Position Timeline – Create Having into Doing
A traditional IT job description usually includes a laundry list of responsibilities your new hire will own. Some are vague including soft skills you want this candidate to possess. And some get more concrete, like increasing team productivity or creating less software downtime. A list like this within a marketable IT job description is meant to catch the right candidate’s attention to the position and incentivize them to contact you.
But think of having a tool that can go way beyond that. Think of having a tool that could lay out not only what you want that new hire to take ownership of, but also when and how much.
Think of it as a roadmap for the position that creates a true north to success.
Meet the IT Position Timeline
A Position Timeline is the fourth component of the Outcome-Driven Job Description. The Position Timeline serves as a tool to show your candidate more accurately where you need them to head and a true definition of their success in their new role.
Yes, it’s for you to know if your new hire is meeting the goals you set out for the position at the times you want them to be met. But it also becomes a roadmap for your new hire to follow over time. It empowers them to try to meet and exceed those goals along their first 30, 60, 90 days and beyond.
When either of you have a question about expectations, the Position Timeline will be your resource to ensure you and your new hire are on the same page.
How to Create a Position Timeline
It’s time to create having into doing. Once you have completed your Major Goal and Responsibility Buckets for this position, you should now try to envision your candidate’s day. What will they be doing on a daily basis to become successful in this role? When you walk through what they will be doing, you will truly discover the real skills they need to possess to get things done.
It is a slight lens change that makes a world of difference. It marries the skills they have into what they will be doing. It eliminates going to look for a candidate with the skills everyone puts on an IT hire, and let’s you find the candidate with the right skills for your organization.
A common Position Timeline is 30-, 60-, 90-days and one year but you aren’t limited to that. Create your Position Timeline based on what is appropriate for the role you are trying to fill. Take a minute to review the sample Position Timeline with our sample Outcome-Driven Job Description to give you some ideas.
Place your Smart Goals on Your Timeline
Examine your Responsibility Buckets and what you’ve mapped out for this new candidate already and create any additional Smart Goals that will help shape this role’s road to success. Now take those Smart Goals you created earlier in the Responsibility Buckets phase of the Outcome-Driven Job Description process and insert them in your timeline/calendar at the appropriate intervals.
If you’re having trouble with this step remember that every single responsibility has the opportunity to be measurable. Use this sentence to help you formulate what you want to see from your new candidate, “I know you’re doing a great job if you …”
Once all your Smart Goals are inserted in the Calendar, take a step back to see the overall picture of what you want this new hire to accomplish in this IT position over the first year. Is it ambitious, but also realistic? Is it truly filling the gap that you discovered earlier in the Outcome-Driven Job Description process?
If yes, then you now possess a tool you can use beyond the job offer and are setting you and your new hire up for a successful first year.
Now you are ready to move to the last and final step of the candidate facing Job Description.
Visit our Guide to Writing the Ultimate Outcome Driven Job Description to get an overview of the benefits of creating one for your next IT position.
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