3 Reasons Why Most Job Descriptions Don’t Attract the Best Talent

3 REASONS WHY MOST JOB DESCRIPTIONS DON’T ATTRACT THE

BEST TALENT

So you have to hire someone.

what now?

Building the Job Description

Many organizations think that by dusting off an old job description, they

fulfill this important first step.

Building the Job Description

In reality, most job descriptions are outdated and filled with position

qualifications that don’t relate to the performance of the job.

“The candidate must have five years of experience as a development director.”

•  Five successful years or unsuccessful years? •  Five years in a similar context or a different one? •  If I, the candidate, have only four years of very

successful experience in development, should I take my application elsewhere?

“The controller must possess a business degree.”

•  Why? •  Will a similar degree or diploma be accepted? •  Will international qualifications hinder success?

This type of job description gives the applicant information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, and outcomes of a particular job. But it can’t indicate whether they’re going to love coming to work every day.

Building the Job Description

Spend your valuable time on adding

important things to your

job description

The Why

Why would someone work here?

What difference can they make?

How can they help other people?

You seek to work with someone who shares your organization’s purpose, mission and values, so

prioritize definition of these.

The What

What is the new hire expected to accomplish?

Are they expected to grow revenue?

Are they expected to implemented new systems?

If you can define what the new hire is expected to accomplish, it will become clear what expertise is

needed to accomplish it.

The How

How will the new hire succeed?

How is she or he expected to behave?

What behaviours lead to success in our organization? What traits are needed to achieve success?

Psychometric assessments are useful in defining these sometimes elusive traits and they

can be applied at low cost.

If you can clearly articulate the WHY, WHAT and HOW of your organization and position, then agree

to hire someone with the sense of purpose, knowledge, skills and behaviours to meet those

expectations.

How do you determine the

job’s WHY, WHAT and HOW?

There are many people with a stake in the success of your new hire: •  Your leadership team •  Current employees •  Customers •  Shareholders •  etc.

Identifying those with the greatest stake in the new hire’s success is an important, and very often overlooked, aspect of hiring.

•  Talking to people whose own success and happiness will be heavily impacted by the new hire will set you up to succeed.

•  Their perspective will help you describe the position, and it will also help you identify someone who fits your position.

•  By engaging them in the hiring process, you increase their support for the new hire.

Does your current job advertisement communicate your WHY, HOW and WHAT?

Visit www.ianmartin.com