Advice to the recruiter from a potential candidate
As a business analyst, I’ve had many job advertisements arrive in my inbox from recruitment agents who simply pass on every single job advertisement that looks like it ‘could be to do with business analysis’.
And the reason why so many recruitment agents get confused is because business analysts are often called many different things such as systems analysts, requirements analysts and consultants, to name but a few.
This got me seriously thinking about job titles and job descriptions, and how confusing these can, in essence, be – not just for business analysts but for various professions out there.
The reality is that if you ask ten different managers what their expectations are for a specific role, you’ll probably get 10 different answers but only one generic job description.
2 Reasons why we, the candidates, need job descriptions
1. When we see a job advertisement that has a clear job description, we will be sure about what that job entails and if we would be able to perform it capably. This means that we won’t apply for jobs that we think we ‘could possibly do’ – and your inbox won’t be inundated with millions of CVs.
2. When you interview us, we would like you to take us through a ‘day in the life of’ the particular job that we’re interviewing for. And for this, you’ll need a job description. This will help us to see if we really do want the job and you’ll be able to see if we could perform the job to your expectations.
8 Items a candidate would like to see in a job description
1. Job title
2. Salary range
3. Work location and schedule
4. Description of reporting structure
5. Job purpose and objectives
6. Detailed description of duties
7. Experience, education and skills that the ideal candidate for the job would have
8. Description of the ideal candidate.
Most importantly, once you’ve developed a job description, ask the people in your company, who will eventually work with the successful candidate to review the job description to see if you’ve left anything out!
