Writing a job and person specification

To find your ideal employee, you first need to identify your specific needs and wants. You will then need to articulate this into a clear job and person specification.

Follow our structure to ensure you attract the right applicants and have the detail you need to quickly and efficiently evaluate CVs.

You’ll need to create:

• A job specification - a tailored description of the vacancy, including the responsibilities and goals of the post-holder
• A person specification - a profile of the person you think would fit your culture and requirements

To prepare these you’ll first need to identify your specific needs and wants.

To help you do this, read our 4 key steps to defining your ideal employee. 

Our 4 key steps and Talent Guide will help you identify your perfect match.

1. Temporary or permanent?

At certain times, such as in the case of unexpected absences, busy periods, or skills shortages for specific projects, a temporary or fixed-term professional may be enough to help your organisation flourish. In more senior roles, interim managers can help the business take a next step, before handing things back to the permanent staff.

2. Define your role requirements

Identify the key requirements you need for your business by determining three essential skills you must see in the candidates’ resume. Remember - our expert consultants can help you with this stage if you're ready to write the advert.

3. Define your corporate culture

Think about your fit in terms of behaviours - what is acceptable and not acceptable to your business? Make sure you have a clear picture about the work environment in order to select candidates that will gel well.

4. Write a specification

Once you have decided exactly what you need from your new team member, you need to articulate this into a specification. Your recruiter will work with you to do this, offering insight into the candidate market to ensure you appeal to those most likely to suit you.

Many employers make the mistake of advertising a vague-sounding job, with the intention of seeing ‘who turns up’.

This invariably leads to time being lost sifting through irrelevant applications or interviewing candidates who, when confronted with the reality of the position, discover the role is not for them after all.

The specifications you prepare will help you evaluate CVs and create a list of pertinent questions for interview.