Following our post last Friday about who writes job specs and why, it is useful to look now from the other perspective.
A lot of hiring managers or HR personnel fall into the trap of writing or redeveloping a job spec without fully considering the potential audience. Whether you are writing a spec from scratch or adding to an existing template, it is important to remember that it can and will be read by different people, including:
Current staff (people at this level, or more junior, or more senior)
Potential applicants (whether or not they choose to apply, and whether or not they are successful)
Recruiters (both your existing suppliers and potential recruiters who want to work with you)
Competitors (companies are always very interested to know how certain roles are positioned within competitors’ businesses)
Nine times out of ten, the way the hiring manager describes the role to us in their own words will be almost completely different to how the role is portrayed in the job spec - even if this person wrote the spec themselves.
Are you responsible for writing job descriptions in your business?
It is tricky to create a document that reflects what the job really entails whilst also allowing for flexibility in responsibilities, and also whilst making it attractive to potential new employees.
When we undertake a new recruitment project at Next Phase, we always review our clients’ job specs and are happy to provide guidance and feedback on how it comes across and compares to specs from other companies. Please contact us if you would like an outside perspective!