A job spec can be an invaluable tool to help focus your recruitment on what really matters to you – right from the start of the search.

It doesn’t need to be a formal written document. An informal discussion with your recruiter in which you lay out the description you need can be equally effective. The main benefit to a job spec agreed with your recruiter is that it provides an objective measure throughout the recruitment process. Until you’ve sat down and made a list of the key criteria – the must haves and the would likes, it can often be difficult to picture your preferred candidate, both for you and your recruiter.

For analyst and associate recruitment – where the number of candidates which meet the general requirements is broad – this is especially important. On first thoughts your needs may appear universal and easily identifiable – e.g. good training in investment banking; exposure to private equity transactions; a commercial mindset; good modelling skills. But you might be surprised by just how specific your needs turn out to be once you and your recruiter start putting them to paper. And it is crucial your recruiter understands these needs to identify just the right person for you.

Think about what this person will be doing and how you expect their career to develop with you. If you’re recruiting to fill a two year analyst position, you’ll probably want to focus on the technical skills they’ll mostly employ – they need to be able to hit the ground running. If you’re thinking long term, then perhaps a few gaps in their current skill set might not be an issue, provided they demonstrate the longer term potential to grow within your business.

It’s a question of recruitment objectives.

The value of the job spec lies in your ability to track your thinking. After meeting a tremendous candidate everyone in the team likes, it can be tough to step back and assess honestly if they’ve ticked all the boxes you need. This is where the job spec is invaluable. Did they have the LBO modelling skills you decided from the start were essential? If not, they probably aren’t the right candidate for this position, no matter how much you liked them. It’s a valuable objective measure and allows you to benchmark effectively.

And not just your candidates. Equally an agreed job spec is a powerful tool to ensure your recruiter is identifying the right people. The more specific the requirements you list, the easier it is to judge if they’re finding candidates with the particular skills you want. There can be less room for misunderstanding and time wasted reviewing CVs or interviewing candidates that just aren’t quite right – both your time and the recruiter’s. It’s a fine quality control. You might even want to define a successful recruitment process by percentage of relevant high quality candidates interviewed, rather than simply placement itself. You might be surprised how well or otherwise the process is working. You’ll soon tell if the relationship with your recruiter is what you would expect it to be.

PER visited the leading business schools across Europe this autumn, including INSEAD, LBS and IESE, and some interesting themes have emerged. With all the uncertainty in the global markets and lack of M&A transactions in the past two years, there has been a flight to enrol in MBA programmes and there will be a talent bulge coming out in 2010 and 2011.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the PE clubs at all the business schools are thriving with record attendance. Interest in PE has rarely been higher as an increasing number of strong candidates consider private equity as a serious option, given that the traditional routes of investment banking and strategy consulting are limited. The major benefit to recruitment in PE today is that top calibre MBA candidates with backgrounds in consulting and industry are much better educated on the private equity sector than before.

So what impact has this had on the chances of finding good candidates at the business schools? There is talent to be found, but the pool of star candidates with suitable backgrounds is still limited. 

Spotting the top performers with good transaction exposure and relevant industry experience is a major challenge year on year. Many of the 2010 MBA class did not work on a transaction in 2008. And an MBA candidate with a lack of deal experience will not meet your expectations compared to MBA candidates from previous years.

Another theme counting against MBA recruitment is a long familiar one: the best candidates already have offers from either their employers who sponsored their MBA, from banks or consulting firms who offer early in the year or from their internships. The best candidates will always have options.  You may need to consider paying sign-on bonuses to help with student loans as many of the leading banks and consulting firms do. Simply put, they’re more expensive to prise free.

On the bright side, now may be a good time to pick up associate and mid level stars with prior PE experience. The 2009/10 classes contain some impressive candidates who applied for their MBA in the better times of 2006/07 when it was unimaginable they wouldn’t find a new position on graduation. These candidates did two year analyst programmes in leading funds and were highly regarded with good transaction experience, but with headcount at a premium, there simply hasn’t been a chance for them to return.

They’re having to keep their options open and many are considering something a bit more entrepreneurial or in a different part of the market – perhaps at a smaller deal size.  These could provide some useful experience.