What a typical brief looks like
"We need a sales manager. Three or more years of experience, responsible, communicative, resilient under stress, knowledge of 1C desirable. Salary discussed at interview."
Thousands of people fit that description — and at the same time not one specific person. It answers none of the key questions: what the person must achieve, what exactly they will work with, and how you will know they are succeeding.
A stress test. If two different people would select different finalists from your vacancy description, the description does not work. A role profile exists precisely so that the decision does not depend on who is reading the CVs.
What a role profile consists of
1. The result, not the duties
Start from the end: what should change in the company in 6–12 months thanks to this person. Not "maintaining the client base" but "repeat sales from the existing base brought up to 40% of revenue". Not "maintaining HR records" but "HR documents brought into line with the Labour Code and maintained without findings during inspections".
2. Tasks for the first 3, 6 and 12 months
Break the result into stages. This serves simultaneously as the role profile, a ready basis for probation, and a clear reference point for the candidate.
3. Essential and desirable requirements — kept separate
The most practical section. Separate what the person genuinely cannot manage without from what can be taught.
| Essential | Desirable | Irrelevant |
|---|---|---|
| Skills without which the work is impossible from day one | Things that speed up reaching results but can be learned in 1–2 months | "Just in case" requirements nobody will actually test |
| Experience with a specific type of task | Industry knowledge | Formal "N years of experience" unrelated to content |
| Licences and qualifications required by law | Familiarity with a specific software package | Characteristics unrelated to the work |
Practice shows that the longer the list of essential requirements, the longer the vacancy takes to fill and the higher the eventual cost of recruitment. Every essential requirement narrows the candidate pool — so it must be justified.
4. Working conditions — honestly
The real schedule, overtime, travel, the manager's particularities, the difficult parts of the job. Concealing these does not help you hire — it helps you hire someone who leaves in a month when they meet reality.
5. The pay range
Set it before the search begins, checking it against the market. Without a range, negotiations start at the final stage, when both sides have already spent time.
6. Who decides and how selection runs
How many stages, who is involved, within what timeframe. This is the internal part of the profile, but it determines whether you lose a strong candidate to drawn-out approvals.
Role profile template
Complete before starting the search
- Role and reporting lines: who they report to, who they manage
- Why the role exists: which business problem it solves
- Result after 12 months: in measurable terms
- Tasks for 3 / 6 / 12 months
- Essential requirements: three to five points, no more
- Desirable requirements
- Conditions: schedule, location, travel, particularities
- Pay range and what makes up total income
- Selection stages and decision timelines
- How we will know the person is succeeding — probation criteria
Example: before and after
The difference between a formal description and a working profile is clearest in comparison.
| Formal description | Working formulation |
|---|---|
| "Three or more years of experience" | "Independently handled clients from first contact to repeat deal — at least two years" |
| "Responsible, communicative" | "Handles up to 40 active clients at once without losing commitments" |
| "Knowledge of 1C" | "Prepares shipping documents in 1C without help from the accountant" |
| "Work in a dynamic team" | "Five people in the department, daily stand-up at 9:00, weekly deal reporting" |
| "Competitive remuneration" | "Base 400,000 ₸ + 3% of margin; on target, income around 650,000 ₸" |
The right-hand column filters out unsuitable candidates before interview and simultaneously attracts suitable ones: a strong specialist reading such a description immediately understands whether they can do it and whether it interests them.
A company spent four months unable to find a marketer. The requirements listed paid search, social media, design, analytics, copywriting, website work and five or more years of experience — on a budget matching a mid-level specialist.
Analysis of the task showed only one thing was really needed: setting up and running advertising that generated enquiries. Everything else had been added on the basis of "while we are looking, let them be able to do everything".
After cutting the essential requirements to two points and clarifying the expected result, the vacancy was filled in three weeks.
Four typical mistakes
- Describing the ideal person rather than the needed one. A list of fifteen requirements is a sign the real task has not been defined
- Looking for two-in-one. A marketer who also sells; an accountant who also handles HR and procurement. Such people exist, but rarely, and cost more than two separate specialists
- Copying someone else's vacancy description. Another company's profile reflects another company's processes
- Not agreeing the profile with the immediate manager. As a result HR searches for one person while the manager expects another
Who should be involved in building the profile
A profile written by one person is almost always incomplete. The optimal set of participants:
- The immediate manager — knows the real tasks and what the person will actually face
- Whoever is responsible for recruitment — translates requirements into selection criteria and checks expectations against the market
- Neighbouring departments — if the role interacts heavily with other teams, their expectations matter too
- An employee in a similar role, if one exists — knows better than anyone what is actually needed in the first month
Agreeing this takes about an hour, but it prevents the situation where a finalist is rejected with the words "I pictured someone different" after a month of searching.
What a good profile delivers
- The search moves faster: it is clear where to look and who to filter out immediately
- Decisions are made on criteria rather than personal impressions
- The candidate arrives with the right expectations and does not leave after a month
- A ready basis exists for probation and performance assessment
- The profile is reused the next time you hire for this position
In brief
A role profile starts not with a list of skills but with the answer to what result is needed in a year. Then come tasks by stage, a strict separation of essential and desirable requirements, honest conditions, a pay range and a clear selection process. It is a one-page document that saves weeks of searching and prevents most hiring mistakes.