Flexing the Job Spec

No one is clever enough to remember everything they've learnt. I reckon I first heard about the idea of 'flexing job specs' over 20 years ago 'back in the day' in a past life in IT recruitment. 'Flexing the job spec' is the concept of opening up the job brief criteria to get more candidates onto a shortlist.

I've always felt that good recruitment is more an art than a science. There are rules, or at least principles, you should follow but part of being experienced is knowing when to break the rules, or at the very least bend them.

Do you really need all of the characteristics and experience on your job spec?

Well it's my job to make you think about that.

"...when we hire people, we tend to recruit in our own image..."

It says in the Bible that God made man in his own image. Well, maybe there's a bit of God-complex in us all, because when we hire people, we tend to recruit in our own image as well. Whether I look at a formal job spec or discuss a client's initial view of what they need, often things that are talked about as being non-negotiables just aren't. Often, they just reflect the background of the person who is hiring - and other people with other backgrounds or characteristics could slot in and deliver in the role. Things such as: must have a degree; must have an engineering background; can't have a trades background; must have managed a team of a certain size.

In many situations, there will be an exception to the "pre-requisite" characteristics those hiring think you want for the ideal candidate. Therefore, I always encourage people to think about why a particular characteristic is important. If you're adamant someone needs to have a degree - is that just because you have one?

Would you take someone with excellent references and a strong track record in the required field, but didn't have a degree over someone who was average but did have a degree??

"Being flexible on your requirements creates advantages."

Being flexible on your requirements creates advantages. For example, if you want to hire a Senior QS but are open to hiring a QS who could be ready for that next step, it does a few different things. Firstly you're able to sell built-in career progression, which would be attractive to the right person. Secondly, you're likely to get someone hungrier with more to prove and may well work harder. I'm not saying everyone making a lateral career move isn't hungry, but there will be a large proportion of people wanting a step-up who will be. That extra drive and motivation could be an asset to your business. ? ?

Bringing someone in from a different sector might bring in fresh ideas and new ways of doing things. No one individual or one company has all the answers. Being open-minded to people like this often brings fresh perspectives and ways of working which could be invaluable to the business.

If you're struggling to recruit and it's starting to become a real headache, how do you go about 'flexing the spec?'

Consider the following:

• Promoting into the role: Are you really looking for people who are already Senior Quantity Surveyors, for example, or could a strong Quantity Surveyor step up to the role? Opening your requirements for who can and should apply will make the role easier to sell in the marketplace.
• Transferable Experience: Do they really need to have worked on non-infrastructure water projects for contractors working with Severn Trent Water and nobody else? If you feel certain experiences are important, for example, working under certain forms of contract, does it really have to just be in that sector? Or could someone who has worked under the same contract on different types of schemes just as easily pick things up??

More money and better packages buy a better candidate, so make sure the salary, benefits and other remuneration are competitive in the market. If this is a struggle for the level you'd ideally want consider people making a step up from the level below.

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• Flexible Working: Could the role feasibly still be done from home or with a hybrid of in-office and remote? Giving the option of remote working for say two days rather than none will mean that more people would consider applying as that level of flexibility can make a huge difference. Plus, someone may well be open to travelling a little bit further for three out of five days of the week and this wider geography means more potential candidates.
• Base-Office Options: Are there other offices employees could work from? Another location could unlock a whole geography and pool of candidates you haven't explored. ? ? ?

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Most freelance assignments start life as unfilled permanent vacancies. It's rare that a recruiting business sets out to hire a freelancer in the first instance, unless there's a particular set of circumstances like maternity cover or needing someone to come on to a soon-to-end project. I know freelancers enjoy a sometimes colourful reputation, but there are some very good ones out there. It might be better to hire one of them than leave your vacancy unfulfilled indefinitely.? ?

Why do I think this is so important?

It matters now - but the bad news is things aren't likely to improve in the future.

The UK government has recognised for many years that civil engineering has a skills gap which is hurting and will continue to hurt the economy. There are structural reasons for this, stemming from the industry's image problem, so could your business be doing more to take chances on more junior talent or consider hiring from other similar related sectors to access more and varied talent in civil engineering? The upside is the potential benefit of some hungrier people and/or fresh approaches to the way you work.

In the short term, we can't magic the perfect mid and late-career people we need out of thin air, so being flexible around your hiring needs is crucial. This is especially key where you need to get roles filled quickly but is perhaps still useful to consider more generally as a route to searching previously ignored corners of the candidate pool and uncovering some great talent. Flexing job specs will likely become even more important as the battle for talent further intensifies in the years to come.?Are you equipped to be flexible in your recruiting approach to stay ahead of the game not just now but as the skill shortage inevitably worsens in the future?