Person-Job Fit

Person-job fit denotes the extent of compatibility between a person and a job, i.e. to what extent does a person have potential to satisfy a job’s requirements and to what extent does the job have potential to meet the needs and expectations of the person.

Checking person-job fit before a particular person is assigned to a particular job is of utmost importance. A job can only be executed successfully if the person doing it possesses the right set of competencies for it. Also, the job needs to have characteristics that provide the person with enough motivation to strive towards the delivery of a superior performance on the job. So, a combination of competencies and motivation is the secret of success on a job. Existence of competencies determines whether a person is fit for a job. Existence of motivational factors determines whether a job is fit for a person.

When assessing whether a person is suitable for a job or not, we first check all the requirements associated with the job – what’s the relevance of the job, what all tasks need to be accomplished as part of the job, what are particular competencies required for executing the job and which of those competencies are essential ones and which are desirable ones. Competencies include knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes that a person must possess. Existence of essential competencies enables a person to execute the job, whereas the presence of desirable competencies along with the essential ones enables him to carry out the job in a far more effective and superior manner. Now, all these requirements can be ascertained through job analysis and job description techniques. The next step is to assess whether the potential candidate has all those competencies needed to meet the job requirements? This can be checked through various assessment techniques, like interview, psychometric tests, assessment centres etc.

When evaluating the job’s suitability for a particular person, first it’s crucial to determine what does that person want from a job? Is he looking for growth, or challenge, or recognition, or reward or autonomy or a combination of these factors? In brief, what are the factors that motivate this person to perform his best? Once those factors are determined, we need to take a look at the job and see whether this job has scope for providing all these factors? Is the job challenging enough if the person is looking for challenge? Does the job provide ample learning opportunities for a growth-seeking person? Are the monetary rewards associated with the job enough to motivate a person keen on rewards? These details about job can again be gathered through job analysis and job description and also through consultation with organization’s HR department and senior management who are knowledgeable about the job.

It’s a wise step to do a person-job fit analysis before a particular person is assigned to a particular job, since it greatly minimizes the chances of poor performance on the job, chances of generating dissatisfied and demotivated employees, and the scope of rework that leads to wastage of time, effort and money.