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How Can a Job Specification Help You with Recruiting and Selecting Employees?

Published: Nov 14, 2016
How Can a Job Specification Help You with Recruiting and Selecting Employees?

Not everyone is qualified to undertake every position within an organisation. Each position will have a written job specification. A job specification describes the knowledge, skills, education, experience, and abilities you believe are essential to performing a particular job. The job specification is developed from the job analysis. Ideally, also developed from a detailed job description, the job specification describes the person you want to hire for a particular job.

A job specification cuts to the quick with your requirements whereas the job description defines the duties and requirements of an employee’s job in detail.

The job specification provides detailed characteristics, knowledge, education, skills, and experience needed to perform the job, with an overview of the specific job requirements.

See a sample of a marketing manager job specification below.

Components of a Job Specification

Experience: Number of years of experience in the job you are seeking to fill. The number of years of work experience required for the selected candidate. Note whether the position requires progressively more complex and responsible experience, and supervisory or managerial experience.

Education: State what degrees, training, or certifications are required for the position.

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Characteristics: State the skills, knowledge, and personal characteristics of individuals who have successfully performed this job. Or, use the job analysis data to determine the attributes you need from your “ideal” candidate. Your recruiting planning meeting or email participants can also help determine these requirements for the job specification.

High-Level Overview of Job Requirements: In under ten bullet points, cite the key components and requirements of the job you are filling.

A job specification is useful for recruiting as it helps you write your job postings and your website recruiting material. The job specification is also useful for distribution in social media, for screening resumes, and for interviewers.

It makes employees cut to the quick in terms of what is really needed for performing the job. In this sense, it is useful for screening and selecting candidates as it describes the most important and significant characteristics you seek in your new employee. This is a useful approach and tool when you seek to narrow the field when faced with hundreds of resumes.

Job Specification for a Marketing Manager

The marketing manager is responsible for the overall management of the marketing department. The following requirements (job specifications) were determined by job analysis and derived from the job description as crucial for success in the marketing manager role.

The successful candidate for the marketing manager position will possess these qualifications.

Experience - Marketing Manager:

  • 10 years of progressively more responsible positions in marketing, preferably in a similar industry in two different firms.
  • Experience supervising and managing a professional staff of seven.

Education - Marketing Manager:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Marketing or a related field required.
  • Masters in Business or Marketing preferred.

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Characteristics - Marketing Manager

These are the most important qualifications of the individual selected as the marketing manager.

  • Strong effective communicator.
  • Highly developed, demonstrated teamwork skills.
  • Ability to coordinate the efforts of a large team of diverse creative employees.
  • Demonstrated ability to increase productivity and continuously improve methods, approaches, and departmental contribution. Commitment to continuous learning.
  • Expert in the internet and socia media strategy with a demonstrated track record.
  • Demonstrated effectiveness in holding conversations with customers, customer evangelism, and customer-focused product development and outreach.
  • Demonstrated ability to see the big picture and provide useful advice and input across the company.
  • Ability to lead in an environment of constant change.
  • Experience working in a flexible, employee empowering work environment. Structured or large company experience will not work here.
  • Familiarity and skill with the tools of the trade in marketing including PR, written communication, website development, market research, product packaging, Microsoft software suite of products, visual communication software products, and creative services.
  • Experience managing external PR and communication consulting firms and contractors.
  • Experience in the global marketplace is a plus.

High-Level Overview of Job Requirements - Marketing Manager:

The selected marketing manager must be able to perform effectively in each of these areas:

  • Researching and evaluating new product opportunities, demand for potential products, and customer needs and insights.
  • Overall marketing strategy and execution of plans for the existing products.
  • Serve as a partner to finance and product development in determining the viability of potential markets before production of a product with no business case or strategy prepared in advance.
  • Working with product development teams to manage new product development.
  • Managing launch campaigns for new products.
  • Managing distribution channels for products.
  • Ensuring effective, branded marketing communications including the company website, print communication, and advertising.
  • Managing media and marketing staff and external PR agencies.
  • Analysis of the effectiveness of all marketing efforts.

Conclusion

The specifications you prepare will help you evaluate CVs speedily and ruthlessly, as well as providing a list of pertinent questions for interview. Making it easy to outline what sort of person you're looking to recruit.