The Example Job Spec Workbook: Build Interest In Your Roles

Job Specs

A job spec is not a job ad. A job ad exists to attract interesting candidates and convert them into interested ones. A job specification — or job description — has a different job entirely: giving those now-interested candidates the full lowdown on what the role actually involves, and what's expected of them if they get it.

In that sense the job spec is a second line of defence. You use the job ad to attract the best candidates, then use the job spec to both stimulate their interest further and frighten off anyone who isn't up to the job. That's quite the balancing act, and this workbook is built to help you strike it — building on a candidate's initial interest, answering almost any question they might have about the role, and warding off anyone unsuitable.

The Perfect Job Spec: No Questions Needed

The perfect job spec leaves no stone unturned. Present an interested candidate with the full job spec and the result should be certainty — certainty that they can do the job, or certainty that they can't. There's no single fixed structure a job description has to follow, but there are essentials every one of them needs to cover, and this guide sets those out so your job descriptions work as both an attraction tool and a filter.

It's also worth remembering the job description doesn't expire once someone's hired — it stays live throughout their tenure and should be reviewed continually. Employees can use it as a reference point against their current responsibilities; you can use it as a reference as you build out the team around them.

Job Spec Essentials

• About the role — Situational: the role title, but also where it sits within the team. Any direct reports? Who does it report to? Where does the whole team sit in the business?
• Responsibilities — In-depth day-to-day: where the job ad is concise, the job spec can be the complete opposite. Go as deep as you can into the day-to-day, without being so restrictive that you box yourself in later — e.g. by stating they're not responsible for something.
• Measurement & Deliverables — KPIs: what does good look like in this role, judged against the responsibilities above? What are you expecting delivered, on what timescale, at what regularity, and measured through what means?
• Requirements — Hard & Soft Skills Required: if you ever need to performance-manage someone out of the business because they turn out to lack skills you specified, the job description becomes your reference point. Include both hard and soft skills — excel skills and integrity both belong here.
• Fundamentals — Location, Situation, Travel: not a legal document, but a good reference point for candidates and employees alike on what's expected of them. Are they required on-site, and how many days a week? Is travel required, and at what frequency and to where?
• The Essentials — Pay, Bonuses, Etc.: again not a contract, but a good reference point for everyone, and a good reason to keep job descriptions up to date. Include bonus mechanisms, calculations where possible, and payment schedule.

A Good Job Spec In Practice

The workbook walks through a worked example for a Digital Marketing Manager role to show the essentials in action. It opens with role title, team and basic expectations: the Digital Marketing Manager sits within the EMEA Marketing Team and reports to the Head of Marketing, responsible for line management, upskilling and building the digital marketing team, and expected to operate across different stakeholders in the business.

Core responsibilities are then spelled out in full — developing the digital proposition and its profitability modelling, line-managing three individuals within the marketing team and managing their KPIs and performance, liaising with senior stakeholders to develop and refine the business vision, building out the digital team by identifying talent pools and revising job descriptions, assisting Business Development with pitches and proposals as subject matter expert, and developing a new reporting framework for clients and internal leadership. The workbook notes this section can largely be lifted straight from the job ad — but stresses it's essential to include everything that will attract a candidate here, not just the legal minimum.

Measurement is assessed quarterly, with annual meetings to review KPIs and develop assessment models across the team. In the short term, success is measured against: delivery of the digital proposition by close of 2024, client retention at a target of 80%, team retention at a target of 75%, new business success at a target of £250,000, and delivery of the new reporting framework by close of 2024.

Skills and behaviours required: a minimum of 5 years' experience in digital marketing, a minimum of 2 years' experience in team leadership, and hands-on experience of digital platforms including (but not limited to) Google Ads, Meta Ads, Google Analytics, Klaviyo and HubSpot. Core values sit alongside these — Honesty & Integrity (operating with honesty and integrity even in difficult conversations), Diligence (maintaining an eye for detail), Empathy (understanding and putting oneself in others' shoes), and Entrepreneurial (constantly looking for opportunities for growth). These will normally be your own company's values, where you have them.

Fundamentals: the role requires presence on-site a minimum of three days a week in the Manchester office, with occasional travel to the London office or to client offices — potentially further afield in the UK or internationally — and travel to client offices is mandatory, with expenses refunded. It's a full-time role of 37.5 hours a week with 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays.

• A salary of between £50,000 and £60,000
• An annual performance-based bonus
• 25 days' holiday plus bank holidays, plus an extra day's leave per year of service
• Hybrid working — 3 days in the Manchester office
• Perks including gym membership discounts
• Private health insurance
• 5% pension contributions

As with the responsibilities section, this remuneration detail is largely drawn from the job ad — but the workbook is emphatic that it's worth including everything that will attract a candidate here. If it's only the legal minimum, don't bother saying it.

What You Can't Say

A job description is never personal — and you have to be careful with both job descriptions and job ads here. If a job spec appears to exclude certain groups of people, or deliberately describes others, you risk falling foul of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion law.

• Keep it impersonal — this is a job description, not a personal description.
• Don't use language that specifies age or could be read as age-coding, e.g. "young", "dynamic", "under-30", "digital native" — even "junior" is flying a little too close.
• Never specify gender. There are still instances, curiously, of job descriptions stating a role is solely for a man or a woman.
• Avoid gender coding — using words traditionally coded male or female, e.g. "fearless" and "driven" for men, "collaborative" and "patient" for women. It's very hard to avoid completely, but worth being aware that certain words attract certain candidates and repel others.