Overview
Based on Hire With Your Head by Lou Adler. Traditional JDs list requirements (skills, years of experience, degrees) but don't tell candidates what they'll actually do. Performance-based JDs flip the model: define what "great" looks like in 90 days and 1 year, then work backward to what's required. This filters for candidates who can deliver outcomes, not just match keywords.
Workflow
Step 1: Define the Performance Objective
Before writing a single word of the posting, answer: "What does this person need to accomplish in the first 90 days to be considered successful?"
Ask [hiring manager]:
- "If you hired someone today and they exceeded your expectations at 90 days, what would they have done?"
- "What's the one outcome that, if missing, would make this hire a failure?"
- "What does the person in this role own, end-to-end?"
Convert answers into 3-5 measurable performance objectives. Format:
- Within 90 days: [specific deliverable or outcome]
- Within 6 months: [milestone or capability reached]
- Within 12 months: [strategic outcome or ownership expanded]
Step 2: Write the Opening Hook
State the mission of the role, not the list of duties. Candidates skim - the opening determines whether they read further.
Bad: "We are looking for a Senior Engineer to join our growing team."
Good: "You'll own the data pipeline that powers every dashboard [your company] ships. In the first 90 days, you'll audit what exists, document what's missing, and ship the first version of the new ingestion layer."
Step 3: Structure the Job Description
# [Role Title] - [Your Company]
## The Role
[2-3 sentence mission. What does this person own? What's the impact?]
## What You'll Do (First 12 Months)
- [90-day outcome]
- [6-month outcome]
- [12-month outcome]
- [Ongoing responsibility 1]
- [Ongoing responsibility 2]
## What We're Looking For
[5-7 bullets. Lead with must-haves, end with nice-to-haves.
Each bullet states a capability, not a credential.
"Built and shipped X" beats "5 years of experience."]
## What We Offer
- Compensation: [$X - $Y base + equity/bonus structure]
- [Benefit 1]
- [Benefit 2]
- [Culture or growth differentiator]
## How to Apply
[Clear next step. Link or instruction. No paragraph of boilerplate.]
Step 4: Write the Requirements Section
Requirements should predict performance. For each requirement, ask: "Can someone without this still achieve the 90-day outcome?" If yes, it's a preference, not a requirement.
Format requirements as:
- Must-have: Can demonstrate [specific capability] through past examples
- Strong plus: Experience with [tool or domain] - not required but speeds ramp
Avoid:
- Years of experience minimums ("5+ years") - use capability statements instead
- Degree requirements unless genuinely role-critical
- Vague adjectives ("passionate", "self-starter", "team player")
Step 5: Calibrate on Seniority
Use the scope-ownership matrix to anchor level:
| Level | Scope | Ownership |
|---|
| Junior / IC | Defined tasks within a project | Executes with guidance |
| Mid | Full features or workstreams | Owns deliverable, escalates blockers |
| Senior | Cross-team outcomes | Owns outcome and unblocks others |
| Staff / Lead | Org-level capability | Sets direction, multiplies team |
Make sure the performance objectives match the level. A "Senior" JD with junior-level objectives will attract the wrong pool.
Step 6: Review Before Publishing
- Remove corporate jargon ("synergy", "dynamic", "fast-paced environment")
- Remove requirements that correlate with demographics, not performance
- Cut every bullet that isn't load-bearing - shorter JDs get more qualified applicants
- Add specific signals of the work environment: "We ship weekly", "No dedicated QA team", "You'll be the first in this function"
Anti-Patterns
1. Leading with company bio
Bad: "Founded in 2018, [your company] is a mission-driven SaaS company transforming the way teams collaborate..."
Good: Lead with the role's mission and impact. Save the company pitch for an "About Us" section at the bottom.
2. Requirements as a wishlist
Bad: "5+ years Python, experience with Kafka, Spark, Airflow, dbt, Snowflake, AWS, GCP, and strong communication skills..."
Good: 5-7 must-haves that directly predict the ability to hit the 90-day outcome.
3. Duties list masquerading as outcomes
Bad: "Responsible for writing code, attending standups, participating in code review, and collaborating with stakeholders."
Good: "Own the auth service - design, build, and maintain it. In 90 days, migrate it off the legacy monolith."
4. Vague compensation
Bad: "We offer a competitive compensation package."
Good: "$140,000 - $170,000 base depending on experience + 0.1-0.25% equity over 4 years."
5. Burying the interesting work
Bad: A wall of text where the most compelling work appears in paragraph 4.
Good: First 2-3 sentences are the hook. If they're not compelling, the rest won't be read.
Quality Checklist