Capability template for recruiting and hiring
Job description
A hiring manager’s rough notes become a job description the right people want to answer: why the role exists, the work itself, and only the must-haves that are real. Your approved pay and employer wording go in untouched, and nothing is posted until the hiring manager and the people lead approve it.
The outcome
The people you most want to hear from read the first lines and recognize a real job: why it exists, what they would do all day, and what a good first year looks like. The list of must-haves is short enough to believe, because each one is tied to a line of the work. A manager with a team to run gets there in an afternoon, with last year’s recycled posting left in the drawer. That is how a growing company hires like one ten times its size.
It is a description of a role and nothing more. It is never an offer to anyone and never the terms of anyone’s employment. It assesses no one. Pay and employer wording stay with the people who own them, and the hiring manager and the people lead decide what goes out.
Who starts the work, and when
The hiring manager starts it, as soon as a role is approved to fill or an old role reopens. The people lead, HR lead or recruiter reads the result beside the hiring manager. Both approve it, and then a person posts it. It also suits a role that has been open too long with few replies, where the old description goes in as one of the inputs.
What they supply
- The hiring manager’s notes, however rough: why the role is needed now, what the person will do, what good looks like after 90 days and after a year, and what the manager believes is needed.
- The role facts: title, team, who it reports to, location, hours and working pattern.
- The approved pay range, from whoever owns pay. If it is not ready, the description marks the gap.
- Your approved employer wording: the paragraph about the company, the benefits list, the equal-opportunity statement, the wording on adjustments for applicants, and how to apply.
- Any earlier description of the role, if there is one.
What comes out
One job description in a fixed order: why the role exists, the work, what success looks like, what you need, the team, what we offer and how to apply. It is addressed to the reader and stays inside the length you set.
Review notes come with it, for the two people who approve. They list every requirement that was moved or reworded and why, every phrase that was flagged, the open questions for each person, and where each section came from. Where an input was missing there is a marked gap, never a guess. The status line reads “Draft for approval. Not posted.”
An invented example
Illustrative example with invented data. Tallowmere Fabrication, its people, its figures and every word of its notes and employer wording below are invented. It is an invented 85-person metal fabrication shop that has never had a production scheduler. Its operations manager has approval to hire one and typed some notes between shifts.
The inputs come first, in full, so the template can be run on them. The job description and its review notes follow.
The inputs
1. The hiring manager's notes
Typed by the operations manager, as supplied.
Need a production scheduler. Right now I build the weekly schedule myself
on Sunday nights in a spreadsheet and it's wrong by Tuesday. 3 lines -
laser, press brake, weld - 2 shifts. Late jobs went up since we took on
the trailer-parts customer in spring. On-time delivery was 81% last
quarter, we promise customers 95.
Person would own the weekly + daily schedule, run the 7:15 production
meeting, chase material shortages with purchasing, tell customer service
early when a job will slip, keep routings and run times in the ERP up to
date.
Want: rockstar scheduler, 10+ yrs manufacturing, bachelor's degree,
5 years on our ERP system, Excel wizard, young and energetic, must be a
culture fit, thick skin, forklift license, lean six sigma black belt, can
read drawings, must handle fast-paced environment. Good communicator.
Someone like Dennis who retired.
Success: by 3 months they build the schedule without me and the Sunday
spreadsheet is dead. By a year on-time delivery is 95 and overtime is
down.
Reports to me. Works with 2 shift supervisors, purchasing lead, customer
service (3). First scheduler we've had.
2. The role facts
From the people lead, 3 November 2026.
Title: Production Scheduler
Team: Operations
Reports to: Operations manager
Location: On site at the plant
Hours: Monday to Friday, 6:30 am to 3:00 pm
Type: Full-time, permanent
Travel: None
3. The approved pay range
From the finance lead, who owns pay.
$62,000 to $74,000 a year. Approved 2 November 2026.
4. The approved employer wording
From the people lead. To be used exactly as written.
About the company:
Tallowmere Fabrication cuts, forms and welds steel parts for makers of
trailers, farm equipment and building products. We are 85 people on one
site, family-owned since 1988.
Benefits:
Health, dental and vision cover from the first of the month after you
start. 401(k) with a 4% match. 15 days of paid time off and 9 paid
holidays. $200 a year toward safety boots and glasses.
Equal-opportunity statement:
Tallowmere Fabrication is an equal opportunity employer. We consider
every applicant on their ability to do the work.
Adjustments for applicants:
(not supplied)
How to apply:
Send a resume, or a short note about the schedules you have run, to
jobs@tallowmere.example by 4 December 2026.
5. The settings
Must-have limit: 5
Length limit: 500 words
Prepared for: Operations manager
Approves: Operations manager and people lead
Today's date: 9 November 2026
The output
JOB DESCRIPTION: Production Scheduler
Status: Draft for approval. Not posted.
Prepared for: Operations manager. Approves: Operations manager and
people lead. Date: 9 November 2026.
Production Scheduler, Operations
Tallowmere Fabrication · On site, Monday to Friday, 6:30 am to 3:00 pm ·
$62,000 to $74,000 a year
Tallowmere Fabrication cuts, forms and welds steel parts for makers of
trailers, farm equipment and building products. We are 85 people on one
site, family-owned since 1988.
Why this role exists
Our operations manager builds the weekly schedule alone, in a
spreadsheet, on Sunday night, and by Tuesday it is wrong. Since we took
on a trailer-parts customer in the spring, more jobs have run late:
on-time delivery was 81% last quarter, against the 95% we promise. We
need one person who owns the schedule every day. You would be our first
scheduler.
The work
- You will own the weekly and daily schedule for three lines (laser,
press brake and weld) across two shifts.
- You will run the 7:15 production meeting.
- You will chase material shortages with purchasing.
- You will tell customer service early when a job is going to slip.
- You will keep routings and run times in our ERP system up to date.
What success looks like
In the first 90 days: you build the schedule without the operations
manager, and the Sunday spreadsheet is retired.
In the first year: on-time delivery is 95%, and overtime is down.
What you need
Must have:
- You have built and kept a production schedule for a manufacturing
shop with several lines and more than one shift.
- You can keep routings and run times accurate in an ERP system.
- You can read drawings.
- You tell people plainly and early when a job will be late.
Helpful, not required:
- Confidence with spreadsheets.
- A Lean Six Sigma black belt.
How you work:
- You speak up early when a plan is going to slip.
- You chase a shortage with the people who can fix it.
The team
You report to the operations manager. You work with two shift
supervisors, the purchasing lead and a customer service team of three.
[Team size today: to be supplied by the operations manager]
What we offer
Pay: $62,000 to $74,000 a year
Benefits: Health, dental and vision cover from the first of the month
after you start. 401(k) with a 4% match. 15 days of paid time off and 9
paid holidays. $200 a year toward safety boots and glasses.
Location and hours: On site at the plant, Monday to Friday, 6:30 am to
3:00 pm. Full-time, permanent. No travel.
How to apply
Send a resume, or a short note about the schedules you have run, to
jobs@tallowmere.example by 4 December 2026.
Tallowmere Fabrication is an equal opportunity employer. We consider
every applicant on their ability to do the work.
[Adjustments for applicants: wording to be supplied by the people lead]
REVIEW NOTES (remove before posting)
Changes to requirements: 7
1. "10+ yrs manufacturing" became "You have built and kept a production
schedule for a manufacturing shop with several lines and more than
one shift". The count of years is restated as what the person must
be able to do. Supports owning the weekly and daily schedule.
Operations manager to confirm.
2. "5 years on our ERP system" became "You can keep routings and run
times accurate in an ERP system". Years with one tool, restated as
the ability. Supports keeping routings and run times up to date. See
question 5. Operations manager to confirm.
3. "Excel wizard" moved to Helpful, as "Confidence with spreadsheets".
The Sunday spreadsheet is to be retired, and no line of the work
depends on one. Operations manager to confirm.
4. "bachelor's degree" is left out. No line of the work depends on it.
Operations manager to confirm, or to say which line needs it.
5. "forklift license" is left out. No line of the work involves driving
a forklift, and the notes do not say a law or a customer's rule
requires one. Operations manager to confirm.
6. "lean six sigma black belt" moved to Helpful. No line of the work
depends on it. Operations manager to confirm.
7. "Good communicator" became "You tell people plainly and early when a
job will be late". Supports running the 7:15 meeting and telling
customer service early. Operations manager to confirm.
Kept as written: 1
1. "can read drawings", a must-have. Taken to support keeping routings
and run times up to date. Operations manager to confirm.
Must-haves: 4, against a limit of 5.
Length: 431 words, against a limit of 500.
Wording check: 7 flagged
1. "rockstar": removed. A label that says nothing about the work.
2. "wizard", in "Excel wizard": removed. A label. The ability behind it
is change 3.
3. "young and energetic": removed, with nothing in its place. It refers
to age. Flagged for the people lead.
4. "must be a culture fit": removed. It names no behavior. See
question 2.
5. "must handle fast-paced environment": removed. The fact behind it,
three lines across two shifts, is in the first line of The work.
6. "thick skin": removed. It names no behavior, and the notes do not
say what was meant. See question 2.
7. "Someone like Dennis who retired": not used. A wish for someone like
a named person is not a requirement, and the description names no
employee. See question 6. Flagged for the people lead, because it
mentions retirement.
Open questions
For the operations manager:
1. The description gives last quarter's on-time figure, 81%, and the
95% you promise customers, because your notes give them as the
reason for the role and the measure of success. It also says late
jobs rose after a trailer-parts customer came on, without naming the
customer. May applicants, and any customer who sees the posting,
read these?
2. "Culture fit" and "thick skin": which behaviors do you mean? Name
them and they can go under How you work.
3. How many people are in the Operations team today? A marked gap shows
where the number goes.
4. "Overtime is down": do you want a figure, or should the direction
stand?
5. Which ERP system is it, and may the posting name it? Would you train
a capable scheduler on it?
6. "Someone like Dennis": what did that person do that this role needs?
7. Please confirm changes 1 to 7 and the requirement kept as written.
For the people lead:
1. No wording on adjustments for applicants was supplied. Please supply
the approved wording. A marked gap shows where it goes.
2. "Young and energetic" and a reference to a person who retired were
in the hiring manager's notes. Neither is in the draft.
3. Does any law or customer's rule require a forklift license for this
role? The notes do not say so.
Sources
- Why this role exists, The work, What success looks like, What you need,
The team: the operations manager's notes.
- Title, team, location, hours, type, travel: role facts from the people
lead, 3 November 2026.
- Pay: the finance lead's range, approved 2 November 2026, copied
exactly without the approval date.
- Company paragraph, benefits, how to apply, equal-opportunity statement:
approved employer wording, copied exactly.
Not in this draft: any wording on adjustments (a gap for the people
lead); the size of the Operations team (a gap for the operations
manager); the name of a past employee (left out). Nothing was declined.
Nothing has been posted or sent.
The operations manager answers the questions, the people lead supplies the missing wording, and both approve before a person posts the description. The review notes come off first.
Where it fits
- Recruiting and hiring, where a role opens faster than anyone can write it up well.
- People and HR, which owns the employer wording and reads every description before it goes out.
- Professional services, where the work is judgment and a list of duties undersells it.
- Software technology, where requirement lists grow long and tool names crowd out ability.
- Manufacturing, where a supervisor writes the posting between shifts.
- Hospitality, where managers hire often and the same posting has been copied for years.
- Growth & scaling, when roles open every month and many of them are new to the company.
What has to change for your company
Name who owns pay and who owns the employer wording, and say where the approved versions live. Set your limit on must-haves, your section order, your length and your house style. Keep your own list of phrases to flag. Name who approves a description and who posts it, and where.
What the law asks of a posting differs from place to place, and that question stays with your people lead and your advisers. The template carries your approved wording exactly as you supply it. It does not judge it, add to it or stand in for it.
What has been checked
Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template, drawing on two openly licensed methods that are credited in its sources. It was editorially reviewed on 9 November 2026. It has not yet been tested in a client environment. It has not yet been tested as a packaged version in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini.
Testing in your environment means running it on roles you have already filled, where the hiring manager knows what the work turned out to be, plus hard cases written in advance: notes with twelve must-haves, no pay range, a phrase about age, a request to suggest a salary. The hiring manager checks every line of the work against the real role, and the people lead checks that the employer wording arrived untouched. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up, and what we test before we call an AI workflow ready describes the record we keep.
The full capability template
Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.
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Next step
Bring a real piece of this work to a call. We’ll walk through what it takes to fit this capability to your rules, prove it on your work and put it in the hands of the roles that own it.