Insights
What a clear vacancy brief should contain before you go to market
20 September 2026
A brief is the core of the role: what someone must do, in which team, on which terms. Without that core, hiring is guesswork — for you and for candidates.
Most hiring starts with a profile that is too long, or a conversation that leaves too much open. Both cost time. A clear brief is one page that brings the role back to its core — before you call a bureau or put a text online.
You do not need a perfect vacancy text yet. You do need to know what this person should have done in ninety days.
The core on one page
Write the result first, not the task list. What changes in the team when this seat is filled? What stays undone if the role stays empty? That is the core.
The rest sits around it: team, manager, location or remote, hours, start date, and a realistic band for pay. If one of those is still open, write that down. Open is better than invented.
What belongs in it
Five blocks are almost always enough. (1) The result in the first three months. (2) Three to five must-haves — craft, responsibility, availability. (3) The team and who decides. (4) Place, days, travel. (5) Terms: band, contract form, and whether you have temporary staffing, secondment or recruitment and selection in mind.
Wishes may sit beside that, if they are labelled as wishes. ‘Experience with X is welcome’ is not the same as ‘without X we will not look’. Mixing the two makes the shortlist longer, not sharper.
Must-have versus wish
A must-have is something without which the role cannot run: a driving licence if someone drives every day, a qualification if the law requires it, or proven experience if the seat has no room to learn.
A wish is something that helps but can be taught. If everything is a must-have, you are looking for no one. If almost nothing is a must-have, you get everyone. The brief chooses.
What you do not need to know yet
You do not need to know the market in advance. You do not need a hundred words on culture. You do not need to polish the title. A bureau can test whether the core is feasible at the pace and terms you named.
If the core and the terms do not fit, it is better to hear that before you go to market than after.
Checklist before you call
Result in 90 days. Three to five must-haves. Two or three wishes, no more. Team and decision-maker. Location, hours, start. Pay band. And the likely route: temporary staffing, secondment, recruitment and selection, or In-house if you want hiring run on site.
When those points sit on one page, the brief is ready. The rest is conversation.