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James Skidmore

Engaging Talent | Job Specs are Dead

Updated: Sep 4, 2022

The 10 bullet points you put down on a word doc are exactly the same ones that your competitor will scribble down. They’re the same ones the biggest PLC in your industry will copy and paste from when they were hiring the same position 18mths ago. They're identical to what Google will throw up if you search ’10 must haves for a Marketing Manager’.





A candidate isn’t going to move to your company because they can do their job, they know that already – that’s why they’ve applied.


They’re moving to be challenged, to get to grips with a different way of working and to experience what an amazing business culture is really like.


If you hire right, they’ll get all of that and you’ll have a superb marketer on board taking your company to the next level. Win win.


You’ll save time… and you’ll have a stronger shortlist.

Let’s face it, you could hire from 20 different companies and get yourself an adequate marketing candidate that can do all the things you’d expect a marketer to be able to do.


It’d be nice to find someone who can complement you and your team though wouldn’t it? Someone to deliver results in new and interesting ways who can challenge the status quo and drive your business forward. Someone who understands your company mission and can amplify it.


Be open.


Go beyond bullet points.


Put a candidate pack together.


Show the heart of your company to prospective employees.


There are a number of positive reasons for having a candidate prospectus ready:

  • It’ll definitely set you apart from 90% of your competition and their 2D Word document job spec.

  • You can speak to people in your tone of voice, illustrating your company values better than any job spec ever could.

  • You can convey more information about your business quickly.

  • You can include testimonials about you and your company easily


Sifting through applications is tiresome – most of those applicants won’t be right anyway and a lot of the time candidates will apply to your company knowing next to nothing about you.


Having an illustrated, engaging, informative candidate pack ready via your recruiter or HR business partners means candidates can make more effective, better-informed decisions about whether to apply.


You’ll save time… and you’ll have a stronger shortlist.


Putting something more meaningful than a Word cocument together shows you mean business when hiring – you’re considered and thoughtful when it comes to adding to your team – and, in turn, great candidates will have a deeper desire to stay engaged with you and your brand throughout the interview process.


Your recruitment partner, if you’re using one, will have already defined the calibre of individual you’re trying to recruit from the outset of your hiring project… this document will create more desire for your company within the best talent pools out there.


We've put some thoughts together to help you create a Candidate Prospectus here



To find out more about making your company more attractive to candidates and how POET’s clients have shifted away from job specs, get in touch here, we’d love to help.


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