How To Match Job Attributes To Employee Profiles

Every organization wants to hire the best possible talent. But finding job seekers with the right qualities for a vacant job role can be challenging.

One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by establishing the job attributes required for the position early in the hiring process. After you have established these, you can consider what will be the most effective method to find candidates with these qualities and attributes.

In this article, you can learn about employee profiles and how to match them to job attributes during recruitment.

What are job attributes?

Job attributes are the personal qualities required for an employee to succeed in a particular job, such as honesty, helpfulness, extraversion, resilience, and agreeableness.

For example, some job roles require the role holder to be welcoming and approachable to clients. Others will need someone who can pay close attention to detail and remain focused under pressure.

Job attributes tend to be soft skills and personal characteristics rather than hard skills and technical capabilities.

Every job is different, so the job attributes will be different for each role within an organization.

Why should you match job attributes to employee profiles?

Writing the job description and employee profile is integral to the hiring process.

Whenever a job vacancy arises, you will need to complete this task. At the same time, you should also think about what your ideal candidate would be like.

What kind of personality would they have? What attributes would help them to succeed in the job role?

Once you have determined the job attributes required for the role, you can tailor the advert and hiring process to find applicants with these characteristics.

At first glance, matching job attributes to employee profiles may seem straightforward.

After deciding what personality traits and characteristics you’re looking for, you can cross-reference this information with resumes from prospective applicants to determine if they are a good match.

However, it can be challenging. Job applicants rarely discuss soft skills in their cover letters and resumes. You will need to consider this when planning your recruitment strategy by using screening methods that allow you to glean this information.

Identifying key job attributes

Hiring managers must identify the job attributes early in the hiring process.

Once you have finalized the role’s job description and principal duties, you should consider the tasks and responsibilities the employee will be expected to take on.

Consider what hard skills and experience they need to carry out these duties. Then consider the soft skills they need to do the job well.

Example

You’re advertising a vacancy for a team leader. The role holder will manage the rota for ten members of staff. Staff work a rotating shift pattern, with a combination of early shifts, late shifts, night shifts and twilight shifts.

In this example, candidates must have previous experience managing a team and planning a rota. But any candidate can come to you and say they have this experience - that doesn’t mean they did it effectively. You will need to dig a little deeper to identify the job attributes.

The soft skills required for effective team management include conflict management, effective communication, emotional intelligence and the ability to self-reflect. These soft skills are essential for the people management aspect of the role.

Creating employee profiles

If you want to recruit the best talent for your organization, it is vital to outline the personal qualities and skills you want prospective employees to have. One way to achieve this is by creating employee profiles for vacant job roles.

Employee profiles are a list of the qualifications, experience, soft skills and personality traits needed for the job role you are advertising. Sometimes referred to as a candidate persona or person specification, an employee profile aims to show job applicants exactly what sort of person the manager wants to recruit into the vacant job role.

Put simply, an employee profile summarizes what type of person you want to recruit for the open job vacancy. It should include all the criteria applicants must meet to be shortlisted for the next stage of the recruitment process.

Using employee profiling is more detailed than other types of applicant evaluation. Many organizations use it as part of the broader candidate assessment process.

It allows recruiters to consider candidates from a personal viewpoint instead of making decisions based solely on previous experience and professional qualifications.

This provides an opportunity to consider an applicant’s potential long-term value to the business, helping to reduce turnover in the future.

Although you might not find a candidate with everything on the employee profile, it is much easier to find suitable candidates when you are clear about the essential criteria from the beginning of the hiring process.

Matching job attributes to employee profiles

There are a few methods to consider when matching job attributes to employee profiles.

These are:

1. Matrix or chart

A skills matrix or chart can help map out the skills and attributes required for a job role. You can use it to compare employee profiles, which will help you to decide what talent you still need to recruit.

Using a skills matrix or chart is a simple but effective way to fill talent gaps and keep track of skill levels. It offers a simple framework which the HR and education teams can use to boost productivity and manage the allocation of resources within the organization.

Data from the matrix can inform key business decisions, including hiring and career development. Hiring managers can identify suitable candidates for job roles by cross-checking applications against employee profiles.

2. Job description analysis

Job descriptions are designed to offer a preview of the job role being advertised. Creating an accurate, clear job description is critical - a survey by Indeed found that job applicants spend a maximum of five minutes looking at a job advert before deciding whether to apply for the role.

A good job description will include the following:

• A clear, easy-to-understand job title

• Key responsibilities

• Purpose of the role

• A summary of a day in the life of the job role or examples of projects the role holder will work on

It should also include information on the attributes required for the job role. This is often referred to as the employee profile or person specification:

• Minimum qualifications (or equivalent experience)

• Preferred qualifications

• Essential and desirable skills

• Essential and desirable knowledge

• Character traits that will help the role holder to perform well in the job role

Putting information on job attributes in the job description will make shortlisting easier. Being clear about what type of person you are looking for in the employee profile allows applicants to show precisely how they meet your criteria.

If a candidate really wants to work for your organization, they will tailor their application to the job attributes and employee profile.

This makes it much easier to see which applicants have put in the effort to submit a good resume and cover letter. You can also search applications according to keywords to see which applicants have mentioned the attributes you are looking for.

3. Psychometric assessments

Using pre-screening tests such as psychometric assessments is another helpful way to identify the best applicants for a vacancy.

Choosing the right aptitude tests can help to establish how successful a job applicant might be if employed in the vacant job role.

You can use the employee profile to decide which tests are the most relevant for the vacant job role. For example, you might choose a situational judgment test if the job requires effective communication, decision-making and teamwork skills. If you are recruiting for a leadership role, consider using an emotional intelligence test.

4. Behavioral interviews

Behavioral interviews are said to be 55% predictive of future workplace behavior. In contrast, traditional interviews are said to be only 10% predictive of future workplace behavior.

Behavioral interviews are designed to help recruiters learn more about a candidate’s previous work experience, behaviors, skills, abilities and knowledge and how they have responded to certain workplace situations.

Instead of asking hypothetical questions such as “How would you approach a team member who was consistently late for work” you might ask, “How did you handle a team member who was not performing to expected standards”.

When using behavioral interview questions, interviews use information on how candidates have behaved previously to predict their future behavior and performance in the workplace.

Choosing behavioral interviews allows you to select interview questions ahead of time. These can be tailored to the relevant job attributes for the vacant job role.

Using this type of structured interview method offers an effective way of comparing candidates. The questions are decided in advance, so you can easily compare each candidate’s response, using this information to determine who is the best match for the job.

5. Performance reviews

Ongoing reviews are important, even after you’ve selected your preferred candidate.

Regular performance management reviews following the successful completion of the onboarding process are a valuable way to re-evaluate the employee’s skills and ensure they are assigned to projects that closely match their strengths.

Final thoughts

Clearly stating the job attributes is helpful to both the recruiter and prospective employees. It means the hiring manager knows exactly what they are looking for in a candidate and shows job applicants what qualities they will need to succeed in the job role.

Matching job attributes to employee profiles helps to simplify recruitment decisions and enables managers to employ candidates with the best possible chance of success.

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