Job Descriptions Part 2: Five things you can do to get the right resources to meet modern market demands

Yesterday, we discussed why it’s not a good idea to add new requirements onto existing job descriptions or, more generally, to approach the labor market without a clear plan indicating what you need and how you plan to use it. Simply put, you’re not likely to bring in the resources you need to engage, retain, and grow your membership, and you won’t get the most out of your talent budget.

Fortunately, we’ve identified five key things that association hiring managers can do when they’re trying to bring in the people they need to meet the demands of the modern member marketplace:

1. Escape the confines of specific roles
   Use a blank sheet of paper to define your requirements, not a job description (existing or from scratch). Think about what you want your division to accomplish and identify the key skills that are necessary to make it happen, outside of the confines of a specific role. You’ll be able to fully and precisely describe what you need, and you’ll give yourself more flexibility to acquire the right resources at a cost you can afford. This is essential to avoid being painted into a strategic corner bounded by “what you can get” instead of “what you want”.
2. Explore what’s out there
   Take a look at your labor market and see who’s got the skills you’re seeking. You can set up profiles that capture how skills fit together in people with various professional and educational backgrounds and, for each grouping, the typical experience, cost, and even industries or environments in which they are most successful. Understanding these group attributes will help you to organize your requirements into jobs you can actually fill at desired standards, and get a sense of how target candidates are going to fit in your organization’s culture.
3. Think creatively about resourcing, not just hiring
   Once you know what you need and who’s out there to fulfill it, examine the complete set of resourcing alternatives and determine what’s most cost-effective. Consider, for example, targeting “optimal” candidates at cost, ‘hiring down” and providing training on certain skills, and outsourcing some or all of your requirements to acquire the necessary skills without blowing up your budget. Be cognizant, however, of the infrastructure and cultural implications of different choices, and factor both the tangible and intangible costs into your calculations.
4. Clearly document what you want, and how you plan to get it
   After identifying needs and determining how to fulfill them, hiring managers don’t always do a good job capturing roles and requirements, whether they’re for new hires or outsourced services, and they fail to document the specifics of the acquisition approach. It’s hard to get the right candidates and vendors—and adjust when you can’t find them—when you don’t accurately and clearly describe what you want. In addition, if you’re relying on training, you can’t ensure individuals develop according to plan if you don’t document “where and when”.
5. Don’t settle for less than you need
   If you’ve fully defined your requirements, cost-effectively organized them, and developed a comprehensive plan to acquire them, you should be able to get the resources you need in a timely manner, within budget. When you’re evaluating candidates, then, you shouldn’t settle for people who don’t bring, or vendors who can’t deliver, what you’re asking for. If you take less than you’ve defined as necessary, you put the resources in a position to fail, shift burden to others who already have enough to do, and put your business strategies at risk.

If you follow these structured guidelines instead of lumping new requirements on top of old descriptions, you’ll have a better sense of how you want to apply resources, and you’re much more likely to get the right ones without breaking the bank. Of course, this is easier said than done, especially when you’re looking for entirely new skill sets that fit the digital age.

Talk to us at Snowflake LLC. We can help you get it right on the first try!

Additional Resources

Get the People You Need

Association: Modernization