Creating a job spec that actually works.jpg

How To Write A Job Spec
That Actually Works

Introduction

To attract and assess the best candidates, you need a clearly defined job description — one that actually works.

It should cover the job title, objectives, responsibilities, schedules, activities, authority, measurements, wages, and benefits.

In addition it should also state any required certificates or licenses — or whether these can be gained post-hire. You may wish to include the number of years' experience needed, familiarity with specific systems or equipment, and any industry, occupational, or challenge-specific experience required. Define how success will be evaluated, measured, and rewarded.

The benefits of a good job description are numerous. It clarifies expectations for both employer and employee, clearly spells out duties, and helps eliminate — or at least minimise — potential misunderstandings.

The job spec should cover three areas: the opportunity, the job description, and the person specification.

It should serve as a point of reference not just for hiring, but throughout onboarding, development, and performance management.

Go Straight To: Job Spec Template & Builder

Your Seven Point Checklist

A job spec isn’t just paperwork — it’s a strategic tool. Done well, it helps you attract the right candidates, align internal stakeholders, and set someone up for success long after they’re hired. Done poorly, it can lead to confusion, mis-hires, and wasted time. Here’s what to focus on:

1) Being clear about what you want someone to achieve?

Define success upfront — what outcomes should the person deliver, and how will they create value for the business?

2) Responsibilities

Outline the core tasks and accountabilities that form the day-to-day focus of the role. Prioritise what really matters.

3) Person spec

Specify the skills, experience, and personal qualities required to succeed in the role — and distinguish between “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves.” What you don’t want! Think about characteristics or behaviours that would be a poor fit — this helps filter out the wrong candidates early.

4) Transparency

Be open about both the positives and the challenges of the role or environment — it builds trust and attracts the right fit.

5) Being clear about what you want someone to achieve?

Define success upfront — what outcomes should the person deliver, and how will they create value for the business?

6) Critical point of reference

A job spec should remain useful beyond hiring — guiding onboarding, performance reviews, and development conversations.

7) Positioning the opportunity

Most people fall short in this context. Present the role in a compelling, credible way that appeals to the right people — don’t just list duties, sell the story.

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1) Being clear about what you want someone to achieve?

When defining the job spec you should consider:

What needs to be done?

Why does it need to be done?

What will be the outcomes?

Look at the next three years and consider how any changes or events might affect your hiring and staffing requirements. For example, there may be movements in the economy or marketplace you will need to consider when determining the job description and person criteria.

Is taking someone on full time the best option? What other alternatives are available? It might be better to outsource the work, take on a contractor or find an interim solution.

What is the make-up of your current team? How strong is it? How diverse is it?

Are there any gaps or too many common types? And what implications, if any,

should be taken into account?

What are the key performance indicators?

Consider high-level primary outcomes such as revenue increase, profit, margin increase, percentage market share, customer satisfaction improvement ratios, cost reduction, and operational improvement. These should be quantifiable, should directly contribute to the financial performance or value of the business and be smart….

Also consider what secondary skills, actions and behaviours contribute to the primary outcomes being realised.

You need to measure what counts most.

A common error is measuring too many, or the wrong, outcomes. This often leads employees to misunderstand what truly matters. Still, in certain regulatory or exceptional contexts, all performance areas may carry equal weight.

HR professionals often describe roles broadly to allow for flexibility and future changes—a useful approach for organizations in transition. The drawback is that vague descriptions can obscure what’s actually required. Smart managers may keep their own addendum as a personal reference or use it as a memo to clarify expectations.

For senior and specialist positions, it’s increasingly standard to define specific targets and measurable outcomes.

Senior roles (C-level, VPs, Directors): Senior hires are accountable for business impact. Clear, measurable targets help align expectations and attract the right candidates.
Specialist roles (e.g., Sales, Accounts Receivable, Consultant, Programmer): Specific targets - such as sales goals, project deadlines, output quality, or KPIs - create clarity and enable effective capability screening.

Early-stage or highly fluid roles: In startups or dynamic teams, targets may evolve rapidly. In these cases, stating “example outcomes” rather than fixed metrics can convey the right direction without limiting adaptability.

Examples of defining outcomes:

List 3–5 high-impact outcomes expected over the year.
Ensure they reflect both performance and developmental goals.
Include quantitative measures (revenue, project delivery) and qualitative ones (collaboration, innovation, leadership).

To clarify key objectives, imagine the scenario 12 months from now: if the person has succeeded, what exactly have they accomplished? Write these outcomes in order of importance or impact.

2) Responsibiliities

Primary Responsibilities:

These should capture the activities and behaviours most likely to drive success in the role, meaning key objectives are met or exceeded.

Positioning – Define where the role sits: team, function, reporting lines, and location.
Role Purpose – Summarise the scope, objectives, and overall purpose of the role.
Expectations – Clarify what is expected of the person, what needs to be accomplished—and by when.

Focus on what matters most probably five to seven primary responsibilities that directly impact success.

These should reflect the key tasks the individual will be held accountable for and that form the basis of both day-to-day feedback and formal reviews.

Also include the specific skills and behaviours needed to deliver on expectations.

Other responsibilities:

This broader list may include 15–20 items and should reflect both ongoing duties and high-impact deliverables.

The clearer and more outcome-focused your responsibilities list, the more meaningful and measurable your performance assessment will be.

3) Person Spec/Criteria

The person specification outlines the skills, experience, and personal attributes required to succeed in the role.

Sometimes, it may be appropriate to augment this with a likely candidate profile to help clarify what a strong fit looks like.
When building the person spec, you’ll likely gather input from HR, your own judgment, and colleagues in departments that will interact with the role. The result is often a long - and potentially unrealistic - list of qualities. That’s why it’s important to distinguish between “Essential” and “Desirable” criteria.
Start by identifying the four or five most important qualities you're looking for. Then rank or rate candidates against these on a simple 1–5 scale. This gives you a practical way to compare candidates and remain focused on what truly matters.

Use others to help define the criteria. Consider:

Experience (track record)
Knowledge
Qualifications
Technical skills

Also consider what level each competency is needed at - and keep the list manageable. Think about the ideal candidate’s likely background, and where or how such a person may be found. Equally, define any red flags - behaviours, attitudes, or gaps that would rule someone out.

You can’t ignore cultural fit and emotional intelligence. At senior level, it’s not just about skills.

Can they influence? Navigate change? Build trust? These qualities are rarely captured well in job specs — but they’re often the reason hires succeed or fail.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) plays a critical role in job performance — it accounts for 58% of success across roles, and leaders with high EQ are 40% more effective than their peers. When building a job spec, it's worth factoring EQ into your person specification — especially for leadership, commercial, and team-based roles.

Key Emotional Intelligence Traits to Look For:

Self-awareness: Signals objectivity and openness to feedback — a foundation for learning, growth, and sound judgment.
Self-management: Reflects discipline and consistency — staying composed under pressure, avoiding rash decisions, and maintaining high standards.
Social awareness: The ability to read people and group dynamics — essential for influence, collaboration, and client engagement.
Relationship management: Getting things done through others — vital for leadership, sales, and cross-functional work. Watch for extremes: dominating or disengaging behaviours are red flags.
Motivations: Ensure the candidate’s drivers align with the role and culture. Mismatched motivations often lead to underperformance or early exits.

Structuring the Criteria

When defining what’s required, list essential skills first - focus on must-have capabilities, not a wish list. If you're unsure what matters most, categorise each skill or trait as either: Essential - must be present. Desirable - adds value, but not a dealbreaker

Use a rating scale (e.g. 1–5) and place the most important qualities at the top of your list.

Include both hard-side and soft-side characteristics:

Hard-side: Acquired skills and experience — e.g. specific industries, role types, deal sizes, customer segments.
Soft-side: Personal attributes — e.g. emotional intelligence, motivation, resilience, collaboration.

4) What you don’t want!

When writing a job spec, it’s just as useful to think about what you don’t want as what you do. Are there behaviours, mindsets, or working styles that would clash with the team or slow things down?
For example, someone who needs constant direction may struggle in a self-starting environment. Including a line or two about what won’t work can help filter out the wrong fit — before they even apply.

5) Transparency

There are multiple merits to being transparent with candidates about both the strengths and potential drawbacks of an opportunity.
Firstly, it builds trust.
Perhaps more importantly, it acts as a filter — putting off those who aren’t suited to the role, the requirements, or the environment. You don’t want to hire people who won’t work out.
Equally, it can be a green light for the right people. For example, a chaotic, unstructured environment may be off-putting to some — but for others, it’s where they thrive. The same goes for highly structured, process-driven settings: not for everyone, but ideal for some.
When people join expecting one thing and find another, they often feel misled — not a good start, and frequently the root of a failed hire.

6) Critical Point of Reference

The job spec represents a critical point of reference when assessing someone's performance and developing them.

It’s the responsibilities, behaviours and specific skills outlined in a good job spec, that offer scope to identify and assess any areas of weakness, skills gaps or to increase performance in the role.

Therefore its important that these are identified, and prioritised from the outset.

7) Positioning the Opportunity

Your job spec, is likely to need to be relevant to external hires (prospective hires not currently employed by your company), internal ones when making hires from within your company and to act as a point of reference post hire - when assessing performance and development.

When viewed by people outside of your company, they may not be familiar with your company and therefore for this audience, you’ll probably want your job spec to commence with a few paragraphs outlining what your company does, showcasing its credentials and why it’s a good place to be.

One of the most common traits of poor hiring is a failure to tune into the candidate’s needs, interests, and what might attract them to the role.

Do you want to hire an "A" player?

Some managers can hire “B” or “C” players — a three-star hire — but if you want a five-star, “A” player, you need more than assessment; you need to influence.

Top performers are usually doing well and fully embedded in their current environments.

If you want to land a five star candidate - then you need a five star approach.

You need to keep the best candidates engaged and build their interest and confidence levels throughout your protracted hiring process.

This is a quality that separates out the best leaders from the rest!

Showcasing your opportunity!

Effectively showcasing the opportunity isn’t just about what’s written in the job spec — it also depends on how well you prepare those representing your role to the market. Whether it’s internal recruiters, external agencies, headhunters, or even contacts in your network, they need to be equipped with the right messaging, context, and insight to engage high-quality candidates and spark genuine interest.

The strongest prospective candidates require a strong approach.

Start by deciding what you want to communicate — both externally (to potential hires) and internally (to current employees).

Business Context: Outline the company’s line of business, the scope and scale of its operations, the market environment, and any major plans.

Consider carefully what to share publicly and what to keep confidential.

Role Background: Why is the role open? While you may choose not to disclose this, the reason often shapes both the role itself and the ideal candidate profile.

The nature of the job. What the job holder needs to accomplish and the nature of responsibilities.

Positioning: Define where the role sits within the organization — team, function, reporting lines, and location.

Role Purpose: Clarify the scope, objectives, and key responsibilities.

Expectations: State what the new hire should achieve and the expected timeframe.

Attractions and Challenges:

Highlight what makes the role compelling and be upfront about any hurdles. Present the company as a great place to work, without overselling — you want people to feel energized, not misled.

Working Style: Explain whether the role is remote, office-based, hybrid, independent, or heavily team-oriented.

Future Outlook: Describe potential career paths, progression opportunities, and the long-term intent of the position.

You’d be forgiven for thinking employer branding is only an issue for big brands—but it’s not. Here’s why:

People talk.

They share information. Now imagine hearing these two different comments:

"I got an approach from this company—I'd never heard of them, but the job spec looked strong, the company sounds good, and I'm keen to find out more."
"I got an approach from this company—never heard of them, the job spec was vague, and honestly, it seemed pretty average. I think I’ll pass."

Your brand shows up whether you control it or not. Make sure it’s working for you, not against you.

Get this right, and there's a payback.

Thinking this is hard work? Thinking it’s time consuming? Thinking you’ve got other things to do?

Do this properly and you’ll get a big payback. It’ll help you to recruit the right people into the right jobs for the right reasons. 60% of new hires succeed, 40% fail. A smarter approach will help you increase your chances of making successful hires and mitigate for risk.

Consider using a memo, an addendum or notes

It’s not unusual for employers to hesitate when defining a job spec too precisely — especially when circumstances can change, and the needs of the role may evolve. There’s also a desire to avoid being boxed in or exposed to disputes down the line.

With that in mind, you may choose to keep the official job spec relatively high-level, while preparing a separate set of working notes that offer a fuller picture. These can be used during conversations with candidates or shared in an accompanying email, along with a simple disclaimer:

“Please note: the details below reflect our current thinking about the role. As with many positions, the specific responsibilities and focus areas may evolve over time based on business needs.”

This gives you room to adapt without misleading the candidate — or tying your hands unnecessarily.

Job Spec Template & Anchor