Job Ds & Person Ss.
It is no longer a case of a brief advert with scant description; HRM Departments are looking to find the right person for the right post because the cost of getting the wrong person and not being able to get ‘rid’ of him is potentially enormous, as is the cost of replacing all too frequently the right person who leaves for reasons to do with the job.
In order to avoid such circumstances, employers in the Anglophone world AND INCREASINGLY IN FRANCE now:
- give more information about the post so that the applicant can be really sure that he wants to apply (Job Description)
- offer what they think would be the ideal profile for someone who could do this job well (Person Specification) so that if a reader looks and feels clearly this is ‘not him’ he will be dissuaded from applying.
- Having given such information (often in 3 or 4 pages of scope and depth of detail) employers require more from their applicants in return to prove the ‘fit’ between the individual and the PS and JD. That is why a single side CV is utterly useless: employers are trying to discriminate between candidates according to the degree of ‘fit’, but very sketchy and incomplete, all-too-brief information does not allow them to do this.
As a result, employers are looking for ‘bespoke’ rather than standard approaches (different CVs and letters ‘tailored’ to the JD and PS) and some length (cvs of two FULL pages normally). Failure to do this will result in employers so unimpressed with the covering letter they won’t even bother to read the cv (I read a statistic the other day saying that nearly 85% of cvs are never read – simply because the covering letter is so unimpressive).
So here is a typical, well-developed employer approach to JD and PS:
EMDA Tourism Research Management Post
The Post Advertisement
East Midlands Development Agency
Vacancy – Tourism Investment and Research Manager
Nottingham based, £26,453 – £31,039 per annum + benefits
As emda’s regional tourism development body, East Midlands Tourism (EMT) is seeking an individual with excellent communication skills to champion investment in the region’s tourism product. Working closely with stakeholders in the private and public sectors, you will be required to act as the first point of contact for all investment enquiries, manage the development of projects being supported by EMT’s tourism investment fund and engage with key stakeholders in the region to secure their on-going commitment to greater levels of investment in the development of the tourism product. Project management, research and budget control are all key parts to this role and the ability to communicate to a wide audience is an essential ingredient. Closing date: 5pm, Thursday 18th September
NOW Here are the key documents which accompanied the job offer:
PERSON SPECIFICATION … and just LOOK at the extra level of detail: they even show you how a given requirement will be measured (application, interview, test) and code requirements as ‘essential’ or ‘desirable’: how much more help do they need to give you to take the whole application process seriously?!
They even offer background information on the organisation itself rather than leaving it up to you to do some basic research!
What more could one ask!
About Me
Here is the link to my professional site personal profile if you are that desperate to know a bit about me, my career and life and thoughts in general! Surprising how many actually read it!