There's no excuse for a boring job spec any more.

These days there's no reason for your job spec to read like a legal disclaimer. It's genuinely easy — and quick — to create something compelling and visually striking that people actually want to read.

But the real prize isn't the document. It's the thinking the process forces. Done well, building a job pack is one of the most valuable ways to arrange your own thoughts around what you actually need — the key purpose of the hire, what success looks like, and the kind of person who'll genuinely succeed in post.

The alternative is the trap most specs fall into: pages of jargon, arbitrary "must-haves" and filler that nobody believes. It becomes unfit for purpose the day it's published — and worse, you start vetting candidates against that, rather than against what actually matters.

And we make no bones about it: let AI do the heavy lifting. Used well, it turns a tedious admin job — that you'll likely put off — into a short task that results in a finished, on-brand pack.

The method

Have the honest conversation first

Get your key stakeholders together and — for now — put the words "job spec" completely out of your mind. This is just an honest chat: what are we actually hiring for, what does this person need to achieve, and what kind of person are they likely to need to be?

Record it. That recording is your raw material for everything that follows.

When we run a search with you, this happens naturally — it's exactly what our role-briefing session is for. Doing it internally, you may just need to deliberately create the opportunity for the conversation to happen.

Let AI turn the transcript into a first draft

Drop the transcript into your preferred AI model and ask it to build a compelling candidate job pack — stripping out jargon and filler, and keeping only what genuinely matters from the conversation.

Remind it, too, that a big part of the pack's job is to sell the role — to make the most of what's genuinely great about the business and the opportunity, so the right candidate leans in.

Then ask it to:

· Augment the pack with its own research on your business from publicly available sources.
· Study your website and other materials to gauge your tone and style, so the wording sounds like you.
· Flag any gaps — the things your conversation didn't quite cover — so you can fill them in quickly and deliberately.

Make it look the part

What you have now might read well — but it's still just words on a blank page. Ask the AI to turn it into a visually compelling document using imagery (from your website, public sources, and so on), or to recommend a tool for the job.

We use Gamma; Canva works well too. A neat trick with Gamma: ask the AI to write the word-for-word, Gamma-ready prompt for your pack, then simply paste it in. Moments later you have a polished, on-brand document, ready to go.

Push it further (if you trust its instincts)

Your model now holds a comprehensive view of the role — it's even helped you shape it. So keep probing:

· What should we ask at interview to drill into the traits and characteristics we care about?
· Which businesses could we headhunt from to find this kind of person?

Take it as far as you find useful — though be aware that somewhere around here you start straying into territory where a more human touch tends to pay off.

Want a hand, or to see real examples?

We'll always help our clients build their job packs — it's a free add-on to what we do, not a bolt-on service. Pick our brains on anything above, any time.

We can't share client packs publicly, but we do have examples we're happy to walk you through privately. Just ask.

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