MightyRecruiterCouriers deliver and pick up items such as medical specimens and legal paperwork. They may drive vans, or in cities such as New York City, even use bicycles. There are also air couriers who accompany cargo. In general, couriers must confirm that specific people have received the goods, and couriers also record any responses. They take care with hazardous or fragile goods and often plan their routes to maximize time and efficiency.
A courier job description should explain the mode of transportation the courier will use and whether the job is freelance. It should also list soft skills such as punctuality, reliability and good communication. Bicycle couriers should also meet certain physical fitness standards.
Experience and familiarity with GPS are two other things that employers often like to see in prospective couriers. The courier job description below should give you more insight into what goes in a great job ad.
Courier Job Summary
Do you love the sights, sounds and smells of Manhattan? As a courier for our large midtown law firm, you’ll constantly be on your bicycle. We provide safety training, the bikes, a cellphone and all gear, and you offer independence, good judgment, a thorough knowledge of the city, and lots of patience and perseverance. This job naturally provides plenty of exercise, and you’ll receive steady and predictable pay as an employee. You play an important role in the firm because you ensure that critical legal documents are delivered (and returned, if necessary) in a timely manner. Help us continue a tradition of unity and Big Apple love going on 100 years.
Job Responsibilities
- Retrieve and pick up important legal documents from various attorneys at the law firm in midtown Manhattan; deliver them to other law firms, various businesses and individual apartments, and do some pickups elsewhere
- Ride a bicycle in all types of weather, including but not limited to rain, cold, heat and light snow; Take appropriate safety precautions
- Use buses and subways if bike transportation is not appropriate or if weather is bad
- Plan routes to save time and efficiency using intimate knowledge of the city as well as GPS apps on a cellphone; also, in some cases, call or email recipients to verify they will be at the destination
- Work from about 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; occasional evening, weekend and holiday hours may be necessary
- Get recipient signature confirmations and answer any questions
- Take appropriate security and ethical precautions with packages
- Perform routine maintenance on bikes such as inflating tires and greasing wheel bearings
Job Skills & Qualifications
Reqiured:
- Ability to pedal bicycle at moderate to strenuous levels for at least six to seven hours daily
- Honesty, ethics, independence, good judgement
- In-depth knowledge of getting around Manhattan via bicycle
- Familiarity with GPS/apps such as Google Maps
Preferred:
- 1-2 years of experience as a bicycle courier
Courier Job Responsibilities
It’s usually good practice when writing a courier job description to focus most of your time on writing and fine-tuning the job responsibilities section. One reason for this is that it is jobseekers’ first impression of the daily obligations your company will expect them to perform. Also, this section is frequently what draws their attention to the document in the first place. Thus, it is immensely important to the success of your posting that you write with clear and concise language.
Keeping lesser tasks out of the job responsibilities section is one of the most important practices in crafting a well-written courier job description. Overly long lists only serve to overwhelm jobseekers. Focus instead on the primary, day-to-day duties of the position. You should format this section using bullets to help condense the large amount of information you’ll be presenting. Begin each bullet with an expressive verb to help jobseekers visualize the daily tasks, and keep them between four and eight.
Take a look at the following courier job responsibilities for your personal reference:
- Pick up and deliver lab specimens, medications and medical records to and from medical facilities, including hospitals
- Keep accurate records regarding all items transported, including locations
- Update travel routes regularly to optimize speed
- Maintain delivery vehicles regularly
Courier Job Specifications
When writing the job qualifications and skills section of your courier job description, it helps to schedule a meeting with your upper management. Discuss specifications for the position, such as the experience they regard as non-negotiable, in contrast with those traits that are merely preferred. This will help you write your courier job description more clearly and thereby help jobseekers better understand their aptness for the position. Make sure the difference between the non-negotiable and preferred qualifications is clear in the listing.
From the outset, it can be easy to underestimate this section. After all, it’s the shortest, being no more than a list of basic requirements for applicants, including relevant work experience and academic credentials. However, taking this section for granted is a mistake. If written well, the qualifications list can make a large difference in the amount of time you’ll spend weeding through unqualified applications, keeping the unfit applicants and their resumes at bay.
Here are a few examples of well-written courier job specifications that can help refine your candidate pool:
- High school diploma or equivalent
- 1 or more years’ experience in document delivery
- Excellent understanding of clerical principles, such as proper organization of important documents
- Superb decision-making and critical thinking skills
