The Hiring Leak | Article 0: The Role Spec Leak

I see it all the time: we hire brilliant people, and then… they stall. Not because they aren’t capable, but because the role itself is a fog. Responsibilities are vague. Expectations are assumed. The real problems the team needs solved? No one wrote them down.

I call this the Role Spec Leak.

Hiring Without Clarity

Hiring is treated like a checklist: post a job, review resumes, interview, offer. But the role itself is rarely defined.

Without clarity, everything else is guesswork:

• Resumes are judged against the wrong skills.
• Interviews focus on questions that don’t matter.
• “Culture fit” becomes the fallback metric instead of real impact.

It’s like buying a high-performance engine and dropping it into a car with no steering wheel. The talent is there, but nothing moves in the right direction.

How to Spot a Leaky Role

• Everyone describes the role differently.
• Outcomes aren’t measurable.
• Dependencies aren’t mapped — new hires bump into unseen roadblocks.
• Success is “subjective” rather than tangible.

Even the best candidate will struggle if the system itself is broken.

Fixing the Leak

The solution is simple: define the role as a system, not a title.

• Start with outcomes: What does success look like at 30, 60, 90 days — and at 6 and 12 months?
• Map dependencies: Who does this role interact with? Which systems or teams does it touch?
• Skills vs. behaviors: Focus on what the hire actually needs to accomplish, not just what’s on a resume.
• Clarify decision rights: What can they decide independently? What needs guidance?

A clear spec doesn’t just prevent friction — it makes your hires productive from day one.

💡 Takeaway:

A role without clarity leaks value before a single candidate even starts. Define it. Map it. Make it real. Otherwise, you’re pouring talent into a bucket with holes.