans for nationwide company
- Ensure company-wide plan compliance
- Serve as liaison between outside vendors and company employees as necessary
- Research and evaluate market trends to ensure competitiveness of benefits package
Benefits Manager Job Specifications
To avoid a long hiring process bogged down with filtering out a multitude of overqualified or underqualified candidates, you must write a clear and straightforward job qualifications and skills section. This should be the shortest but most precise component of your benefits manager job description. When possible, run this list by a hiring manager or a job description review team before posting.
The simplest way to give this section of the benefits manager job description clarity is to categorize the qualifications and skills you are looking for into two separate lists. The first should be a list of required qualifications or skills. This could include a minimum education level, years of experience or technical expertise. The second should be preferred skills which make a candidate more attractive, but that aren’t necessary for consideration. This list may include language fluency, certifications or advanced education. Order each list in terms of importance, beginning with the most important and finishing with the least crucial.
Below are a few possible benefits manager job specifications:
- Knowledge of national health care policies, HIPAA, FMLA, ERISA and associated reporting requirements essential
- Experience with Workday and similar HR software preferred
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to speak to large groups
- Experience administering benefits internationally a plus