TL;DR: Most hiring processes start by creating an exhaustive list of everything a person might need to do. A better place to start is defining the results the job needs to produce, then understanding what the person will actually spend most of their time doing to produce them.
Every hiring manager I talk to wants the same thing: to fill the role quickly, find someone great, and not have to think about that seat again anytime soon. So they do what feels efficient. They pull up an old job description, add a few responsibilities, send it around for input, add a few more, post it, and start looking for candidates. But by the time everyone has added everything this person might conceivably be responsible for, you have an exhaustive list of duties without much distinction between what’s critical to success and what the person may only do occasionally. Then you start looking for someone who checks every box.
There’s a better place to start.
The Step Everyone Skips
Before writing the job description, define what results the job needs to produce. If you can identify the five or so most important results expected from the person in this role, we have a much clearer definition of success than we get from a long list of responsibilities.
Ask, “What will this person actually be doing 80% of the time to produce those results?” And think through these questions to help identify the behaviors and other natural traits the job requires:
- Will they spend most of their time influencing and communicating with other people?
- Solving problems?
- Working independently?
- Following established processes?
- Making quick decisions under pressure?
- Working carefully with details?
Ideally, the key decision makers should work through this together and create a formal job benchmark, looking at the job itself independently of the people who have done it before or the candidates being considered. But even without a formal benchmark, thinking about the job this way can change how you hire.
Why This Is Faster, Not Slower
This is the part people get backwards. Taking the time to define the job can feel like it’s slowing down the hiring process. In reality, it gives you a much clearer picture of the talent the job requires. Now you can write a job description focused on the results you’re hiring someone to produce rather than an exhaustive list of tasks. You can ask better interview questions. And you can evaluate candidates based on the things that really matter in the job. Perhaps more importantly, you don’t have to search for the mythical candidate who is perfectly suited to every single item someone managed to put in the job description.
Sometimes the right person isn’t in your pipeline yet, and defining the job doesn’t magically change that. But at least you know what you’re looking for and which things are important enough to wait for.
Don’t Let the 20% Override the 80%
Think about two sales leadership positions with similar titles.
One might spend most of the week coaching salespeople, building relationships, influencing others, and driving the team toward revenue goals. Another might spend considerably more time analyzing forecasts, monitoring processes, managing complex accounts, and making sure the team executes consistently.
On paper, the job descriptions could contain many of the same responsibilities. But the day-to-day work is different, which means the natural behaviors that support success in those jobs may be different too.
That’s why 80% matters. A responsibility that occupies a small fraction of someone’s time shouldn’t carry the same weight as the work they’ll be doing day after day.
Capability Isn’t the Same as Fit
People can perform plenty of tasks that don’t come naturally to them. If the dominant demands of the job require someone to behave in ways that are different from their natural behavioral style, they may be perfectly capable of doing the work. But doing it day after day can require considerably more energy and adaptation. That’s something worth knowing before making the hire. It doesn’t mean every trait has to line up perfectly. People are more complex than that, and jobs are too.It means you know which things really matter.
Define the Job Before You Define the Candidate
Start with the five or so results the job needs to produce. Then look at what the person will actually spend most of their time doing to produce those results. From there, determine the behaviors and other traits that work requires.
Results → Work → Traits.
Now you have something meaningful against which to evaluate candidates. Yes, it takes more time upfront than pulling out last year’s job description and changing the date. But an afternoon spent getting clear about the job can save weeks of interviewing candidates who aren’t a match and, more importantly, help you make a much more informed hiring decision. Don’t hire against an exhaustive checklist. Define the job first. Then find the person whose natural talent aligns with the work that matters most.
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