Say you are recruiting for a critical vacancy.

I’d be surprised if you haven’t scoped out your requirement for the role as it stands – objective, strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats.

I trust you’ll have identified what will happen if you don’t fill it. Which should dictate your urgency around any compromises you may need to make.

You’ll likely have a job description. Is it accurate and representative?

You must have an ideal candidate in mind, so that your recruitment process is geared around attracting them rather than pushing them away. Salary, package, workflows, interview process etc – all are key in hiring the best people.

You should know where they are likely to be found, whether it’s advertising, referral, agency or other.

But have you assessed the 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 of your role?

What does it look like in two years’ time? Or when your short-term objectives have been reached?

Say the role starts in change mode, what does it look like when those changes are done and dusted? Will there be more changes, to drive or does it move to maintenance mode? In what time frame?

How about when you hire that superstar who was on the up and up? Can you sustain their commitment and interest, once they have outgrown the original role?

Trajectory is one of the key aspects of stickability, if you need your next critical hire to contribute over the long term.

If you wonder why some of your perfect hires haven’t worked out, after what seemed an effective honeymoon period, this may well be the answer:

Good person, wrong trajectory.

If a vacancy is a critical as you say it is, may sure you analyse forensically your needs and trajectory before you kick your recruitment off.