Right person for the right job

Put the right person in the right job when hiring, promoting or putting someone in charge of a project. Like many things this is easier said than done.

One effective practice is to ask a set of key questions to ensure the right person is matched to the right job.

Key Questions

Before hiring or promoting a person to a position it is helpful to ask these questions:

1. Does the job need doing?
2. What skills; abilities; knowledge and experiences are needed?
3. What tools and authorities are needed to accomplish the job?
4. Is the mission of the job clear to all? (The boss, the employee, others in the organization working with this employee.)

Related Best Practices

• Hiring and Interviewing
• Effective Job Descriptions
• Project Management Execution

Other Resources

• "Match Game", by Kevin Kern discusses best practices to match project needs and skills on IT jobs on the Projects at Work, a project management website.

Author

The author of this page is John Sund

John Sund has a wide variety of leadership and management experiences in private firms, public office and non-profits.

John has worked for five years in private law practice. He has seven years in the legislative arena: three years in a senior staff position and four years as an elected Representative in the Alaska legislature. He served as President and CEO of Waterfall Group; a company that managed a 60 room hotel, restaurant and bar, commercial retail property, air taxi and built and managed a large remote salt water fishing resort in southeast Alaska. For sixteen years he was a founding partner of Silver Lining Seafoods, officer, Board member and Vice President of NorQuest Seafoods, a seafood processing business that grew from a start up to sales over $100 million. He has also served on many public boards, commissions and non-profit organizations.

For the last decade, John has worked as President of Stellar North LLC, with small and medium size companies and non-profit organizations to develop solid strategic plans to build profitable and sustainable organizations.

Education:

• Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College: Juris Doctor LLB
• Western Washington University: B.A. History; B.A. Political Science; Education Certificate