You don’t lose your ideal candidate at the offer stage. You lose them when the opportunity doesn’t resonate, right from the job brief.
In digital transformation, speed and clarity are everything. Yet time and again, organisations miss the mark by scoping roles too loosely, miscommunicating expectations, or failing to align internally before going to market.
At Conexus, we support global organisations with digital transformation recruitment, across SAP, Salesforce, data, and change management, and we’ve seen how a well-crafted brief can significantly reduce time-to-hire, improve candidate quality, and set the stage for long-term success.
Whether you’re hiring for a business-critical digital transformation role or building out a new global tech function, the job brief is where success starts.
In this blog, we’ll show you how to write a clear, outcome-driven job brief that aligns your internal team, attracts high-quality candidates, and sets your hiring process up for success.
We’ll walk you through five key areas to focus on:
Start with business impact
Prioritise outcomes over tasks
Align internally before you go to market
Clarify non-negotiables
Benchmark against market reality
Why a Strategic Job Brief Matters
In fast-moving hiring landscapes like SAP and Salesforce, your job brief sets the tone for the entire search. It ensures alignment across internal stakeholders, speeds up shortlisting, and clarifies the opportunity for specialist candidates.
A vague or inflated brief can confuse candidates and create misalignment within your team, leading to delays, dropouts, and ultimately, the loss of top-tier digital talent. A strategic, outcome-focused brief positions your company as serious about transformation and gives your recruitment partner the clarity needed to deliver results efficiently.
1. Start With Business Impact
Don’t begin with a list of tasks. Anchor the role to your transformation goals.
Ask yourself:
What strategic programme or transformation initiative does this role support?
What are the measurable outcomes expected within the first 6–12 months?
How does this role fit into the broader digital roadmap or global IT structure?
Clear context allows specialist recruiters (and candidates) to understand the role’s value within the business.
2. Prioritise Outcomes Over Tasks
Strong briefs are result-led. What should this person achieve and not just what should they do?
Instead of:
“Support SAP integration across teams”
Try:
“Drive SAP S/4HANA rollout across EMEA, improving procurement efficiency by 20% within 9 months.”
Outcome-focused briefs help talent self-assess their suitability and give interviewers a clear direction for questioning.
3. Align Internally Before You Go to Market
Too often, briefs are shared before key stakeholders have signed off. This leads to miscommunication, shifting expectations mid-process, and conflicting feedback.
We recommend holding a short internal session covering:
Role objectives and deliverables
Salary benchmarking and flexibility
Remote or international work options
Hiring deadlines and team availability
When hiring globally or across multiple time zones, clarity around remote policies and timelines is particularly critical.
4. Clarify Non-Negotiables
Every role has ideal attributes, but not everything can be a dealbreaker.
Be honest about what’s essential versus what can be learned or developed on the job. For example:
Must the candidate have Salesforce CPQ experience?
Is global deployment experience non-negotiable?
Are English and German both required, or just preferred?
This clarity allows your recruitment partner to refine the search, often reducing time-to-shortlist by up to 40%.
5. Benchmark Against Market Reality
Even the strongest briefs can fall flat if they’re out of sync with market demand.
Ask yourself:
Is the skillset I’m looking for currently in high demand?
How do my salary and benefits compare to similar roles in this market?
Am I being realistic about location, language, and tech stack expectations?
At Conexus, we deliver bespoke Market Intelligence Reports and Talent Insights, covering global salary data, skills trends, and hiring activity, to help our partners stay competitive and make data-led decisions.
Better Briefs Lead to Better Hires
Hiring for transformation roles is challenging, but a clear, strategic brief will make your process faster, more consistent, and more effective.
It enables stronger candidate engagement, clearer internal alignment, and better hiring outcomes.
Not sure if your brief is market-ready?
Our global recruitment consultants can review it and advise on improvements, from skillset clarity to market competitiveness and international talent availability.
Ready to let our digital transformation recruitment experts help you find your perfect new hire?
Speak to the Conexus team today.
Email: info@conexusdx.com
Call: 029 2226 0100