2. Update job descriptions with job rules

There will always remain some gap between what are job requirements and what the candidate will be doing. Although everyone agrees with the differences – state them clearly and in advance. It’s not enough to request flexibility on the job. It’s not fair to hide what you knew already and could be revealed to the employees long before.

Inaccurate job descriptions often cause unfulfilled expectations. There is no need to recycle old job descriptions hoping to inspire new candidates. There is no need to leave job descriptions undefined either – believing modern workplaces need no shared roles and responsibilities.

Clarify each position with clear and concise success criteria for that role. Continue describing a success profile for that position:

Required outcomes with relations to the outcomes of the company
Describe main success criteria for the job
Describe main problem solving to achieve the required outcomes
Describe the key areas of responsibilities. (*Learn about the key areas of responsibitlities in the Prodcutivity e-course)

This takes a couple of hours of work, which is incomparable to the number of hours your candidate will spend in your team. Investing more time is a better strategy than tolerating minimal or underachieved outcomes just because they were based on the minimal job requirements: education, experience, tasks, skills and one required value, namely the responsibility.

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

In selecting the right candidate avoid the gap between superficial, shallow questions and the real questions, which bring you value. The shallow questions do not allow to gain any significant insight into the candidate’s past life. They are classic questions about why somebody is here, how is presenting, how they see themselves in 5 years, their strengths, and weaknesses, likes and dislikes … We also suggest avoiding “ambiguous” questions, like “What would you do if you were in a balloon, together with your client…”. Many people could find them irrational or even disrespectful with unclear purpose for both sides.

A set of good questions would spark a discussion in which you can empathically listen to understand the person and get to know them in order to see their current performance and their potential.