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Are You Recruiting for the Job You Actually Need?

Are You Recruiting for the Job You Actually Need?
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by
Managing Director

One of the interesting things about recruitment is how often a vacancy starts with an old job description.

Someone leaves, the file is opened, the job description they were recruited against three or four years ago is found and the process of replacing them begins. On the face of it, that makes perfect sense. The problem is that businesses change, jobs evolve and the person you need today may be quite different from the person you recruited last time.

I’ve seen roles change considerably without anyone really noticing. Someone gradually takes on additional responsibilities, technology removes part of their original workload, customers’ expectations change or another member of the team starts doing something that historically sat within their role. By the time they leave, the job on paper and the job they’ve actually been doing can be two quite different things.

A vacancy therefore creates a useful opportunity to stop and think before automatically recruiting a like-for-like replacement. What does the business actually need from this role now? Which parts of the job are genuinely important, which skills could be taught and are there responsibilities that would be better moved elsewhere? You may still conclude that you need almost exactly the same person, but at least you’ve reached that conclusion deliberately rather than simply because that’s what you did last time.

It’s also worth talking to the people who work alongside the role. Managers naturally have a view of what they need, but colleagues often understand the day-to-day reality particularly well. They may identify gaps, duplicated work or opportunities to structure the position differently that aren’t obvious from an old job description.

This doesn’t mean turning every vacancy into a major restructuring exercise. Sometimes you simply need to replace a good employee quickly and get on with running the business. However, spending an hour properly considering the role before starting recruitment can save weeks spent looking for someone based on requirements that are no longer quite right.

At ASL Recruitment, understanding the vacancy is an important part of the conversation we have with our clients. Finding good candidates becomes considerably easier when everyone is clear about the job we’re actually recruiting them to do.

Final Thought

Before you replace the person who’s leaving, take another look at the job they’re leaving behind. Your business may have changed more than the job description has.




Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

 
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