Last week I broke down the Executive Order on federal merit based hiring. This week, let’s get to work showing you how to implement their job post strategy and 5 questions you must answer in every job post with the goal of getting better - not excluding others.
Whenever I write about transformational change in the world of recruiting, I always look back at the history first to understand just how long “we’ve always done it that way.” I find that the roots and design often make the bias in something that you see all the time far more obvious. Job posts are definitely not the exception to that rule. We use the same language today that we did 100 years ago to describe work. Most of them don't even answer the most common questions candidates have - then or now.
There’s not much to say about the evolution of job postings as we consider what a merit based job post might look like. Not much has changed. When I analyzed 100 years of job postings, they were consistently awful in the 1920s, the 1970s, 1990s, and today. If you’re really looking for a turning point, the only one I could ever find was when Monster.com burst on the scene in the 90s and job postings went online. The only obvious difference? The job posts got longer.
This, obviously, was not a qualitative improvement. More space didn’t mean more helpful details. It meant people used up the blank space with generic one-liners that “sounded good.” The bias went from blatant to coded. I believe this may be the genesis of the highly collaborative team player rockstar. The more generic the job posts became, the harder it was to say “based on merit, is this person qualified?”
Are Merit Based Job Posts EVEN Unique?
Job posts just haven’t been helpful tools to folks for a long time. They’re still full of buzzwords, too long, or it doesn’t give you enough information. Merit based job postings can address all of those. Their goal? It’s simple. A candidate who is qualified can read each requirement and easily know if they can do the job. No guessing.
This is a philosophy I have preached forever and specifically under the name of “inclusive job postings” and “removing bias.” I don’t care what you call them. If you don’t define what you need clearly - for yourself or the candidates - you can’t hire that person. Alternatively, a qualified candidate that reads unclear, lengthy wish list requirements won’t apply. An Appcast analysis found that job posts with more than 6 requirements see a drop in application rates. Candidates see them as unrealistic or overly restrictive.
But how do you define the merit of a candidate? How do you know someone is qualified? You can’t copy and paste some AI-generated job post and hope for the best. We’re definitely not going to guess either. You've got to start answering there 5 questions in every job post.
Defining Merit: Creating Accurate Mandatory Requirements
The easiest way to define the skills for a merit based job post is to work backwards. Start by making a list of tasks they will do all the time. Please note here I did not say “ask AI to write the first draft.” Never ask AI for a generic job post as a starting place. Your brain and what you know to be true about the job is far more helpful here. Use AI to edit.
Then work backwards from that list of tasks. What does someone have to enjoy or know how to do to complete that task? Where did they learn this? For example if one of the tasks was “call cold leads,” maybe the requirement is: “You like talking on the phone. You have work experience where at least 50% of your job was to pick up the phone and call people you have never spoken to before to convince them to make a purchase.”
The more specific the better. But of course, there’s nuance because there’s always nuance when it comes to hiring. Yes, we want to be specific. There is such a thing as too specific. We’re not hiring unicorns and as recruiters, you have to have an internal unicorn flag. It’s like a red flag but for hiring. What I mean by a unicorn flag is “a human with that work experience does not exist.” For example, you will not find a vegan with 10+ years experience working for the beef lobby.
5 Questions TO Answer In Your Job Post
Whether you’re talking merit or not, when you do a final review of the job post, be sure it answers all of these questions every time.
- Aptitude: What do they know how to do? (Ex: You managed a budget of $10M or more that used Google AdWord campaigns to increase qualified traffic to a website by 50% or more.)
- Tools: What tools do they know how to use? What functions or projects can they use the tool to complete? (Ex: You know how to create pivot tables in Excel.)
- Leadership: Will they lead a team? (Ex: You have led a team of 1 or more.)
- Autonomy: Do they work by themselves, teach others, or work under the guidance of someone else? (Ex: You must have experience where you had to manage your own timeline and work by yourself.)
- Communication: Who do you present ideas to? Who do you attend meetings with? (Ex: You have work experience where you presented concepts to the C-Suite for their approval.)
Be sure to look out for things like exaggerated years of experience. Just because we did the same job for a year doesn’t mean we did the same work. College degrees, too. If you learn to do the job at school? Great. I want my doctor, lawyer, and accountant to get educated. Everyone else? If we’re leaning into merit, we should only consider the courses or intel that will help with the work, not a generic degree. Each requirement has to be measurable, verifiable, and something you can validate during an interview.
That’s why in the next edition of this series, I’ll teach you how to turn bullets into an assessment that helps you hire the best talent and stop talking about “culture fit.”
More in this series:
- Candidate Communication Emails You Can’t Automate
- Your Culture Is Showing: Why I Hate Hiring Assessments
- Merit Based Hiring: Executive Order Explained
At Three Ears Media, we train teams to create better content using AI. Whether it’s job posts, candidate communications, or more creative outlets - let us teach your team the prompts to take the average output and transform it into something worth sharing. We offer team training, process consulting, and 1-1 coaching for teams interested in creating high-quality content that drives qualified candidate conversion. Interested in learning more? Book a call with me.
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