Scoping out your role is a critical step to hiring the right person. You need to see the successful hire in your mind before you can create it. Too often execs jump right into the hiring process without considering a few critical questions:

 

• What will this person need to do for you, the company, or the team? – What created the role? Is it a replacement or a new addition? Regardless of the genesis of the position, don’t just go and create a carbon copy of the person who left or use your sales pitch to get the new role to hire. If it’s a replacement, consider what the previous person did well and what you would have changed if you had a magic wand. If it’s a new role, you get to start from scratch. Either way, you should sit down with a blank piece of paper to outline the critical things you are looking for this person to accomplish in 3 months, 6 months, one year, and long term.

 

• What will this person bring to the table? – Defining your needs comes after defining the output of the new role for a reason. Past performance predicts future performance, so use your expected outcomes to define your needs. Consider both traits and competencies here.

 

 

Trait – Personality trait is often ingrained. These are the types of characteristics people have had for most of their lives. Personality traits are often deep-seated and difficult to learn or unlearn. Examples of traits would be things like work ethic, attention to detail, and attitude.

 

Competency – Typically a mix between behaviors and skills. If you have strong leadership competencies, it’s understood that you may have behavior patterns that are strengthened by certain skills you have developed over time. Generally, competencies are measures of how well you do certain things, taking into consideration your knowledge, skills, and attributes. Competencies are generally behaviors that are easily identified and measured. Think of these as job-related skills such as software, leadership, or other technical skills.

 

The best practice in defining your role is to focus 80% on traits and 20% on competencies. This helps avoid being overly focused on technical skills and hiring individuals who lack the interpersonal and leadership skills to be successful.

 

• Why would this individual want to work for you? – Defining why a top performer would want the job you’re offering is often skipped. Too often people just assume that their job will be attractive. Remember, the best candidates usually have multiple options. You must be able to articulate why a top performer would want your job. Think about what this role will lead to for a top performer and what’s interesting about you, the company, and the group. It’s time to sell your job, and the first rule of sales is to explain the obvious. Just because you think the job is great doesn’t mean other people will know it from the start. This is the time to explain why this position is interesting or exciting to a top performer.

 

While defining your role does not guarantee you will end up hiring a star performer, it does set you up ahead of 95% of hiring mangers who fail to execute this critical step. These steps will help maximize your chances of making a great hire and minimize the potential for a mis-hire.

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