What’s Shaping Work: Define success before you define the role
In this What’s Shaping Work article, Jacqui Barratt, Founder and CEO of Salt APAC, highlights that many hiring challenges stem from a lack of clarity before a candidate search even begins. Jacqui shares why defining success from the outset leads to stronger alignment, better hiring decisions, and more successful long-term outcomes.
In What’s Shaping Work, Jacqui Barratt, Founder and CEO of Salt APAC, shares practical observations on the people, leadership, and workforce challenges shaping organisations across APAC. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience navigating the evolution of recruitment and the world of work, and conversations with business leaders, HR professionals, hiring managers, and candidates, Jacqui offers frameworks, insights, and practical questions designed to help organisations make better people decisions. Every article reflects real experiences, real conversations, and the belief that while technology can support better decisions, human judgment remains essential.
One of the most common reasons hiring processes lose momentum is surprisingly simple: organisations haven’t clearly defined what success looks like before they start searching for talent.
Too often, organisations go to market before they’ve fully defined what success looks like. They know they need someone, but not always what that person needs to achieve in the first three, six, or twelve months.
For example, if a business expects strong sales results within three months, but the reality is a six-month sales cycle, there is a disconnect from day one. Equally, if a business expects a new engineering leader to accelerate product delivery immediately, but they first need time to understand the systems, team capabilities, and delivery challenges, expectations can quickly become misaligned.
Why successful hiring starts with clarity
The best hiring processes create confidence because expectations are clear, realistic, and aligned internally before the search begins. Candidates can feel the difference. Clarity gives credibility to both the business and the hiring process itself. It shows that the organisation understands the role, values the investment, and is serious about setting someone up to succeed.
In a recent poll of our client and candidate community, we asked where clarity can be most challenging to create during the hiring process. The strongest response – with 42% of respondents selecting setting clear expectations for short- and medium-term success – wasn’t surprising. In my experience, this is often a factor in hiring processes losing momentum or in new team members struggling once they start in a new role.
Six questions to answer before you hire
Before hiring starts, it’s worth asking:
- What two or three problems or opportunities is this role being hired to address?
- What are the top two or three priorities for this role?
- Which team members does this person need to build credibility with early?
- Is this role expected to deliver immediate impact, or longer-term growth?
- What should success look like in the first 3, 6, and 12 months?
- When we look back in 12 months, what will tell us we made the right hire?
I was also interested to see that 27% of respondents selected defining the role’s future direction as a challenge to creating clarity. Strong candidates increasingly want to know not just what the job is today, but where it could go tomorrow – growth, scope, and opportunity matter.
When organisations create clarity upfront – around priorities, expectations, future potential, and what success looks like – they make better hiring decisions and create better experiences for everyone involved.
Defining success will not guarantee the right hire. But failing to define it significantly reduces the chances of making one. Before your next search begins, take the time to align on what success looks like, and how you will recognise it when you see it.
