For those of you that like to get right-to-the-bottom line. Here it is. If you want your job description to deliver, you have to learn how two do these two things, then do them consistently.

1. Refuse the urge to “define the person”, instead, describe the “work to be done”!

2. Define what “highly successful” looks like in this job.

I realize that sounds trite, stupid, ridiculously simple. Yet, on almost a daily basis I read job description after job description that are complete-fails, not just at one, but both.

Result: End up with generic job descriptions, that produce mounds of not-a-fit resumes.

For the rest of you, that really want to work your way down to the bottom line, here’s breakdown.

Let’s start with what this DOESN’T mean. You are not effectively “defining the job” when you make lists of skills you think a good candidate for the job will have. Equally, you’ve failed to define the job if you create a list of experience that you think an optimal candidate for the job will likely have. Take a step back, and give this another look and it will become immediately apparent that you’ve not defined the job, you’ve defined the person you think can do this job.

I realize this is a massive oversimplification, but accurately defining the job does not have to be complicated. Here’s how to start. I need you to do “THIS”. Write it down. That’s all. This will help potential candidates self-select. They either want to do “THIS” or they don’t.

Let’s start with a non-software industry example.

I need you to build fences.

Privacy Fences out of wood.

No wrought iron, no chain link. Just wood.

On occasion, steel support posts rather than 4x4 wood supports

You need your own tools, dependable transportation, enough skill and experience to deliver, and a can-do attitude.

Tech example. I need a person with either natural or developed leadership skills that can assemble a new QA team for our one year old startup as we go from beta to our 1.0 release. Also, I must have a person that has enough technical skills and experience to weigh tech and tool options, and make thoughtful, well informed decisions.

Ok, that’s number one. Now number two. Time to define success.

In your opinion, as the leader of this team, what does success look like as it relates to “this job”? Tell your candidate exactly what you’d like accomplished within the first year. Then break that down into quarters, or some other logical bite size chunks that can be used as milestones. Even better, break it into specific objectives or deliverables with specific deadlines.

Tell the candidate exactly what they need to do to knock it out of the park. Tell them each objective target they need to knock down, and the deadline in order to be wildly successful. IF they have the necessary skills and experience they will tell you. If you ask exactly how they will deliver on your targets, they will tell you, or hang themselves in the process. OR, just as good, they may tell you, “Hey, I’m the wrong person, there’s no way I can deliver what you’re asking in the time frame you want.” If you ask, they’ll tell you either why they are not a fit, or perhaps better, why your requested deliverables are unreasonable. Likely, you’ll learn what information you failed to provide to them in order for them to understand exactly what you want.

Part of “defining success” must be to tell them what you expect, and how you expect to work with them, and support them during pursuit of this goal. Then, if you really want to be assured that you’re on the same page, ask this question or something similar.

Question:

Mr. Candidate, now that you’ve got a much better feel for the details of the job and what it entails, perhaps you could share with me one of your personal accomplishments that you’d consider similar in size, scope and complexity. I’d love to hear all the details, how your ended up on the project, who else was involved, how long it took, what resources you had at your disposal, etc.

Switching from job descriptions that look more like a grocery list of skills and experience than the description of a project, or set of tasks to be accomplished requires some additional time and effort. It requires deeper thinking, and may require that you pull in a few of your current team members to help fill the gaps.  [Hint: do this, what you learn will be immensely helpful]

Here’s the prize. Every extra minute you spend up front in accurately defining the role, will save you 2,3 or even 4x in hours lost sorting through the wrong resumes; hours of interviewing the wrong people, and lost time in replacing mis-hires will almost completely disappear.

So, are you ready to write objective driven job descriptions that actually attract the right people, instead of everyone that needs a new job? Are you ready to establish deliverables and deadlines so your candidates actually know if they can do what you’re asking?

Want a team full of wildly successful professionals building cool stuff and having fun doing it. Tell them exactly what they need to do to be wildly successful, while they’re under consideration, and again during the interview process. Let them verify their understanding of what you need, by asking hard questions, and giving straight answers.

Do this and you’ll have job descriptions that work, and you’ll take a huge step in the direction toward creating an interview process that attracts not repels the candidates you need and want on your team.

I stated this up front for the bottom-liners in the first paragraph, but it bears saying again. Neglect to do this and your job descriptions will be generic. They will all look the same, and you’ll generate mounds of resumes that don’t fit. So many in fact that the good ones in the stack will already have a competitive offer in their hand before you even talk with them. Don’t continue to make this mistake.