Most Best Practices for hiring include the job specification. CleanAir has not necessarily done this in every instance and it may or may not be hurting us. If you as a Business Leader decide to use the job specification when filling your openings this little article may help.

Preparing A Job Specification is Crucial

There are two parts to this - the specification of the job and of the ideal candidate

The preparation of a job specification serves two purposes in the recruitment process.

1.  It allows the company itself to assess the position in the cold light of day. Sometimes you may come to the conclusion that you do not need to recruit at all.

2.  It will save a lot of time. It prepares candidates fully, so that you do not have to waste time in the interview explaining every aspect of the job.

Use a form 

Design a form to be used every time you prepare a job specification.

The form need not be too complicated, but will certainly contain the following headings.

• Job Title

• Location

• Reports To (CleanAir doesn't like to use this, butÉ)

• Works With

• Responsible For

• Purpose of Job

• Duties & Responsibilities

• Key Criteria

Some guidelines 

The following notes will help you to prepare the job specification that  can then be typed and presented properly on your company letterhead.

Job Title, Location and Reports To are all very simple and straight-forward.  (Do we all report to the client?)

Works With should include all those at a similar level within the organization with whom this position needs to work, as well as all outside suppliers or clients.

For example a Salesman is likely to work with other members of the sales team, perhaps some specific members of the after-sales team and the company's clients. If they are in a trading environment, they may work with some of your suppliers.

Responsible For in the other world this means that staff who report directly to them and the name of the Team or Group they lead. It does not mean their duties and responsibilities. In CleanAir this means Quality and a commitment to constant improvement.

Purpose of the job is a section that is self-explanatory. It is important at this stage to be succinct and merely outline the general purposes. Do not be tempted to get into the "nitty-gritty" of every function.

A profit responsible Team Sales Leader might be asked to "to ensure the smooth and the profitable running of his/her Team through the maximization of sales. To achieve agreed targets and constraints (we don't have b u d g e t s in CleanAir) set by the company. To ensure future customer loyalty and retention by the maximization of customer satisfaction and service."

There may be other areas of immediate concern to you, and it is important that if they are key criteria by which you measure the success of the employee that they should also be seen as part of his/her day-to-day goals.

Duties and responsibilities 

Job specifications for internal use could probably cover three or four pages if you really want to elaborate on every duty and every responsibility. Again, it is best here to keep it simple and just list those duties that fall under broad headings. The job specification can always be enlarged to include everything at a later stage.

Key criteria - every employee should know how you will ultimately judge their success and failure.

Salesmen may be judged purely on units sold or profit generated. They may also be judged upon some measure of customer satisfaction or repeat business. They may be expected to hit targets or meet sales projection plan for sales and profit. (the 'B' word).

Explain clearly but succinctly how this will work. If the leader of a profit center will be judged purely on their ability to manage profits then say so, although they will almost certainly be judged upon the service that they provide to their customers and other parts of the organization.

Person Specification 

Once the job specification has been prepared, then you need to turn your own attention to what you require from your candidate.

Preparing an accurate person specification will allow others to handle some aspects of the recruitment process for you.

You will need this if you have an overwhelming response and need someone to select the best thirty from a list of say two hundred.

Divide your requirements into "desirable" and "essential". Mark those that are essential with an asterisk and indicate why at the bottom of the form. That way nobody is in any doubt at any stage.

The form 

As for the job specification, prepare a form once and you will never have to do so again.

Use the following headings:

•           Company

•           Job Title

•           Location

•           Qualifications

•           Experience

•           Special Skills

•           Personal Attributes

•           Other Key Criteria

The headings are broadly self explanatory except for Personal attributes which will include things such as good communication skills, the ability to work with others, smart professional appearance, drive and motivation.

Other key criteria may include a candidate's location, their fear of heights, or their willingness to relocate, or their willingness to travel. Their ability to work abroad, extremely long or unsocial hours, or anything else that is directly related to the job will also fall under this category if there is nowhere for it on the specification.

You should feel that the person specification is for your candidate's consumption. It is always useful to let them have a copy before the first meeting. It saves time and is also something that prompts question at interview

IMPORTANT 

You MUST not include here anything that will lay you open to any charge of discrimination. Unless you are certain you are allowed to state it, no references to race, sex, religion or any other form of outlawed discrimination will be allowed. Do not be tempted to include it and have to justify it later.