How do you write a role profile that works?

Because the room is building something other than what it thinks. The intention is a description of the job. What emerges is a wish list.

It happens by itself. The manager lists what the previous post holder could do, the team leader adds what they felt was missing, and someone from HR attaches the qualification written into the grading structure. Nobody takes anything off, because every point is reasonable on its own. The result is a list of ten to fifteen requirements that nobody actually meets.

The problem is not that the list is long. The problem is that it is unsorted. When everything appears equally important, candidates get rejected on whichever point happens to catch the eye first, and that differs by reviewer. One applicant falls on qualifications, the next on years of experience, and afterwards nobody can explain why the two were treated differently.

We see the invoice for that list on our side. A campaign built on an unsorted profile attracts people who do not fit, or attracts nobody at all because the requirements together describe a person who does not exist. That is the difference between the wrong applicants and a vacancy that stays open: two complaints, frequently one cause.

Three blocks. You need no more, and anything that does not fit belongs in the formal job description rather than here.

What the person actually does in the first months. Not areas of responsibility, but the week itself. Which systems, which machines, how much of it is meetings, how much is alone, who calls when something breaks. Write down what has to be finished in the first month and what should run without help after six. This block doubles as the best source for your interview questions, because it lets you ask about the work rather than about the CV.

What you will reject on. This is the block most profiles are missing, and it is the important one. Pick three points on which someone is out without discussion: a legally required certificate, a driving licence, a language they need on the shop floor. Anything you do not write here may not become a reason to reject later. That sounds strict, and it is, because it is the only way to stop the requirement list from quietly growing back during the process.

What someone may learn with you. Everything not in the previous block automatically lands here. Add how long you are willing to give it and who will supervise, otherwise it is a pious hope. This block determines the size of your pool. Leave it empty and you are looking only for people who already did this exact job elsewhere, and there are rarely many of those.

In two places, and in both of them literally.

As the source for the job advert. The profile is an internal document and does not go outside as it stands. Turning it into something people want to read is a craft of its own, and we wrote a separate article on how to write a job advert that works. What does travel across is the first month from block one and the three points from block two. Watch the job title as well: the title in your org chart is often not the word people search for. Sorting that out is part of job marketing.

As the measure during selection. Hold the three rejection points against every application, in the same order, and judge the rest on the work described in block one. Two reviewers using the same profile then reach comparable conclusions, which removes the arguments that make a process slow. How to set that step up is covered under screening and candidate follow-up, and where the profile sits among the bigger choices is part of recruitment strategy.

How long should a role profile be?

One page, and that is not a matter of taste. Anything longer stops being used during selection, and a profile nobody opens is wasted intake time. Three blocks of a paragraph each fit comfortably on that page. The formal job description for your grading structure is a different document with a different purpose, and the two should not be merged.

What if the manager insists on ten requirements?

Ask which three they would keep if they needed someone tomorrow. That is an easier conversation than cutting, because you are not asking anyone to give up a requirement, only to sort them. The remaining seven do not disappear. They move into the block of what someone may learn, with a timescale attached.

Should years of experience go in the profile?

Preferably not, if you can avoid it. A number of years is an estimate of what someone can do, and you can simply write down the thing itself: which tasks must they handle unsupervised. Seven years in a quiet setting can be worth less than two in a busy one. A years counter also rules out career changers you would have been glad to meet.

Who owns the profile, HR or the manager?

Both write it, and the manager signs it. They are the one who will be rejecting people, so they have to stand behind the three rejection points. HR keeps the profile about the work rather than about the previous post holder, and makes sure the requirements do not quietly grow back once the process has started.

At SocialFind we can tell from who responds to a campaign whether the profile underneath it holds up, which is why we start there rather than with the advert. If you would like articles like this in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.