Helping a Client Define a Brand-New Role Before the Search

When a client wants to hire for a role that has never existed, help them define it before you take the search. Agree on the problem the role solves, what success looks like in the first year, who it reports to, the budget, and how it will work with the people already there. A new role with fuzzy answers to those questions is the search most likely to stall, restart or end in a hire who doesn't last.

Why are brand-new roles risky searches?

With a replacement hire, there's a predecessor to compare against and a team that knows what the job involves. A new role has neither. The hiring manager may picture one job, the CEO another and the team a third. You find out when the first candidates interview and come back with three different descriptions of the job. By then you've spent weeks sourcing against the wrong target.

What questions help a client define a new role?

• What problem does this person solve? A missing skill, a workload nobody can absorb, a new market or a project that keeps slipping.
• What would make the first year a success? Two or three outcomes they could point to, not a list of duties.
• Who does it report to, and who does it work with every day? Look for overlap with existing roles, which causes friction early.
• What can the role decide on its own? Budget, hiring and priorities. Senior candidates will ask.
• What's the real budget? Base, bonus and any equity, compared with what the market pays for the scope they described.
• Could this be done another way? A contractor, a promotion or a part-time role may fit better. Saying so builds trust, even if it costs you a search.

How do you handle a budget that doesn't match the scope?

New roles often combine two jobs at one salary. Show the client, with examples of the kinds of people you could approach, what their budget buys and what the full scope costs. Then let them choose: raise the budget, narrow the scope or hire someone earlier in their career and plan to grow them. Settling this now is far easier than after candidates decline offers.

When are you ready to take the search?

When the client can describe the role in two sentences, everyone who will interview agrees with that description, and the budget fits the market. Write it up, have the hiring manager confirm it, then run a full intake using the job order intake checklist. If the answers are still moving, offer to stay close while they decide. That patience often wins the search later.

In identifyd, a role that's still being defined can sit at the JO Lead stage on your business development list until the client signs and you open the job order.

Can AI help you prepare?

An AI assistant can help you get ready for the conversation. Ask how similar companies usually structure the role, which titles are common for the scope the client described, and what a strong candidate would want to know about it. Treat the answers as a starting point for your conversation with the client, not as market data, and confirm anything important yourself.