Client brief (job spec)

A job description is written for candidates and often recycled from the last time the role was filled. A brief is written for the recruiter. It captures what the hiring manager says when asked which requirements are genuinely essential, what the last person in the role lacked, how flexible the salary is, and who else is involved in the decision. The gap between the two documents is where most wasted shortlists come from.

A good briefing call covers the must-haves and the negotiables separately, the salary band and whether there is room above it, bonus and benefits, hybrid or office days, notice periods the client will wait for, right-to-work requirements, the number of interview stages and who runs each, the target start date, and which other agencies or channels are also working the role.

A worked example. A client sends a job description listing ten requirements for a £70,000 engineering manager. On the briefing call the hiring manager says only three are essential: people management, a named cloud platform and experience of scaling a team from five to fifteen. The other seven are preferences. Searching on ten requirements finds almost nobody; searching on three finds a workable market.

The brief also belongs to the client relationship. Reading it back to the hiring manager at the end of the call, or sending a short written summary, confirms what was agreed and gives the consultant something to point at when the goalposts move. It also sets the standard for the shortlist: if a candidate misses one of the agreed essentials, the consultant should say so rather than hope nobody notices.

Where it goes wrong: taking a brief by email without a call; not writing it down, so the consultant's memory is the only record; and not re-briefing when the client changes their mind mid-process, which it often does after seeing the first shortlist.