I can’t help but laugh a little at the hiring managers looking for a unicorn with 10 years of experience and the ability to use software their company started using like 3 months ago.

And on top of that, HR is expected to magically find this perfect person! 🙄

Yeah, okay.

I’ve personally seen enough job descriptions to know how this happens.

Basically, a manager pulls up an old one, sprinkles in a few new requirements, runs it through AI, and sends it over.

Everyone’s busy AF and the role needs to be filled, but nobody has stopped to ask whether the description even reflects what this person will spend their day doing!

Seeing enough of these will test your sanity…and honestly, it grinds my gears just a little more when my caffeine hasn’t hit for the morning. 🫩

It’s time to take a step back and acknowledge that the way people work has changed, a LOT.

For example, a customer service rep might move between multiple systems while helping someone untangle a complicated issue, or a manufacturing employee might need to operate equipment and know when to stop production.

These roles all come with their own expertise, even when we’ve gotten used to thinking of them as generalist jobs.

There’s a subtle distinction between a ✨JOB✨ and a ✨ROLE✨

We typically describe a job through a list of duties and requirements, while a role gives us more to work with.

It considers:

• What the person needs to accomplish
• Who they’ll work with
• Where they’ll use judgment
• What kind of support will help them succeed
• What outcomes they own

In layman’s terms, you’re looking more at the work and the human being doing it.

Employees def benefit from this level of clarity. When people can clearly see the skills they’re building, they can start to recognize opportunities they may have missed!

The customer service rep who handles difficult cases might be developing skills that could take them into quality assurance or training. I mean, someone should probably tell them that, right???

💡eSkill has been thinking pretty thoughtfully about this distinction as they move toward a more role-centered approach to assessment.

It’s part of how the company is preparing to help employers better understand what success looks like in the roles they’re hiring for.

Before we get to assessments, though, we need to talk about the job description! If it misses what the role actually requires, that confusion can follow a candidate through interviews and even their first few months on the team.

So let’s look at why specialized skills show up in more roles than we give them credit for, where job descriptions tend to go sideways, and what HR can do to help managers find the skills their teams need now and down the road!

The Generalist Role Got A Lot More ComplicatedCopy anchor linkCopied

Let’s take a quick look at a role that tends to fall in the generalist category, like someone working in a call center.

🔎Their job description might say they answer customer inquiries, which is technically true in the same way HR technically works with people…but it leaves out a few things.

On a typical call, that employee could be listening to a customer explain an issue, searching through account info, figuring out which policy applies, trying to keep the customer calm and documenting the convo while trying to reach a solution.

Depending on the company, they might also be handling sensitive info or guiding someone through a decision that directly affects their health or finances.

And they’re doing all of this with a person on the other end who may have already been transferred twice and would really, really like someone to help them. The thought of it is enough to give you second-hand stress!

The employee needs to know all the systems and recognize when something needs to be escalated. Realistically, those skills take time to build, but they also look different from one org to the next.

You can see the same thing play out on a manufacturing floor. Two employees might have the same title at different companies, but they could be working with different equipment and safety requirements.

💡Experience in one environment is valuable, and there may still be plenty to learn in the other. 💡

I do want to point out, though, that people can absolutely be generalists! Some employees are fantastic at moving between different responsibilities (and I would love to personally thank every one of them), but the work still has a particular mix of skills attached to it, even when the title makes it sound broad. Does that make sense??

I also think we’ve gotten a little too comfortable overlooking expertise when it shows up in roles we consider entry-level.

Someone spends years handling complicated customer issues, and we may only describe them as good with people when in reality, they’re making judgment calls, navigating systems, and keeping a bad situation from getting worse.

When you name those skills, employees have a better shot at seeing where they can grow.

Maybe someone wants to train new hires, or maybe they wanna stay right where they are and get even better at the work.

Ultimately, you won’t know any of this with certainty until you talk about it!

Your Job Description Might Be Catfishing EveryoneCopy anchor linkCopied

I’ve read plenty of job descriptions that made me wonder if anyone involved had met the person currently doing the work! 😒

The list of requirements goes on forever, then there’s a vague reference to communication skills, a dozen software platforms, and the infamous mention about thriving in a fast-paced environment.

(I’m sorry, but which environment is moving at a leisurely pace these days???)

Truth be told, I do understand why these descriptions happen.

On any given day, hiring managers have a million things going on, so it’s easy to just pull up the last version and make a few edits.

AI can make the process faster, too, though it’s a little too good at producing a word salad of polished language that sounds important while telling you almost NOTHING! 😒

In my experience, the trouble starts when everyone treats that document as the source of truth. Wanna know how that tends to play out?

From there, a recruiter screens candidates against the list, and people get passed over because they haven’t used a particular platform, even though they’ve worked with similar tools and could learn it.

Other people move forward because their resume has the right title and all the right keywords.

The candidate is personable during the interviews and everyone enjoys the convo, so eventually an offer goes out.

Then, a few months later, the manager is frustrated because the new hire is struggling with something that takes up a huge part of the role.

The employee is confused too, because that part of the job barely came up during hiring, and now they’re being measured on it.

Eventually HR gets pulled in to help figure out what happened while the rest of the team picks up the slack! 🙃

I’ve seen enough hiring convos unfold to know how tempting it is to move quickly when everyone’s stretched, but I promise you…spending a little more time upfront can save you from having the much harder convo later.

Before the job gets posted, sit down with the manager and ask what success would look like after six months.

Talk to someone currently doing the work about what takes the most time and where new hires usually struggle.

You may find out that a requirement on the old description barely matters anymore, while a skill everyone relies on has been left out entirely.

It’s also worth asking which skills can be taught after someone joins.

A candidate might need to know how to handle sensitive customer information from day one, for example, but learning your specific software could be part of onboarding.

Once you clearly understand the role, you can use that info to shape the description and the hiring process!

eSkill works with employers who come in focused on a role they need to fill, and getting clear on the work is an extremely useful starting point for figuring out what to assess.

🧠Resumes, portfolios, and interviews still have a place in the process. They can tell you about someone’s experience and give you examples of their work, but they also leave questions you’ll want to answer before deciding whether a person is ready for your particular role.

Hire for Today, But Make Room for What Comes Next TooCopy anchor linkCopied

I feel like I’m in what can only be described as my weirdo era, because everything just feels… different, and I can’t quite tell what’s coming next.

To be honest, hiring has felt like that for a while now! 👀

Tech keeps changing and teams are adjusting to new ways of working, all while HR is somehow expected to know exactly what everyone will need six months from now.

I’m willing to bet that most of us probably daydream about getting a little more notice for all these big changes!

At the same time, every freaking software company wants to tell me its product can do everything.

I’ve spent enough time clicking around a system that can supposedly handle my entire life to have some follow-up questions…starting with who the hell designed that navigation menu.

We can’t predict what every role will look like 5 or 10 years from now, but we can deff get more curious about where the work is headed and revisit our assumptions before we make another hire. 💡

Take a customer support team adopting a new platform, for example. The employees will still be helping customers, but the way they find info or handle certain requests may change.

Managers can look at what the team needs to learn and where they might need additional support.

That might mean training the people who are already there, which could also change what the team looks for in its next hire.

And if the manager hasn’t had a convo with employees about any of this yet, I’d start there, since they’re the ones using the system and dealing with whatever happens when it doesn’t work.

Pick a role your org fills regularly and talk through the skills it requires today, then consider any changes you can reasonably anticipate, whether that’s new equipment or a process the company plans to update.

Bring learning and development into the convo early, especially if current employees could build some of those skills!

When it’s time to hire, a relevant assessment can give candidates another way to show what they know.

Someone may have developed the ability you need in a different industry or under a job title you wouldn’t have thought to search for, which happens more often than you would think.

Use assessments alongside interviews and other information, and keep it connected to the actual work.

And for the love of god, please don’t make people complete a two-hour exercise because someone thought it would be interesting to see what happened!

Candidates have lives. Hell, some of them might even have another interview that afternoon.

I know some hiring managers will be hesitant to change their process…they’ve relied on experience requirements and interviews for years, and asking them to rethink all of it can feel like one more project on a very long list.

Try starting with a role they’re having trouble filling or one where new hires haven’t been staying, and invite the manager to help identify the skills that matter and walk them through what an assessment could reveal.

It’s easier to get someone interested when they can see how it relates to a problem they’re already dealing with!

And for HR teams at growing orgs, getting clearer upfront can save a LOT of scrambling later.

When someone leaves a role a few months after being hired, the work doesn’t disappear with them.

Instead, their coworkers absorb it, the manager has another opening, and HR gets to start the process all over again. Not a fun experience for anybody involved!

It’s Time to Find the Person Behind the SkillsCopy anchor linkCopied

Candidates are trying to make a good decision, too.

They wanna understand what the job involves and if they can see themselves on the team.

✅A hiring process that accurately reflects the role gives them a better chance to figure that out!

eSkill helps employers assess job-relevant skills and bring more info into their hiring decisions.

For HR teams working with managers to fill specialized roles, its tools can help candidates demonstrate abilities connected to the work they’ll be asked to do.

That starts with understanding the role. Once you know what matters, you can build a more focused description and choose assessments that make sense for it.

You’ll have more to discuss during interviews, and managers will have more evidence to consider when making the final call.

Of course, they may still have opinions about who gave the best interview, but now the convo can include what each candidate showed they could do, along with where they might need support.

I think we can all agree that that sounds like a better place to start for everyone involved. ❤️

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