How to write a great person spec

Recent research suggests that nearly 90% of organisations are hiring based on the soft skills/behaviours of a candidate as opposed to their hard skills or specific sector based experience.

The main reason for this is the shortage of talent available in the market place. Organisations are having to become more creative with their hiring.

As a result of this, the “Person Spec” is becoming more popular. 

In essence what businesses are looking for are candidates who’s personal values, match those of the business.  Candidates with a high capacity for processing information, essentially trainability, are being considered for jobs even if they don’t have the necessary level of experience to do the job on day one. 

It is therefore important to bring the opportunity to life via a person spec, this should include a lot of the same content as the job spec if used in isolation.  If used in conjunction, we recommend the following content:

• the technical, organisational, communicative, and creative skills that you would prefer the ideal candidate to display,
• a list of skills that you are able to train on the job, 
• any specific trade qualifications or education required for the role, 
• the level of experience needed in either similar organisations or equivalent roles, 
• the kind of personality that would fit in with your team, and with your organisation’s ethos, we recommend some or all of the following as we are able to provide a Mindmill report to support your requirements and match candidates accordingly:
  • PROACTIVITY - The preference to take action, displaying independence and self-confidence.
  • INTERACTIVITY - The preference to seek busy environments and interactions with others.
  • REACTIVITY - The inclination to structure work, follow rules and exert caution in tasks.
  • INTELLECTIVITY - The tendency to seek new concepts and embrace innovations.
  • NURTURANCY - The desire to be kind, helpful and supportive towards others.  
  • DISPOSITIONAL - The tendency to experience emotions such as anxiety and worry.

If you'd like to meet with your Macildowie Recruitment Consultant to discuss how we can help you to build a person spec for a current recruitment need or a pending vacancy, please click on the link below:

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