Writing effective job descriptions and person specifications

What is a job or person specification?

Before you place a vacancy with a recruitment consultancy, it is a good idea to spend some time evaluating exactly what you require from a candidate. While a job description and person specification are not legal requirements, they will save you time in the long run.

A job specification is a detailed description of the role, including all responsibilities, objectives and requirements. A person specification is a profile of your ideal new employee, including skills, experience and personality type.

Why should you bother?

Writing a detailed specification forces you to think about exactly what skills and experience is required for your role and the type of person you want for the team. Giving your recruitment consultant a comprehensive brief will allow them to work more effectively and quickly in finding you the perfect candidate.

Specifications also give candidates a better idea of exactly what you are looking for. This can help to weed out inappropriate applications from people who might be suitable on paper, but not actually that interested in the role. They also help to manage the expectations of successful new employees and to avoid situations where they feel they have been misled about the exact nature of the role.

You can use the specifications as a checklist for evaluating CVs and in interviews, which will save you preparation time and make sure you don’t miss anything.

Writing specification can make you think about how your department works and provide you with an opportunity to shift responsibilities around to maximise efficiency.

Specifications are also useful after the vacancy has been filled, as they can help to assess a new recruit's performance and to determine their future training needs.

Things to bear in mind before you start

Be as specific as possible about the responsibilities of the job, including any deadlines for delivery and measurements of success.

Leave room for flexibility within the job specification, and make it obvious if the role is likely to change or grow in the near future. This helps to avoid employees resenting taking on responsibilities not in their original job description.

Be careful with your wording, eg is a qualification really required or would someone who is Qualified by Experience (QBE) still be suitable?

It is essential not to discriminate on grounds of gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality or health, so avoid any inappropriate requirements, eg “must have x years’ experience” or words such as “dynamic” or “mature”. Read more information about avoiding discrimination here.

If the role is involved with service delivery, you may want to ask a selection of your clients their opinions on the type of person they would prefer to work with.

What should you include?

A job specification should include:

• the job title the position in the company, including their line manager and any other members of staff reporting to them
• the location of the job
• a summary of the general nature, main purpose and objectives of the job
• a list of the main duties or tasks of the employee
• which skills/qualifications are essential and which are desirable
• any equipment or software requirements, eg “knowledge of Raiser’s Edge”
• salary and benefits
• examples of typical projects help to illustrate the requirements

A person specification should include:

• the technical, organisational, communicative and creative skills and abilities you expect from an ideal candidate
• any specific qualifications or education required for the role
• the level of experience needed in either similar organisations or equivalent roles
• the kind of personality that would fit in with your team, and with your organisation’s ethos
• character traits that are likely to help them to do the job effectively
• any preferred achievements, eg volunteering

Some examples of job and person specifications for typical roles in non-profit organisations are available from the NCVO website.

Finally, please remember to use your recruitment consultancy as much as possible. TPP Not for Profit are experts in the not for profit sector and are able to give you advice about how best to construct job and person specifications to fill a role, and on the salary and benefits you will need to offer to attract the best possible candidates.


TPP Not for Profit are specialists in the charity, arts and public sectors and help our clients both recruit and retain their staff. For more information, visit ww.tpp.co.uk or contact us on 020 7198 600 or info@tpp.co.uk.

5 low-cost ways to keep your staff motivated

In the current economic climate, many non-profit organisations are struggling to balance their books at a time when there is often increased demand on their services.  Their senior management are having to make some tough choices, such as making redundancies, freezing pay and slashing budgets, which can have a very negative effect on employee morale and engagement.

Traditional methods of boosting morale, such as financial incentives or staff benefits, may be simply unachievable for an organisation already under great financial pressure.  But failing to tackle these problems could lead to higher staff turnover and decreased efficiency.  So how can you keep your employees happy and motivated on a budget?

1.    Communicate

Perhaps surprisingly, in times of change, the best influencer of morale is always cited as better internal communications.  When staff are feeling unsettled, openness and honesty about the situation and its effects is always preferred to silence, even if the news is bad.  When managers may have to cope with a smaller workforce and increased time pressures, it can be tempting to drop regular communications, but taking the time to update employees is still vital.

It is also important that communication is a two-way process.  Brainstorming or consultation meetings, or even a suggestions box, can help staff feel that their opinions are being taken into consideration.  However, this process needs to be carefully managed and all suggestions need to be responded to and actions resulting from them explained, even if the idea is not feasible.  Ignoring suggestions can be worse than not asking for them in the first place.

Find out more about effective internal communications here.

2.    Reward and recognise

Traditional employee benefits, such as private healthcare or life insurance, can be expensive, but it is possible to reward employees on a budget.  Many organisations now offer their staff access to retail discount schemes, which allow employees to purchase discounted goods at a range of high street retailers, petrol stations, supermarkets and local businesses, either using paper vouchers, virtual banks or pre-pay cards.  There are many companies that can set this up for you, or your organisation could create its own scheme by approaching local businesses.

Your organisation could also consider offering salary sacrifice schemes, such as those for childcare, bicycles or public transport.  These initiatives are not subject to tax or National Insurance, making them financially beneficial to both you and your employees.

Rewarding employee success, for example by holding corporate awards events, can be expensive, but it is possible to recognise achievement on a budget.  A manager should always remember to thank an employee personally for an outstanding piece of work and simply sending out a group email to mention a team or individual’s contribution can generate goodwill through public recognition.

3.    Keep your staff healthy and happy

Increased workloads and fewer resources are a common symptom of economic pressures, and can lead to staff suffering from stress.  Recent research from leading mental health charity Mind shows that one in five workers have called in sick with stress, but almost all of these do not disclose the real  reason for their absence.  This can create staffing problems for management which can be difficult to solve if the underlying cause is not recognised.  The best ways to tackle this issue is ensuring that workloads are spread among staff, training managers to recognise and effectively deal with stress symptoms, and creating a climate where employees can be honest and open.

For more information on tackling workplace stress, visit the Mind or CIPD websites.

4.    Train and develop

Offering training and learning and development opportunities is one of the best ways to keep your staff engaged, as they continue to grow and develop.  These do not have to be expensive events using external professionals.  Make effective use of your internal resources – encouraging your best staff to coach or mentor others is motivating for both parties.

Identify key skills required for each career path, and create a personal development plan for each employee to map out their route along this path.  You can then ask their peers, senior management and HR professionals to run formal or informal training sessions based on these key skills.

Find out more about learning and development here.

5.    Control your environment

People that are happy within their working environment will work far more effectively and happily than those who are uncomfortable: it therefore makes sense to consider certain aspects of your employees workspace quite carefully.  However, you don’t need to spend huge amounts of money on interior decoration to improve your environment.

Consider encouraging employees to bring in pot plants, photos or other personal items to decorate and personalise their desks.  Allowing employees to change their workspace has been shown to help create a more attractive and stress-reducing environment.  In addition, simply ensuring that blinds or curtains are fully open in the day will bring in more daylight and can positively affect staff productivity.

Why not hold a dedicated decluttering day, where all teams work to clear their areas of clutter, unfiled or old paperwork, unused office supplies etc.  As well as creating a better working environment, this can help make sure resources are used more efficiently.


For more about the theories behind employee motivation and engagement, visit KnowHow NonProfit or CIPD.

TPP Not for Profit are specialists in the charity, arts and public sectors and help our clients both recruit and retain their staff.  For more information, visit ww.tpp.co.uk or contact us on 020 7198 600 or info@tpp.co.uk.

Lack of interview feedback can damage your donations

Investing some time in developing good recruitment practices, especially supplying detailed feedback following job interviews, can help not for profit organisations improve their brand image and avoid potentially damaging their future funding.

Recent research from a provider of psychometric assessment tests , has shown that half of UK adults have been left with a negative view of an organisation following an unsuccessful job application – and almost 1 in 5 have stopped any dealings with that organisation as a result.  One of the recruitment practices most likely to put candidates off an organisation is a lack of feedback after interviews – 17% of organisations do not supply any form of detailed feedback.

The recent economic downturn means that some organisations have been flooded with applicants for their vacancies, leaving them struggling to provide any form of feedback.  However, providing unsuccessful candidates with proactive and timely feedback following an interview is not only polite and beneficial to the candidates when attending future interviews, but it also improves your organisation’s reputation as an employer and shows that you value those who have shown an interest in working for your organisation and have made a commitment to both apply and attend an interview.

A bad recruitment experience is just as damaging as a bad donor experience, and people are far more likely to discuss negative experiences than positive ones.  Candidates will usually discuss interviews with their friends and family, and are increasingly likely to post comments on social networking websites or blogs.  In this way, negative opinions of your organisation’s brand can spread virally, and could in turn affect your reputation and future incoming donations.

Many retailers and other private sector corporations are starting to take account of the impact of negative interview experiences on their brand and future sales, and reviewing their entire recruitment process as a result. Third sector organisations could do well to follow their example.

The best way to manage a candidate’s recruitment experience is to offer useful comments on their performance as soon as possible after the interview.  Here are TPP’s top tips on providing interview feedback:

• Decide prior to interviews who will be responsible for providing feedback
• Judge the candidate against the previously determined criteria for the role
• Provide specific examples, rather than generalisations
• Be proactive and suggest how the candidate could improve their performance with new skills, knowledge or behaviour
• Focus on behaviour which the applicant can change, rather than things they can do nothing about
• Be sensitive – identifying both strengths and weaknesses can make bad news easier to deliver.  Keep to the point and avoid self-justification
• Remember that according to the Data Protection Act of February 2002, you have a duty to provide candidates with a copy of any notes taken during the interview if requested.
• Finally, consider using a recruitment consultancy to weed through applications and manage your candidates, freeing up your time for more valuable work

If you decide to use TPP Not for Profit to recruit your staff, our consultants will manage the entire recruitment process, including negotiating with successful candidates and passing on your feedback to unsuccessful ones.  TPP’s aim is to support our candidates throughout their career, so we take great pains to give them advice that helps them to improve their interview technique and find their ideal role.

It’s also worth remembering that feedback works both ways.  Both successful and unsuccessful candidates can give you valuable information on your organisation’s brand image and interview process.  TPP will endeavour to make sure you receive any useful comments or opinions throughout the interview process.

Contact your TPP consultant for more help on how you can improve your organisation’s recruitment practices.