What a good recruitment brief actually looks like

Ask a room of hiring managers what slowed down their last difficult hire and you will hear about the market, the salary, the notice periods. Rarely will anyone mention the brief. Yet in our experience, most searches that drag or fail were lost in the first conversation — before a single candidate was approached.

A good brief is not a long brief. It is a clear one. It answers five questions honestly: What will this person actually do in their first year? What must they have done before — and what can be taught? Why would someone leave a good job to take this one? What is the genuine salary and package, not the aspiration? And who decides, and how quickly?

That third question is the one most briefs skip, and it is the one that matters most in a search. When we approach someone who is not looking, the first thing they want to know is not the job title — it is why the move is worth their attention. If the brief cannot answer that, the search starts with one hand tied behind its back.

Honesty about salary matters just as much. A range quoted to attract interest, with a real ceiling far below it, wastes everyone's time and damages the employer's reputation in a market that talks. The best candidates find out the truth at offer stage — which is exactly the wrong moment.

Finally, pace. A brief that names a decision-maker and a realistic timeline produces hires. A brief that disappears into a committee produces regrets — and the best candidates accept other offers while the process drifts.

If you are shaping a role at the moment, our Brief Builder turns a rough description into a structured brief in a couple of minutes — and anything it cannot infer is marked for you to confirm. It is a good way to test whether your brief answers the five questions above. And if you would rather talk it through, that first conversation with us costs nothing.