There are the most wonderful job specs on company websites, job sites, our site ! Some roles seem so interesting, challenging and varied that I am almost envy the successful candidate sometimes.
Does the candidate ever live up to every part of the original spec ? – probably not – and it is most likely impossible to do so. A job spec which reads like a wishlist is just that I think – ambitious, proactive in approach, excellent communication skills, can-do attitude, leadership qualities, ability to work in a team and on own initiative – I’ll have one of them myself too please.
In composing a wishlist, we can lose sight of our reasons for wanting to employ someone in the first place, i.e.
we are short specific skills which are vital to our continued success, those skills are ….
we need to find a replacement for Jim, the specific skills he had which we don’t want to lose are …….. We could also do with one or two others skills which are ………..
we need an extra resource in a department. We are fine when it comes to X expertise however we could do with more of that one
Spending time figuring out the above, in my opinion, can lead to a more successful recruitment outcome for both the candidate and the company.