Building a picture of the ideal candidate

Beilby’s General Manager in Victoria, John Wallis, says that taking the time to define all aspects of what it takes to do the job is an invaluable step before restructuring, rehiring or changing working arrangements.

He says that investing in creating a job profile – something that puts together a complete picture of the ideal candidate, including skills, personal characteristics and abilities - is a great way to start.

“By developing a job profile, the employer defines their expectations from the employee or potential candidate through giving precise information about what is required in terms of job role, tasks, work behaviours and competencies,” he said.

“If well designed, job profiles will clearly set out an organisation’s expected key result areas and levels of performance.  This in turn can help better target searches for new candidates or identify training opportunities for existing staff.”

John also says that competencies are often seen as the language of performance in an organisation because they denote the knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics, such as values, motivation, and initiative that contribute to job performance.

“Competencies provide critical information about how individuals are expected to achieve the outcomes, even to the extent of giving an insight into behaviour that is valued and rewarded,” John said.

The competency and task evaluation contained in a job profile should ideally separate competencies and tasks into those that an employee is expected to have when hired and those that will be developed and acquired during the probationary period.

Beilby uses a variety of methods to analyse jobs and develop competency frameworks, including focus groups, interviews and personality profiling to create an up-to-date and future-proof job profile.  It has sophisticated job profile mapping software and analytical skills to help lessen the risk of a ‘mis-hire’ or not getting the best out of the employees you already have.