People transformation
Job descriptions and requirements profiles: clarify a role’s tasks and decision-making scope, then derive clear criteria for selection and development.
Filling a position starts with the job itself. What should the role deliver, what decisions does it make and what requirements arise from the company’s future strategy? Job descriptions and requirements profiles provide a shared reference point. They link the role in the organisation with the skills and experience a person needs to perform it.
Describe tasks, contribution, stakeholders and decision-making authority.
Involve people who know the role, using suitable instruments.
Keep role, personal and candidate-specific information clearly apart.
Use the profile to give selection and development a sound basis.
The role description records technical and leadership tasks, relevant stakeholders, decision-making authority and expected contribution. Organisational conditions and possible barriers to performance are included too. What matters are today’s tasks and the requirements that arise as the company develops.
On this basis, the requirements profile is drawn up. It sets out the skills needed, specific experience and qualifications, and essential criteria. The concept distinguishes between knowledge, motivation and ability. The potential, risk factors and motivators relevant to the role are also considered.
Only a clear picture of the role makes it meaningful to compare it with a person.
People who know the role and its success criteria contribute their assessment. The Job Evaluation Tool supports a structured look at potential, risks and motivation. Which perspectives are needed, and how they are combined, depends on the role and its interfaces.
Book an initial callFor job profiles, we distinguish three levels: the job or function description names tasks, stakeholders and decision-making authority. The requirements profile describes which professional, personal and leadership-related prerequisites are important for the function. The candidate profile shows what a specific person brings. We start with the strategic task of the organisation and the specific function.
Together with leadership, HR and people who know the work well, contribution expectations, particular working conditions and performance drivers are described. Only from this is a profile for suitable candidates derived. A general template profile can overlook the particularities of a company. The clear separation also helps to avoid assessing a person on characteristics that are not relevant to the specific function at all.
The Job Evaluation Tool (JET) is an instrument with which people familiar with a position assess the requirements for working style and personality. For a robust profile, different perspectives are brought together. We distinguish between potentials, risk factors, values and motivators, and specialist and leadership requirements.
We disclose which statements come from conversations and which from a method. The requirements profile can then be compared with candidate information; differences show possible opportunities and risks, but are not an automatic decision on suitability. The profiles can support selection, onboarding and development. Whenever they are used, the tasks, method and quality criteria must suit the specific application.
Anforderung und Kandidatenprofil vergleichen: Das Kandidatenprofil beschreibt, was eine Person mitbringt. Der Vergleich mit dem Anforderungsprofil macht Übereinstimmungen und Entwicklungsbedarf sichtbar. Funktionsbeschreibung, Anforderung und Kandidatenprofil bleiben dabei unterscheidbar: Eine Person wird im Verhältnis zu einer konkreten Aufgabe betrachtet.
Arbeitsergebnisse: Eine geklärte Funktionsbeschreibung mit Aufgaben, Verantwortung und Entscheidungskompetenzen; Ein Anforderungsprofil mit Kompetenzen, Erfahrungen und unverzichtbaren Kriterien; Eine Grundlage für den Vergleich von Rollenanforderung und Kandidatenprofil.
We clarify which role and which appointment or development decision the profile is for, who can assess the role and which methods support the profile comparison. The scope depends on the task and the importance of the decision.
Concrete questions make work on a position verifiable. Which specialist and leadership tasks have to be fulfilled? Which stakeholders expect contributions? What decision-making authority is associated with the role? Which characteristics of the job influence the way of working? Only then is the question asked which person fits.
The Job Evaluation Tool is a method for assessing the requirements of a specific position with people who know it well. The evaluation can supplement personal characteristics, potentials, risk factors and motivators. We treat such profiles as well-founded assessments, not as biological certainty.
A global standard profile does not automatically match the requirements of a particular company. In one organisation, a sales consultant may mainly operate standardised processes, while in another they shape complex customer relationships. The position profile is therefore compared with the strategic positioning and the actual work.
For selection or development, it then becomes visible which requirements a person meets today and which capabilities they could still build up. Responsibility for this decision remains with the managers in charge.
A requirements profile should explicitly distinguish between the tasks of the position and the characteristics of a specific person. We ask people with good knowledge of the position about the situations in which the role creates value or carries risks. The Job Evaluation Tool is one possible method for bringing these perspectives together in a structured way. Comparing it with a candidate profile then shows matches, development needs and possible risks. It does not replace the conversation about experience, motivation and working environment.
The profile also remains useful for onboarding and later development: the organisation can check which requirements actually arise and whether the role as described still fits the strategy. A one-off selection aid thus becomes a verifiable working document for leadership and HR. When tasks change, the profile is revised with those responsible instead of being treated as a permanently valid job description. This keeps the requirements for selection and development up to date.
The job description sets out technical and leadership tasks, stakeholders, decision-making authority and expected contribution. The requirements profile, similar to a person specification, describes what a person in the role needs: skills, experience, qualifications and essential criteria, broken down into knowledge, motivation and ability. The candidate profile adds a third level: what a specific person brings.
Management, HR and people who know the role’s work and success criteria well. Together they describe expected contribution, specific working conditions and drivers of performance; only then is a profile derived. The Job Evaluation Tool (JET) supports a structured look at potential, risk factors, values and motivators. A generic template profile would miss what is specific to your company.
It is compared with the validated requirements profile to discuss matches, development needs and risks. Role description, requirements profile and candidate profile stay separate, so a person is judged against a specific role rather than traits that are irrelevant to it. The profiles support selection, onboarding and development.
No. Instruments add to the assessment; the responsible managers make the decision. We make clear which findings come from interviews and which from an instrument. Differences between the requirements and candidate profiles point to opportunities and risks but are not an automatic verdict on suitability. Each time, the tasks, instruments and quality criteria must fit the specific use.
Case study
A multi-stage change process that moved from vague complaints to new leadership routines.
What decision are you facing? Together, we clarify your situation, the people involved and the right next step.
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