How to approach staff selection criteria

The selection criteria are established based on the job description, depending on the specific knowledge necessary for the successful performance of the job, in order to choose the best potential occupant of the job. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?

Every day we read recruitment announcements that state "beautifully" written criteria and that promise candidates that their fulfillment will help them to be successful and appreciated in that position. Speaking of "technical" criteria, there is not much to say, they stem from the nature of the activity itself, but when we say: excellent communication skills, initiative, etc. - what do we mean? What does each company mean by "excellent communication", "initiative"? What does each recruiter understand by excellent communication? How important are, in fact, these selection criteria, criteria subject to interpretation, to everyone's understanding? Are those who "assess" the candidate's ability to "communicate excellently" "excellent" communicators? Are they at least good communicators? Reflecting on the questions, we can decide to what extent it is worth adding or not, as a criterion, for example, "excellent communication" in our recruitment announcement.

Moreover - we come across many recruitment ads for management or leadership positions (for example), with more than 5 years of experience - but which mention: « excellent communication skills »?!?! After more than 5 years of experience in leadership / management, there must be sufficiently good communication skills so that the mention of this criterion in the recruitment announcement becomes completely useless.

The coherence of the announcements, the establishment of the selection criteria and the position itself represent the performance criterion, even the finesse of the recruiter. It represents, in fact, the quality of the work of the specialists from the human resources department, one of the performance criteria of the team coordinators.

The ability of recruiters to translate into skills and abilities, those "soft skills" so "required" by most employers, reveals the professionalism and excellence of their work, which is why identifying personnel selection criteria is not just reading a job description and "copying - paste" from other ads. This way, the work of recruiters can become interesting, diversified and truly motivating.

Other examples of vague criteria: ability to solve problems, excellent relationship skills, ability to resolve conflicts, involvement, responsibility, self-motivation.