Would you apply for a post without knowing what the job entailed?
Would you apply for a post without knowing what the job entailed? An internal promotion, offering nearly three times your existing salary, and you meet the rather vague Person Specification. Would you be prepared to go through multiple interviews, plus background checks and psychometric tests, before you are even told what the job involves? Seems unlikely but I’ve done it. It was a secondment. Heading up a multidisciplinary team to prepare the organisation for some major changes in response to new legislation. The JD was a very general project managers JD, the PS was fairly standard for a senior post. There was no requirement to have previous experience of project management. My would be boss couldn’t give me specifics because we were in unknown territory. At least I knew the organisation. But how many candidate apply for senior posts with little knowledge of the organisation and a vague idea of what the job will entail other than it’s a senior management post so you can expect it to be strategic, performance led and finance driven. The candidates information pack is stuffed full of information or is it promotional material, how much can you learn from the statement of values and core beliefs, the obligatory commitment to EDI, or the personal vision statement from the CEO/Chair of board? What you glean is what you should reference in the interview. Of course every post should have a JD and PS plus some supporting information about the organisation it vision and values. Sometimes a structure chart helps clarify where the post fits in, sometimes it is confusing and sometimes it says something about the power distribution as in when HR is not part of the senior management team, there are a lot of deputy and assistant posts or inflated job titles. In recent times such a chart may reveal a very thin management structure with posts carrying a very broad range of responsibilities. What does a honest candidate information pack contain ? I had a very positive experience of working for a large complex organisation who in their information pack referred to a recent damming audit /inspection report highlighting the main areas of concern, what the organisation was going to do to address these issues and what role the successful applicant would be expected to play. An honest information pack has to be explicit about the specific challenges the organisation faces not general statements about budget pressure, increased competition or the introduction of new technologies, challenges common to most organisations.
An info pack needs to do two very different things . Part 1 Sell the organisation, enhance its image and reputation. Part 2 tell the potential candidates what they need to know to decide if the post is for them. Don’t stuff the pack with ,”interesting“ documents about future plans or copies of HR polices. Just give the candidate enough to get them interested and leave them to do the follow up research.
Blair McPherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
