The IMPORTANCE of a WRITTEN job description

"We need a sales manager who should have experience of about 5/7 years in direct sales. The person should possess excellent presentation and communication skills and must be a guy with fire in the belly and proven performance of delivering targets. The candidate must have strong relationships with the prospective and regular customers as the company is into products with a repeat purchase cycle of 3 months". This is example A of a typical brief for the vacancy of a sales position given VERBALLY by many clients to their recruitment consultants. As per brief, the candidates are short-listed by the consultant and interviewed by the client but all of them are rejected. While all of them met the criteria, none of the candidates had been exposed to the "specific market segment" and hence didn't have any established relationships in that specific segment which was a critical requirement of the position. Example B is another brief-"We need a product manager with around 6 years experience in marketing. Responsibility would include handling above the line and below the line activities, market research, pricing and product strategies. Should be an MBA from a premium institute and should possess an analytical bent of mind". The candidates were short-listed and sent by the consultant for interviews with the client. All were rejected. The reasons: Firstly, none of the candidates had the experience and understanding of the distribution pattern of the product categories related to the client's product and it's related buyer behavior. This understanding was key to the role and responsibility of the position. Secondly all the candidates had more experience in handling above-the-line activities while the requirement was that the candidate should be exposed primarily [75%] to the below-the-line activities. Another essential role for the job. What a loss of time for all involved! And the end objective of successfully hiring the right candidate for the position was not met. The hiring process has an important step, which must be done at the beginning stage itself. 'Write' down a clear job-description, the purpose of which is to find the RIGHT-MATCH for the position which remains the most challenging purpose of hiring. Something amazing happens between your head and your hand when you take a pen and put it onto a piece of paper to 'write' the job-description. While the definition of an ideal candidate differs among various businesses and organizations, here are few leads for writing the job-description:
1] Begin with listing down all the qualities that an ideal candidate would have. You will be astonished at the clarity that develops on the page in front of you. You will find yourself remembering so many key skills and details, which had previously not occurred to you. These would be very useful, which you will realize later, in the hiring decision you make.
2] Focus on the results and the outcome that the position must produce which are the deliverables.
3] The candidate must 'FIT' into the company.Attitudinally, whether the candidate would be a team player, open-minded to learn and with appositive attitude and such other traits.
4] Get into the minutest detail of the activity and task required to be fulfilled by the position. Leaving out any one thing could lead to a wrong hiring decision.
5] If it an existing and not a new position, it would be a good idea to use the person, who is leaving the organization, as a bench-mark while writing the job-description. You may consider listing down the experience, background, skill-sets, capability of that person. This could be applicable either ways to use the positive points if he/she was successful in delivering the results or to learn from the negative points which might have hindered their delivery.
6] While you may list down 20 or more personal characteristics, but most jobs boil down to 4-5 essential duties that account for 80% of the job. These are the ones which must be mentioned up-front in the job-description. With this ammunition of a WRITTEN job-description, you as a hiring manager are ready to begin your search for the right person for the job!!

Sarabjeet Sachar-Founder and CEO-ASPIRATION
Media n Entertainment Recruitment & Resume Services.