On hiring

A job description suggests completeness.
A document that defines the role in full.

In practice, most roles are not fixed in this way.
They shift depending on the work, the team, and the organisation itself.

What is written at the outset is often an approximation, useful, but incomplete.

The reality of the role tends to emerge over time.
Through the kinds of projects undertaken.
Through the expectations placed on the individual.
Through the way decisions are made within the team.

These things are rarely captured in a document.

As a result, hiring often begins with a partial understanding.
A title, a list of responsibilities, a sense of level.

Enough to start a search.
But not always enough to ensure alignment.

This is where many mismatches begin.

Not because the candidate lacks ability,
but because the role they step into is different from the one that was described.

The difference may be subtle at first.
A shift in emphasis. A change in priorities.
Expectations that were assumed rather than stated.

Over time, these differences accumulate.

What felt like a strong fit at the outset
can begin to feel uncertain.

Not through failure, but through misalignment.

What matters, then, is not simply defining a role,
but understanding how it is likely to evolve.

How it will be experienced in practice.
What it will demand over time.

This is rarely written down.
But it is often what determines whether a hire holds.

Not all unsuccessful hires are obvious.

There are cases where a hire clearly does not work; a mismatch in capability, or in approach.

But more often, the outcome is less visible.

A hire who performs well on the surface,
but never quite settles.

A gradual sense that something is not fully aligned.
Difficult to define, but present nonetheless.

In many cases, the individual is strong.
Capable, experienced, and well suited on paper.

The issue lies elsewhere.

It often begins with expectations.

What the role was assumed to be,
and what it becomes in practice,
are not always the same.

At the outset, there is alignment—
on responsibilities, on scope, on level.

But as the role unfolds,
new demands emerge.

Unstated expectations become visible.
The realities of the team take shape.
The way work is actually delivered becomes clearer.

These are rarely captured in the hiring process.

As a result, the individual adapts.
They adjust to the role as it reveals itself.

Sometimes this works.

But in other cases, the gap between expectation and reality persists.

Not large enough to cause immediate failure.
But enough to create friction.

Over time, this friction accumulates.

Engagement softens.
Confidence becomes less certain.
The sense of fit begins to erode.

By the time this is recognised,
it is often difficult to correct.

The hire has not failed in a clear sense.
But nor have they fully succeeded.

Understanding this dynamic requires looking beyond the candidate.

To consider how the role was defined,
and what was understood,
or left unexamined, before the search began.

Much of what defines a role is not immediately visible.

At the outset, attention is placed on the obvious elements.
Title, responsibilities, experience required.

These are necessary.
But they are rarely sufficient.

What tends to emerge later are the less tangible aspects.

How decisions are made.
Where authority sits.
What is expected but not explicitly stated.

The nature of the team.
Its pace, its structure, its dynamics.

The kind of work that dominates in practice,
as opposed to what is anticipated.

These things are often discovered only after the hire is made.

Through experience, rather than definition.

By that point, they are no longer variables to consider.
They are conditions to adapt to.

This is where alignment is tested.

A candidate may be well suited to the role as described,
but less so to the role as it exists in reality.

The difference is rarely dramatic.
But it is enough.

Enough to affect how the individual operates.
How they integrate into the team.
How sustainable the role feels over time.

When these aspects are understood earlier,
the nature of the search changes.

Conversations become more specific.
Assessment becomes more precise.

Not in a formal sense,
but in the clarity of what is being explored.

This does not guarantee an outcome.

But it reduces the likelihood of misalignment.

By bringing forward what is otherwise learned too late.

There is a tendency to view hiring as a process that begins with candidates.

A role is defined, a search is opened,
and attention turns outward.

In practice, much of the outcome is determined earlier.

Before the first conversation takes place.

At the point where the role itself is considered.

This is where clarity—or lack of it—takes shape.

Not just in terms of responsibilities,
but in what success looks like over time.

What the role is expected to resolve.
How it fits within the wider team.
What kind of individual is likely to thrive in that context.

When these things are well understood,
the search tends to be more focused.

Not necessarily narrower,
but more precise.

Decisions are easier to make.
Differences between candidates are clearer.

There is a shared understanding of what matters.

Where this clarity is absent,
the process often becomes reactive.

Adjustments are made as the search progresses.
Priorities shift.
Criteria are refined in response to the market.

This can still lead to a hire.

But the outcome is less certain.

Alignment is, in effect, being determined during the process,
rather than before it.

The difference is not always visible at the outset.

But it tends to become apparent over time.

In how well the individual settles.
In how sustainable the role proves to be.

In whether the initial decision continues to feel right.

There is often an assumption that hiring should move quickly.

A role is defined, a search begins,
and progress is measured by momentum.

Shortlists are expected within days.
Interviews are arranged in quick succession.
Decisions follow soon after.

This pace can feel productive.

But it can also obscure something more fundamental.

Clarity.

When a process moves quickly, there is less space to examine the role itself.

Initial assumptions remain untested.
Details are taken as given.
Questions that require time are often set aside.

The focus shifts outward—to candidates—
before the role has been fully understood.

At this stage, the search can still function.

Candidates are identified.
Conversations take place.
A shortlist is formed.

But the underlying definition of the role may still be incomplete.

What is expected in practice.
How the role will evolve.
What success looks like beyond the immediate term.

These things tend to surface more slowly.

Through discussion.
Through reflection.
Through a clearer understanding of the context in which the role sits.

When this step is compressed,
clarity is not removed, but deferred.

It emerges later instead.

Often after the hire has been made.

At that point, it is no longer shaping the decision.
It is testing it.

This is where misalignment can begin.

Not because the process was ineffective,
but because it moved ahead of its own understanding.

Speed, in itself, is not the issue.

There are situations where it is necessary.

But where the role is complex,
or where long-term alignment matters,
pace needs to be considered more carefully.

Clarity does not require slowness.

But it does require space.

Without it, the process may appear efficient,
while leaving the most important aspects unresolved.