Forget About the “Must Haves” and Start Focusing on the “Must Do’s”

One of the biggest mistakes that hiring committees and recruiters make is focusing on the “must haves” of a candidate as opposed to the “must do’s” of the job.

Scenario:

Whenever I meet with hiring committees I often hear “We need someone who has 7+ years’ experience in sales” or “They must have an MBA” or “must be an out of the box thinker”. By defining what you think the person needs to have in order to be successful, as opposed to what they need to do, you’re creating roadblocks for yourself and narrowing the pool of talent where you can recruit from.

The Truth:

I’ve met Marketing Managers with 5+ years’ experience who couldn’t hold a match up to some Marketing Coordinator’s I’ve met with 2+ years’ experience. Yet the coordinator’s are often discounted because of their title or years of experience. Be specific with what objectives you need completed and you won’t overlook potential talent.

Example:

“Marketing Manager with 5 + years’ experience in the furniture industry”

versus

“We’re looking for a marketing professional who can create a 2 year marketing plan for a line of outdoor furniture that will include a social media and print advertising strategy. Additionally, the person will be responsible for developing - from scratch - a brand new monthly email campaign for our distribution list which has over 10,000 customers. Ideally, we’d like to meet with someone who has completed something of a similar nature in size and scope. Please highlight relevant experience, or include examples, in your résumé”.

Summary:

When you clearly define the “must do’s” of a job you can access a much larger talent pool than if you define the “must haves”. By identifying the key deliverables of the role - as opposed to daily tasks - you lay the foundation for a structured interview where the actual job needs can be thoroughly evaluated. Using this method also lowers the risk of inexperienced hiring managers asking stupid questions such as “What weapon would you use in a zombie apocalypse?”.

Good luck and you know where I am if you need advice.

Sam Struan

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Sam is the Founder of thehiddenjobmarket.co - a career coaching, résumé-writing and recruitment business. He has landed jobs at two of the world's most valuable brands and most profitable companies - Apple and lululemon. Following this he was a headhunter for the executive arm of the largest recruitment firm in the world - Adecco - and also for the largest privately-owned Canadian recruitment firm - Design Group Staffing Inc.

Additionally, he has worked for Canada’s most innovative company – Axiom Zen/CryptoKitties. He now coaches people around the world on navigating the job market and how to grow professional networks.