Start with your best current performers, not the job description. Ask what they do differently in the hardest parts of the job, then turn that into a short list of observable behaviors: how the role solves problems, collaborates, organizes work and stays motivated. That profile becomes the yardstick for every candidate.
Read most job descriptions closely and you will meet a person who does not exist: strategic and detail-oriented, independent and collaborative, fast-moving and careful. We write them that way because every trait sounds good on its own. But real roles involve trade-offs, and the best performers in a role tend to share a recognizable pattern of behavior. If you don't name that pattern before you hire, every interviewer will quietly substitute their own.
Why define behaviors before you hire?
Every hiring process compares candidates to something. If you don't write down what that something is, the comparison happens in each interviewer's head, and each head holds a different picture. The behavioral profile makes the target visible and shared.
Who should help define the role?
- One or two people who are excellent in the role today.
- The manager the new hire will report to.
- Someone who works closely with the role from the outside, such as a peer team lead or a key internal customer.
Leave out anyone whose main input will be the job description. The goal is to capture how the work is really done.
What questions should you ask?
- What does a great week in this role look like? What does a bad one look like?
- When this role gets hard, what do the best people do that others don't?
- What motivates people who stay and grow in this role? What drains them?
- How does this role need to work with others: independently, in tight collaboration, or as a coordinator?
- What has caused past hires in this role to struggle?
What should the final profile include?
Keep it short. A useful profile names the handful of behaviors that matter most, plus any that are clearly wrong for the role. In the GoodJob process, this profile is called a RoleDNA, and candidates' PATH results are compared directly against it. For organizations that are scaling quickly or integrating an acquisition, a CultureDNA can sit alongside it to capture the behaviors the wider organization depends on.
What are the common mistakes?
- Profiling the ideal human instead of the role. "Great communicator, detail-oriented, strategic, fast" describes nobody. Real roles involve trade-offs.
- Copying the last person. Your previous hire's style is one way to do the job, not the only way.
- Skipping the drains. Knowing what demotivates people in the role predicts early turnover as well as anything else you will capture.
Frequently asked questions
How many behaviors should a role profile include?
A small set. Enough to describe what separates strong performance in the role, few enough that interviewers can remember and test each one.
Should the profile change over time?
Yes, when the role changes. Review it when the role's scope, team or strategy shifts, and after any hire that didn't work out.
Is a job description the same as a role profile?
No. A job description lists duties and requirements. A behavioral profile describes how the work needs to be done to be done well.
Related
What is behavioral hiring, and why does it predict performance better?
Behavioral hiring selects people on the work behaviors a role actually needs. Here is how it works, what the evidence says, and how it differs from résumé and gut-feel hiring.
Behavioral assessments vs. personality tests: what's the difference for hiring?
MBTI, DISC and Kolbe describe people. Behavioral assessments predict fit for a specific role. Here is the difference and why it matters for hiring decisions.