Jonathan Davis, HireBetter’s founder, considers himself a recovering job description writer. And in this video, he explains why and how you can become one too.
Traditionally, to write a job description, you probably piece together attributes that you’d like in a new hire. You start from the beginning and work forward.
Start at the end to know where you should be
But what we do, and what we encourage our clients to do, is start at the end. Determine what this person should accomplish in their first 90 days, six months, or year on the job. Now, when you look at your candidates, ask yourself whether they’ll deliver the success that you’ve just described.
This lets you be able to look at their background and determine if they have the skills to be able to do that, rather than them trying to convince you that they have the attributes that you asked for.
What kind of employee do you really want to hire?
No one really wants to just hire a “go-getter” or a “real closer,” you want someone who can successfully achieve specific results for your company. So find out what “success” means in your role, and your accuracy will go way up.
For more, take a look at HireBetter’s YouTube Channel, and stay tuned to the HireBetter Blog for more information on how to attract, recruit, manage, and retain top talent.
Awesome video. I like the thought of, “what will the best candidate be expected to achieve one year from now”. We, as HR people, try to write nebulous, all-inclusive job descriptions that are representative of the status-quo. The marriage of both “what will the winning candidate deliver in the future” teamed with “what are the requirements that will prevent unqualified people from applying” should be a standard practice.
1 – Experiential & Educational Requirements
2 – Expected Achievements
Even a simple forklift operator may have Expected Achievements – move 1,000 tons of material with no safety incident; perform 300 machine inspections; etc.
Great article! We will implement your thoughts!!!
Thanks for the note Jared…you are absolutely correct. We’re glad you get it. Feel free to share your best practices as a comment to this blog or send us thoughts through twitter @HireBetterCEO.