How to define a role before hiring your first specialist

Before you write a job description, list the work you need someone to do. Then talk to people who have done that work at a company like yours. Their experience can help you choose the right level of hire and spot problems a new employee cannot fix alone.

Start with what keeps going wrong

Look at the last few weeks. Which tasks were late, repeated or left to the founder? Write down what happened, how often it happens and who handles it now.

“Improve customer onboarding” is too broad. It might mean helping customers set up the product, writing instructions, or fixing product problems that make setup difficult. Those could require different people.

Choose the work you most need help with before choosing a title. This follows the basic approach in OPM’s job-analysis guidance: identify the tasks, then the abilities needed to perform them.

Ask someone who has done the job

Find someone who held the role at a similar stage of company. If you need a person who can work alone, someone who recently did that is a more useful starting point than someone who has always managed a large team.

Explain what is happening at your company, then ask:

• What did you spend most of your time doing when you first took the job?
• Which parts required previous experience, and which could you learn as you went?
• What did you need from your manager to do the work well?
• What would make you hesitate to take the role I have described?

Follow up on anything vague. If they say they needed “support,” ask whether they mean a weekly meeting, another employee, a budget or permission to make decisions. You need to know what you would have to provide.

Turn what you learn into a specific job

For a first implementation hire, you might decide the person should plan customer setups, explain the next steps to customers and flag problems to the product team. The founder might still handle contract changes and promises about future features. Put that division of work in the job description.

Describe what a good first few months would look like in ordinary language: customer projects have clear next steps, customers know whom to contact, and the founder no longer coordinates every setup.

Then separate experience you need on day one from things you can teach. Handling a difficult customer project may require experience; learning your internal tracking tool probably does not. OPM’s structured-interview guide uses knowledge of the actual job to decide what interviews should assess.

Check the role before you advertise it

Show the draft to someone who has done the job. Ask what is missing, what seems unrealistic and where the person would get stuck. Resolve those points with whoever will manage the hire.

If you need someone to talk to, search Instant Expert for professionals who have held the role and invite them to a paid 30-minute call. Say you are preparing a job description, share the work you need help with, and ask them to challenge it.