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| A not so silly question: What is a Job Description? | |
Property of Fran Quittel, Inc.© 2006 May be Reproduced with Attribution | |
| A few guidelines | |
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A job description creates a job, defines a job, and ensures the grade level is correct. |
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It is an internal document to justify, describe and approve the job and ensure a new employee is paid. |
| Is a job description a posting? | |
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Most companies automatically post their job postings which is incorrect. | |
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Posting a job description helps companies lose candidates
because these internal documents are: |
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a. too long and b. don’t sell the job. |
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Therefore if you’re only posting your job descriptions,
you’re probably turning good turn candidates off. |
| Hiring manager interview | |
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Savvy recruiters use the opportunity of writing a job description to sit down with the hiring manager and obtain information: |
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a. What are the knowledge, skills and abilities desired? b. Who is the hiring manager not seeking? c. What are the red flags, the automatic knock-out factors? |
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A hiring manager interview should also produce good candidate screening questions. |
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Recruiters should go over these questions each and every time there is a new opening or new hiring manager. |
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These questions are the key to doing excellent recruiting and providing outstanding client service. |
| 30 all-important questions | |
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If this is a replacement position, why did the employee leave the position? |
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Target Companies: where does the manager prefer a candidate come from? |
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Companies to avoid. (Also include your company’s customers, partners and potential new customers. Sourcing a key person from a potential customer will doom a major sales effort.) |
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Sources of candidates (conferences, conference attendee lists, journals, associations) |
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Are there any internal/external candidates the manager has identified? |
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Red flags: who does this manager not want to see? “Don’t show me resumes with”, “don’t show me candidates from”. |
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Salary range, total compensation, base/bonus. |
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What is the sell for this job? (This helps the recruiter write the Subject Line for the posting and define the career path, learning path or compensation/bonus plan.) |
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Any drawbacks? (This helps the recruiter present reality and do excellent screening). |
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Does the manager have any resumes for the recruiter to look at? (“Show me candidates who look like this!” – or – “We just hired Denise and here’s her resume as a benchmark.”) |
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Does the manager have a Rolodex of former co-workers who might be good sources of candidates? |
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What is the person going to do the first 30-60-90 days? |
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What are their deliverables during that time period? |
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Who will they interact with? |
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When they start, what will they be asked to do first? |
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What specific pieces of software (or other technical expertise) do they need to know? |
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What is the current environment they will go into? If it is a development project, what is the specific hardware, software environment? Exactly how far along is the project and how is it funded? How large is the department? What talent is already on the project and where will the new person fit in? |
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What exact soft skills are needed? |
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What projects will they do immediately? |
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What will their role be? |
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Does the hiring manager want someone to lead a project or someone who will fit in? |
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Does the hiring manager want someone who is the “same as” another person on the team, or someone to “complement” the team’s existing talent? |
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What career path will the new hire have? |
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Who is on the Interview Team? |
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What are their backgrounds? |
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What is the role in the interview process? (Example: Jill Jones will interview for competency in mortgage banking. Henry Mills will interview for web development skills.) |
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What are some other ways a hiring manager can partner with a recruiter? |
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The recruiter can give the hiring manager a dose of reality regarding the candidate pool. Are people available in that geography with that knowledge at that salary? |
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The hiring manager can give the recruiter a sense of the industry and why this position is important and how it fits into the company’s growth plan. |
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Timelines: How soon will the hiring manager see qualified resumes? What turnaround time can the recruiter expect from the hiring manager? | |
Comments? Questions? Please feel free to write:  Thank you! |
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