Defining a New Position Before Hiring for It

If you’re looking to hire the right person for your company, it all comes down to the job description. Before you post an ad, you have to know what you’re looking for. If it’s a new position within your organization, you’ll need to craft a job description that entices potential candidates and fills the position with the right hire. Here are six steps for defining a new job before you begin hiring that’s sure to attract the right fit.

6 Steps for Defining a New Job Before You Begin Hiring

1. When defining a new job, it’s important to list all tasks to create a job description. Think long and hard about what purpose the new role fills and ensure you’re adding just about every task that role needs to fill. This includes everything from job experience, education, tasks performed, and more. Be thorough, it’ll pay off in the end.
2. Talk to other members of your team about the new job. Ask them what they think they should be looked for in a potential candidate, especially if they share some of what you’re looking for in the description.
3. Consider reaching out to networking contacts who have filled similar roles in the past. Not only ask them about the job description, ask them about what they learned after hiring someone to fill it. They may have come up with more tasks to add to the description or things to look out for that you can add to your definition of the job.
4. Circulate a survey to your current employees or contractors about what they do day-to-day and what tasks they took on that aren’t part of their job description. This will give you an idea of whether your new job will fill certain tasks you didn’t think of; it’ll also give you an idea if you’re team is overwhelmed, underutilized, or if you need to consider a new role to ensure productivity.
5. If you use feedback surveys from your clients, use these to your advantage. Find out where things are falling through the cracks and consider the new role as a way to handle that. This can offer great insight into the new position and other issues within your organization that might be addressed by a new hire.
6. Depending on the role you’re creating, you should refer to how your competition is hiring and what they’re posting in job descriptions online. Look for similar roles and see what’s different between your list of qualifications and what they’re looking for. You may find you’ve overlooked a key qualification to ensure the best possible hire.

When looking to add a new role to your company, take the time to write the job description properly. Invest in the research to ensure you’re looking for the best possible candidate to fill the job and ensure success for your business well into the future.