Same-Page Hiring Brief
Describe the role in your own words. Get a one-page brief built on first-year results, then see where your CEO, CFO or panel see it differently, before the search starts.
01 Describe the role
02 A few quick questions
03 Your hiring brief
Edit anything. It’s saved in this browser only.
Ready to search?
Opens hiredirectnow.ai with this brief filled in. Nothing is sent until you press Continue there.
04 Same-page check
Hiring teams often disagree about a role without knowing it, until a finalist splits the room. Answer a few quick questions, then send a private link to your CEO, CFO or a panel member. They answer without seeing yours. Then you both see where you differ.
Send this private link to each person
The same link works for everyone. Their answers come back to you inside a reply link; nothing is stored on our servers.
On the same page?
Send the brief, with the check summary, to HireDirectNow.
Your view on this role, before the search starts
Answer on your own; you’ll see where you differ once you submit. It takes about 3 minutes. Nothing is stored on our servers.
Send your answers back
Copy this reply link and send it to whoever asked. It carries your answers.
Want a vetted shortlist instead?
How it works, and the research behind it
Each part says what it rests on: The law, Research (a published study) or Our rule of thumb.
Results, not duties
- Research
- Specific, challenging goals lead to better performance than “do your best” (Locke & Latham, 2002). Structured interviews built on job-related criteria are among the strongest predictors of job performance (Sackett et al., 2022). So the brief leads with three to five first-year results: what, how you’ll know, by when.
Blind first, then compare
- Research
- Kahneman, Lovallo and Sibony (2019) recommend that people make their assessments independently before any discussion, so the first or most senior voice doesn’t anchor the rest. The same-page check works that way: each person answers on their own, then everyone sees the gaps.
The turn-down test
- Research
- Across 81 samples, years of prior experience barely predicted job performance (corrected r = .06; Van Iddekinge et al., 2019). Degree requirements screen out capable people (Fuller & Raman, 2017), and long requirement lists keep people from applying (Mohr, 2014).
- The law
- Requirements that screen out protected groups must be job-related (Griggs v. Duke Power, 1971; 29 CFR Part 1607). A short list you’d truly turn a finalist down for is easier to defend.
The pre-mortem
- Research
- Imagine the hire has already failed and list why (Klein, 2007). In an experiment with 178 people, a premortem lowered overconfidence in a plan more than other kinds of critique (Veinott, Klein & Wiggins, 2010). Each risk gets a check you’ll run in interviews.
The candidate’s view
- Our rule of thumb
- A strong person who isn’t looking asks six things before taking a call: what they’d own, the pay, who they’d work for, where, why the role is open, and why it beats their current job. The brief shows which ones you’ve answered.
Sources
- Locke & Latham, American Psychologist (2002): specific, hard goals and performance (opens in a new tab)
- Sackett, Zhang, Berry & Lievens, Journal of Applied Psychology (2022): validity of selection methods (opens in a new tab)
- Kahneman, Lovallo & Sibony, MIT Sloan Management Review (2019): A Structured Approach to Strategic Decisions (opens in a new tab)
- Van Iddekinge, Arnold, Frieder & Roth, Personnel Psychology (2019): prehire work experience and performance (opens in a new tab)
- Fuller & Raman, Harvard Business School (2017): Dismissed by Degrees (opens in a new tab)
- Tara Sophia Mohr, Harvard Business Review (2014): why people don’t apply (opens in a new tab)
- Klein, Harvard Business Review (2007): Performing a Project Premortem (opens in a new tab)
- Veinott, Klein & Wiggins, ISCRAM (2010): the premortem and plan confidence (opens in a new tab)
- 29 CFR Part 1607, Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures; see also Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971) (opens in a new tab)
Common questions
What should a hiring brief include?
Why the role exists now, three to five results for the first year with how you’ll measure them, a short list of true must-haves, the risks to watch for, and the basics: who it reports to, where, pay and start date. Results tell candidates and interviewers more than a list of duties.
How do I get my CEO and hiring team aligned on a role?
Have each person answer the same questions on their own before you meet, then compare. If you discuss first, the first or most senior opinion tends to anchor everyone else. This tool does it with a private link: each person answers without seeing the others’ answers, then you see where you differ.
How many must-haves should a role have?
Fewer than most teams think. Keep only what you’d turn down an otherwise great finalist for, usually five or six. Move the rest to nice-to-have, and say what someone must have done rather than how many years they’ve done it.
Is my information stored?
Your brief and same-page answers are saved only in your browser and in the links you choose to share. If you use the optional AI draft, your description and answers go to HireDirectNow’s AI to write it and aren’t stored. No sign-up needed.