Job Descriptions Describe Activity, Not Outcomes

Manage a team of four.

Own the marketing function.

Drive sales growth.

They tell candidates what they'll be responsible for, but not what success actually looks like.

So people apply because they've done something similar before. And hiring managers assess them on the same basis.

That's not really about performance. It's about finding someone who matches a familiar pattern.

The problem is that businesses end up hiring people who can do the work, yet still don't deliver the outcome the business needs most.

The best hiring briefs I've seen start somewhere else:

What should be true 12 months after this person joins?

Managing a team is a responsibility. Improving delivery performance by 20% is an outcome.

That's where outcome-based hiring begins.