Breathing New Life Into Position Descriptions
This week, I’ve been thinking about the relevance and role of some more traditional recruitment tools and asking myself: How can we bring new life to old processes?
Let’s talk about the humble Position Description (PD). Yes, I know – it’s not exactly the most thrilling topic. In fact, referencing a PD in recruitment feels about as exciting as finding a political brochure in your letterbox. Most of the time, it’s irrelevant, uninspiring, and destined to be ignored.
The traditional PD often misses the mark. It doesn’t motivate, it doesn’t influence high performance, and, let’s be honest, it barely gets a second glance after being attached to a letter of offer.
But here’s the thing: a PD should be so much more. It shouldn’t just mark the start of someone’s employment journey – it should be a living, breathing document that supports performance discussions, enables internal mobility, and helps employees plan their next career steps, connecting them with their peers and the leaders who inspire them.
Last year, we decided to tackle this head-on. Our mission? To transform the way we use position descriptions, key competencies, and KPIs – making them clear, relevant, and impactful for every employee across the organisation.
The Problem With Traditional PDs
Let’s face it: most organisations have a graveyard of outdated, tweaked, and duplicate PDs, each slightly modified to suit a specific hiring manager or process. This approach creates confusion, wastes time, and sets unclear expectations for employees.
We wanted to fix that. Our goal was simple:
- Eliminate redundant documents whilst creating uniformity in language, expectations and opportunities.
- Remove ambiguity.
- Set clear, actionable expectations for every incoming, existing, and transitioning employee.
So Talent Acquisition turned Project Management for a little minute and I’m suddenly reinspired by what a PD can truly offer an organisation and its people.
The Process: Lessons Learned
Here’s how we tackled this transformative project and the lessons we picked up along the way:
- Engage Early and Communicate Well
Start by bringing everyone on the journey. Whether it’s HR, hiring managers, or employees, early engagement builds trust and clarity. We formed a working group with a range of team members who could speak to the design of each role. Their contribution was key to our success but could only happen if they were engaged from the get go and understood the plan.
- Show Up Consistently
Transformation takes time. Be present, follow through, and keep the momentum going—even when the work feels tedious. I found it really helpful to track our progress. Being able to see how much you’ve completed and how much there is left to go is a great way to stay motivated and on track.
- Finish or It’s Worth Nothing
A half-finished project is worse than the problem you started with. See it through to the end, or don’t bother starting. Starting with the end in mind is what works best for me. When I have a clear vision of what the finished product will look like, I’m more likely to see things through.
- Be Visible and Transparent
Make sure everyone knows what’s happening, why it’s happening, and how it’ll benefit them. Transparency breeds buy-in. Keep the updates flowing and manage expectations by letting people know what next steps are and what might be required of them to support it; even if it’s just to ‘watch this space’.
- Listen More Than You Talk
Understanding stakeholder needs is critical. Listen actively, adjust where necessary, and meet people where they are.
- Socialise the Language and Concepts
Fancy words and abstract concepts don’t help anyone. Make sure your terminology is simple, clear, and widely understood.
Why It Matters
PDs shouldn’t be locked away in an HR document library, gathering virtual dust. They’re a powerful tool for attracting talent, developing teams, and building pathways for success.
Yes, it’s a boring job. No one gets excited about debating the difference between qualitative and quantitative KPIs. But the reward? That’s where it gets exciting.
Imagine every employee:
- Having meaningful conversations about their current and future career pathways.
- Seeing their value and transferable skills recognised.
- Feeling confident about how their role contributes to the bigger picture.
In a world where skills-based hiring is on the rise, a well-crafted PD becomes a roadmap—not just for how someone does their job today, but for how they grow within the organisation and their career beyond their role.
So, if your PDs are still gathering dust, it might be time to give them an update. Because sometimes, even the most boring tasks (and documents) can have the biggest impact.
Now don’t get me started on cover letters!
Things that caught my attention this week:
Project manage like a project manager
I recently completed a short course with the AITD called L&D Project Management. It was brilliant and so relevant. But if you don’t have the budget or the time, this is a summary of how to project manage like a real project manager.
Lessons in building a skills-based organisation
You may have caught this last podcast year but if not, have a listen. It’s all about business agility through a skills based approach not just from a people perspective but from a commercial lens. This is role design on a whole other level!
Leadership takeaways from Davos 2025
Slightly off topic but highly topical is the recent World Economic Forum held in Davos each year. I’m a sucker for economic predictions, and commerce on a global scale. The hype caught me and I’ve been following with interest as multiple leaders share their key takeaways from the big event that was held in January.
Here’s just one you can click into to join the bandwagon if you haven’t already.
