Ideal Job Specification

Once you have decided that you need to hire for a role, the next steps are to create a:

·        job description (what are outcomes and processes in role), and

·        job specification (what knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) are you seeking in a job incumbent).

But a job specification doesn't end with only listing out what KSAs you are seeking in a job incumbent.

 

As HR Recruiter or Hiring Manager, take into consideration following factors:

·        Most things are teachable and learnable given adequate time, effort and cost. But different organizations have different capacities/appetite for time, effort, and cost. Hence what is trainable and what is non-trainable is an organization specific decision.

o   Ability is most difficult to teach and learn, followed by skill and then knowledge.

·        Ask yourself 'What is trainable/non-trainable for this role?".

o   List out Non-trainable K,S, and As. These should be criterion against which you will make a hire/no-hire decision for a candidate

What is advantage of following a procedure like this?

By following above mentioned procedure, you increase size of candidate pool you are looking at. Hence possibility of hiring a candidate at an 'affordable' compensation increases.

 

You may also want to keep the following in mind when formulating job specification:

·        If you are being particular about an educational qualification and that is causing you difficulties in hiring - ask yourself 'Is this qualification really required? Can someone who has relevant work experience but not this educational qualification perform this job effectively?

·        If you are being particular about a certain type of work experience and that is causing you difficulties in hiring - ask yourself 'Can someone with high learnability but having a different kind of work experience/no work-experience do this job with an accelerated induction program?;

These are some tips to ensure that you are hiring a candidate at an 'affordable' compensation.

 

Your next question might be - so how do we ensure high performance? Well! I will post about this soon.

 

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Sourav