Careers: The Job Description Is Broken: Here are Four Reasons Why

It’s been said that the road to undesirable locations is paved with good intentions, and it’s time to put the tired “job description” (JD) into the Trash folder. Part of Pompeo Group’s intake process with a client partner is to define with the hiring manager all the details and specifics of their opening, whether it’s vice president of sales, director of marketing, CTO, general manager or regional sales manager. Many times, our client may share the job description they had been using for the position without success. And you might be surprised how many times our detailed “intake” call with our client’s hiring manager rarely syncs up with their company’s JD Tyrone Smith had a thought-provoking piece two years ago in the Harvard Business Review on why it’s time to rethink the standard job description in the digital era. Here are the four top reasons why the JD. rarely is effective in identifying or attracting the right candidates today:

1. Second-hand Information. Job descriptions are often not even created by the hiring manager, but instead are written by someone in Human Resources based on notes or a brief conversation with the hiring manager. However, these are hardly a true description of the position. You might be surprised as to how little time is spent with an HR manager discussing the job opening; in more than a few instances no such conversation (often due to busy schedules) with the hiring manager ever takes place. And that’s nothing against HR professionals; time constraints may preclude these meetings. Oftentimes, HR will simply do a Google search based on the title of the position, and—voila—a job description emerges, albeit very generic.
2. The Wish List. So many times, job descriptions are cobbled together visualizing the “perfect” candidate. While well-intentioned, the problem is that when hiring human beings, that perfect candidate rarely exists and often the requirements are so many and/or are even contradictory that it narrows the candidate pool significantly, sometimes to no one. The Italian proverb il meglio è nemico del bene was popularized by Voltaire in French, or, as we know it, Perfect is the enemy of the good. As Mary Lindenmuth our director of recruiting says, “No one is perfect. No one is going to have everything, and nine out of 10 times it’s the fit—the attitude, the willingness of the right candidate.” Things a job description rarely captures.
3. The Forest For The Trees. In preparation for this column, I pulled up completely at random a job description from a very respected architectural lighting manufacturer. It contained 21 (yes, 21) equally ranked bullet points. This is not uncommon at all. Not getting enough female candidates responding to a position may be the result of a JD’s barrage of bullet points. A fascinating study by Harvard Business Review found that women only respond to positions if they meet 100% of the requirements (bullet points). Men on the other hand will respond even if they only meet 50% (this in itself is a separate topic for a future column).
4. The “Frankenstein Syndrome.” Many job descriptions are pieced together from past job descriptions with minor tweaks and updates. Other times they are passed around for input from numerous managers within a company and by the time everyone’s put in their two cents, it becomes a Frankenstein monster rather than an actual job description for a human being. As the saying goes, A camel is a horse designed by a committee. While a company may be looking for a horse, many times they end up describing a dromedary. To mix metaphors, a broth can be ruined by too many well-meaning chefs adding too many ingredients.

So, looking to fill a position but reluctant to go down the old job description path? There is at least one (and much more effective) alternative (see below).

TRY A SCORECARD

We’ve referenced the groundbreaking book Who: A Method for Hiring in the past. Authored by Geoff Smart and Randy Street, the book is arguably one of the best on hiring—it’s based on actual statistical studies on high-performing candidates rather than a self-described human resources “expert’s” theories.

There is a better way and Smart and Street’s scorecard method is it. The three key steps are:

• Define the mission for the job. The mission focuses on what you actually want the person in this role to accomplish and avoids the random “wish list.” An example for a regional sales manager position might be “Grow client base and revenue through relationship-building and strong sales technique.”

• Determine the competencies required for the role. For the regional sales manager example, it might be prospecting skills, product knowledge, strong interpersonal skills, a proven sales track record and customer service.

• Successful outcomes. What do you want your potential employee to accomplish? It’s important to specifically define it. The “Who” method recommends you determine four to seven attainable and quantifiable outcomes for the role. Smart and Street offer as an example: “Grow the client base by 30% and revenue by 25% in the first 12 months.”

For more information, visit https://whothebook.com/about/.