Quick context, why now?

• Tell me in one paragraph what triggered this hiring surge and the timeline you're facing.
• How many permanent hires does your organization average per year, and how many do you expect this year? Options: Under 500, 500–1,000, 1,001–5,000, Over 5,000, Unsure / prefer not to say
• Which roles and job families are driving the majority of the current open requisitions? Options: Sales / Revenue, Engineering / R&D, Product / Design, Customer Success / Support, Operations / Supply Chain, Finance / Accounting, HR / Talent, Legal / Compliance, Other
• Walk me through a recent high-priority requisition from intake to offer, noting where delays or quality losses happened.
• Who owns requisition intake and prioritization today, and who will sign off on changes to that process? Options: Head of Talent/TA, Hiring manager, HR Business Partner, Chief People Officer / CHRO, Shared committee, Procurement

If leadership demanded a quick win, what would we need to change?

• If a board member demanded a measurable hiring improvement in 90 days, which metric would you need to move to keep them satisfied? Options: Time-to-fill for critical roles, Offer acceptance rate, Quality of hire (first-year retention/performance), Cost-per-hire, SLA compliance for requisition response
• Which recurring bottleneck most often causes requisitions to age past target time-to-fill? Options: Intake and prioritization, Sourcing volume, Screening throughput, Hiring manager availability, Interview scheduling, Offer approvals
• How often do candidate quality issues surface after hire, and can you share an example where a hire missed expectations? Options: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Rarely, Not tracked
• When your internal team is overwhelmed, which steps are skipped or done superficially? Options: Sourcing depth, Behavioral screening, Reference checks, Interview score calibration, Onboarding handoff
• Estimate the downstream costs or business impacts these hiring failures create in the next 3–6 months. Options: Lost revenue from open roles, Manager time remediating poor hires, Overuse of contingency agencies, Project delays / missed milestones, Re-hire costs

If volume spikes, where will the operation break?

• If hiring volume doubled next quarter, which part of the process would fail first? Options: Requisition intake and prioritization, Sourcing pipeline, Screening capacity, Recruiter coordination with hiring managers, Offer processing and approvals
• How many recruiters are currently embedded in hiring teams, and how many hires does one recruiter manage monthly?
• Describe your current recruiter staffing model, including sourcing, screening, and coordination roles.
• Point to the geographies or legal jurisdictions that add the most complexity to scaling recruitment. Options: US (Federal/state variations), EU / EEA (data/privacy), UK, APAC (local labor laws), LATAM, Multi-region with local counsel required, Other
• Give the timeline you would need for the first 50 hires versus the next 200 in a ramp scenario. Options: 0–4 weeks for 50, 4–12 weeks for next 200, 4–8 weeks for 50, 8–16 weeks for next 200, 8–12 weeks for 50, 12–24 weeks for next 200, Custom, please describe

Who signs, who blocks, and who makes it work?

• Who will sign the final contract, and who needs to be convinced before that happens? Options: CHRO / CPO, Head of TA, CFO, CEO, Procurement, Legal
• List the leaders who will be involved in operational handover and day-to-day collaboration with embedded recruiters. Options: Head of TA, Hiring managers, HRBP, IT / ATS admin, Talent Operations, Other
• When there's a recruitment problem, what is the notification and escalation path? Options: Recruiter -> TA Lead -> Hiring Manager, Recruiter -> Hiring Manager -> TA Lead, Recruiter -> Operations -> Legal/Compliance, Custom escalation, please describe
• Identify the SLA terms that are non-negotiable for your procurement and legal teams. Options: Data privacy and handling, Time-to-fill targets, Recruiter headcount / coverage, Termination and ramp-down clauses, Indemnities / liability limits
• Please name any internal sponsors who have committed time or resources to enable this change.

If a pilot proved results quickly, what would close the deal?

• What single measurable outcome, shown in a 6-week pilot, would get you to sign a longer engagement that week? Options: Reduce time-to-fill by X days (specify), Improve offer acceptance rate to Y%, Hit first 50 hires within target window, Demonstrate cost-per-hire improvement
• List the KPIs you already track closely for recruiting performance and weekly reporting. Options: Time-to-fill, Time-to-hire, Offer acceptance rate, Quality of hire (retention/performance), Cost-per-hire, SLA compliance
• How do your leaders define acceptable time-to-fill for critical, revenue-impacting roles? Options: Under 2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 4–8 weeks, Depends on role, please specify
• Tell me the most common reason SLAs are met but hiring managers still complain.
• Assuming the pilot hits targets, what internal approvals would still be required before contract execution? Options: Procurement signoff, Legal review, Executive sponsor approval, Budget owner approval, None / ready to proceed

The other options you're weighing

• Name the alternative option that would keep you from changing suppliers, and explain why.
• Point to the incumbent or internal approach that currently gives you the most confidence, and tell us what satisfies you about it.
• Has anyone on your leadership team proposed solving this using existing headcount rather than an outside partner? Options: Yes, Talent team proposed it, Yes, Hiring managers proposed it, No one has proposed in-house only, Unsure / ongoing discussion
• Describe the conditions that would have to hold for you to stay with your current recruiting approach instead of switching.
• For a blended model that keeps some internal activities, point to the parts you would insist remain in-house. Options: Interviewing and final decision, Offer negotiation and approvals, Onboarding handoff, Employer brand / messaging, None — open to outsourcing more

Integration, data, and legal gates we must clear

• Identify any technical, legal, or compliance gate that would stop a go-live if unresolved.
• Name the category of ATS or applicant tracking workflow you use, and list the admin contacts who can grant access. Options: Cloud ATS with APIs, On-premise ATS, limited APIs, Custom ATS / homegrown, Multiple ATS instances across regions
• Are your requisition, offer, and candidate data clean, consistently formatted, and accessible via API or SFTP? Options: Yes, API accessible and clean, Yes, accessible but needs cleaning, Accessible only via manual exports, No, data is fragmented or restricted
• Please identify the person or team that would own technical integration work, and state how many hours per week they can commit during an eight-week ramp.
• Are there any regulatory approvals, local works councils, or privacy reviews that typically add more than four weeks to your hiring projects? Options: Yes, major approvals required, Yes, minor regional reviews, No, typically no major approvals, Unsure / needs legal input
• What single missing integration, permission, or legal approval would force us to pause or decline this engagement?

Timeline, pilot, and decision blockers

• Assuming a pilot proves our numbers, what internal or external blockers would prevent you from signing a contract that same week?
• Share your target go-live window and list any immovable dates within it. Options: Within 4 weeks, 4–8 weeks, 8–12 weeks, Next quarter or later, Immovable date(s) listed below
• How quickly can your ATS admin grant integration access once requested? Options: Within 48 hours, 3–7 days, 1–2 weeks, Longer than 2 weeks
• Estimate which internal approval takes the longest and how many days it usually adds.
• Outline the rapid decision process you would expect to activate if a critical blocker emerges during ramp.

Acceptance criteria and the quickest path to yes

• Confirm the person or role that has authority to sign within seven days if the pilot meets agreed KPIs. Options: CHRO / CPO, Head of TA, CFO, CEO, Procurement with delegated authority, Other
• Are there any contractual terms that would require executive approval beyond procurement's signoff, and if so, please name them. Options: Termination clauses, Liability / indemnity, Data processing agreements / privacy, Ramp/scale financial clauses, None
• State the earliest realistic date you could sign if the pilot shows target improvements.
• Provide the names and roles to include on a one-page pilot scope and success criteria document to speed approvals.
• Finally, are there budget cycles or financial approvals that will force decisions into the next quarter? Options: Yes, next budget cycle, No, funds are available now, Partial — some funds available, Unsure / need finance input

• Solution Experience Session

• Confirm the current state and its cost to your team
• You confirm the demonstrated intake-to-offer workflow eliminates the backlog and manual handoffs you described.
• Provide a sample set of recent requisitions and the current ATS time-to-fill report for the proof scenario.
• Run a sample time-to-fill and cost-per-hire forecast using the provided requisition data and deliver the comparison before the follow-up session.
• Agree target operational outcomes
• You agree on concrete time-to-fill and cost-per-hire targets that will define success for a pilot.
• Proof step, recruiter embedding in your intake-to-offer flow
• You and the seller agree the remaining evidence required and a pilot scope and timeline to validate outcomes.
• Confirm the decision-making timeline and list of stakeholders who will evaluate the pilot results.
• Proof step, ATS integration and measurement
• Validate this maps to what you described
• Agree next evidence and pilot scope

• Solution Experience Session
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Embed Dedicated Recruiting Team
• Configure Buyer ATS and Workflows
• Import and Reconcile Candidate Records into ATS
• Requisition Intake and Lifecycle Management
• Job Advertising Campaign Management
• Targeted Candidate Sourcing and Outreach
• Screening and Phone Interviewing
• Manage Interview Coordination and Panel Support
• Offer Management and Negotiation
• Onboarding Handoff and Hiring Manager Package
• Recruiter Brand Immersion and Training
• Recruiting Analytics and SLA Reporting
• Rapid Volume Ramp and Scale Support

Embed Dedicated Recruiting Team

• Which hiring roles (job family and level) should the embedded recruiter team own from day one (provide job family names and seniority levels)?
• How many full-time equivalent recruiters, sourcers, and coordinators do you expect on site or embedded per 100 open requisitions? Options: 0-1 per 100, 1-2 per 100, 2-4 per 100, Custom ratio
• Who will be the named hiring manager partners for the embedded team during ramp (list names or roles and their primary contact method)?
• What recruiter-to-hiring-manager ratio do you require for revenue-generating roles (e.g., 1:6 for sales AE roles)? Options: 1:3, 1:5, 1:6, Custom ratio
• Provide the expected weekly capacity per recruiter in hours for sourcing, candidate screening, and coordination (separate by activity)
• Which background check or assessment vendors must embedded team workflows trigger as part of screening for each role family?
• Which operational tasks do you expect us to own versus keep with your TA team (requisition intake, offer negotiation, interview scheduling, vendor management)? Options: We expect you to handle all listed tasks, Shared model - split by task, We keep most operational tasks

Configure Buyer ATS and Workflows

• Which applicant tracking system (ATS) do you use as the source of truth for requisition and candidate statuses (include version and any custom objects)?
• What exact ATS field mappings must be created before go-live (example: requisition ID, hiring manager, status, source, offer status)?
• Do you want us to provision API credentials and an integration user for the integration endpoint to perform writes and status updates? Options: Yes, we will provide API user, No, only CSV imports allowed, We need help creating integration user
• Which existing ATS workflows should be preserved verbatim and which should be retired (list workflow names and reason)?
• What is the maximum allowed time between our status update and the ATS reflecting that update (desired sync latency in minutes)? Options: Near real-time (under 5 minutes), Under 30 minutes, Daily batch
• What acceptance criteria will confirm ATS configuration is complete (for example: 100% of active job templates mapped, webhook test success, and recruiter write-permissions validated)?

Import and Reconcile Candidate Records into ATS

• How many candidate records, by status (active, offer, archived), need to be imported or reconciled into the ATS? Options: Less than 1,000, 1,000-10,000, More than 10,000
• Which data sources contain candidate records to migrate (legacy ATS export, spreadsheets, sourcing platform exports) and provide file formats?
• What data quality threshold must be met after reconciliation (for example: 95% unique candidate dedupe rate and 98% required-field completeness)? Options: 90%+, 95%+, 99%+
• Which candidate fields are required to be preserved during import (at minimum: name, email, phone, source, resume PDF, interview history)?
• Who will own the final reconciliation sign-off and what evidence should they review (name and role of owner and documents to review)?
• What acceptance evidence will validate the import and reconciliation is successful (for example: reconciliation report, sample candidate audit of 100 records showing <2% mismatch)?

Requisition Intake and Lifecycle Management

• What requisition intake form fields must be mandatory in your intake workflow (example: job description ID, compensation band, cost center, hiring manager, business justification)?
• Which approval steps exist in your current requisition lifecycle and who are the approvers by role (list role names and typical SLA for each approver)?
• What is the target time-to-approve for new requisitions (in business days) during steady-state and during peak hiring? Options: 1 business day, 2-3 business days, 4-7 business days, Custom
• How should we tag or categorize requisitions for prioritization (examples: critical revenue role, replacement hire, strategic growth)?
• Where should we store job description templates and who owns updates to the job description library?
• Which lifecycle events must trigger automated notifications (example: requisition approved, candidate moved to interview, offer extended) and to which distribution lists?

Job Advertising Campaign Management

• Which external channels should campaigns run on (career site, job boards, social channels, employee referral portal) and which require separate creative?
• What budget allocation or media spend constraints exist per campaign or job family (monthly or per-hire limits)? Options: No specific budget, Set per-campaign budget, Centralized media budget
• Which employer brand assets must be used in campaigns (career site copy, logo files, hiring manager bios, employee testimonial videos)?
• How do you want applicant source tracked for paid campaign conversions in the ATS (UTM parameters, tracked landing pages, manual source tag)? Options: UTM tracking, Landing page redirects, Manual tagging
• What campaign performance KPIs should trigger a campaign change (example: click-through rate under X, application-per-click below Y)?
• Which approval workflow must paid job ads follow before launch and who signs off on creative and spend?

Targeted Candidate Sourcing and Outreach

• Which candidate pools require targeted sourcing (passive senior engineers, sales quotas, niche compliance roles) and what response rate do you expect?
• What sourcing channels should we prioritize for outreach (LinkedIn, niche communities, internal referrals, alumni networks)?
• What message templates or outreach sequences are pre-approved for use and where are they stored (provide folder or doc link location)? Options: We have templates ready, Templates need review and approval, We need us to create templates
• How many outbound touches per candidate are acceptable before pausing outreach (number of messages and channels)? Options: 1-2 touches, 3-5 touches, More than 5
• Which sourcing metrics should be reported weekly (response rate, pipeline conversion, time from first outreach to phone screen)?
• Who owns consent and privacy compliance for outreach lists and which data source governs allowed contact frequency?

Screening and Phone Interviewing

• Which screening criteria must be applied on phone screens for each role family (mandatory qualifications, red flags, expected salary band)?
• Provide the standard phone-screen questionnaire or indicate if we should use our template and where the canonical JD resides. Options: You provide questionnaire, Use our standard template, Co-create during kickoff
• How long should an initial phone screen be (minutes) and what fields must be captured in the ATS screening form? Options: 15 minutes, 20-30 minutes, Custom
• Which interview evaluation rubric or scorecard must be used for screens and where is it stored?
• Who will be the escalation contact if a screener identifies a compliance or background issue during screening?
• Should phone screens include routine checks (right-to-work, minimum notice period) and which exact phrasing do you require? Options: Yes include checks, No, we handle these later, Include only right-to-work

Manage Interview Coordination and Panel Support

• Which calendar systems should interview scheduling integrate with and what scheduling windows are preferred for hiring managers?
• What is the maximum permissible time between candidate availability and booked interview (in business days)? Options: 1 business day, 2 business days, 3-5 business days
• List standard panel compositions for common roles (e.g., hiring manager + peer + technical lead) and required panel members by role.
• Which interview kits or question banks must be attached to panel invites and where are they stored?
• Who approves changes to panel membership for critical roles and what is the approval SLA?
• Which candidate prep materials should be provided before interviews (role brief, travel instructions, panel bios) and what delivery channel do you prefer? Options: Email, ATS candidate portal, SMS

Offer Management and Negotiation

• What is your standard offer approval matrix (levels of compensation authority by role or approver) and where is it documented?
• Which compensation bands and target total rewards must offers adhere to for each job family?
• Do you want us to lead negotiation with candidates up to a defined threshold (specify dollar or percentage limits)? Options: Yes, up to defined threshold, No, we escalate all negotiations, Partial authority - define by role
• What offer letter templates and legal clauses must be used and where are the master templates stored?
• How quickly must an offer be extended after verbal approval (hours) and which stakeholders must be copied on the offer email? Options: Under 4 hours, Same business day, Next business day
• Which background check, drug screen, or reference checks are gating conditions before offer acceptance is fully approved?

Onboarding Handoff and Hiring Manager Package

• Which onboarding artifacts must be delivered to the hiring manager at handoff (new hire checklist, offer packet, interview notes, first 30/90 day plan)?
• What is the required format for the hiring manager package (PDF, ATS link, shared drive folder) and where should it be stored for access? Options: PDF via email, ATS record link, Shared drive folder
• Who on your team will own the post-acceptance onboarding tasks and what are their contact details?
• Which HR or security systems must be notified automatically on hire (payroll, badge access, IT provisioning) and provide integration endpoints if available?
• Within how many business days after offer acceptance should the hiring manager package be delivered? Options: Same day, 1 business day, 2-3 business days

• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Pricing and Commercial Schedule
• Ramp & Scale Addendum
• Operational Handover and Transition Agreement
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Regulatory Compliance Addendum (conditional)
• Change Order Agreement
• Termination and Exit Management Agreement

• Go-live Health Check (Week 1-4)
• First KPI Measurement (Week 4-10)
• Acceptance Gate Review (Day ~90)
• Operational Monthly Check-in (Ongoing, monthly for initial 3 months)
• Quarterly Business Review — Realization and Enhancements

• Produce one-month forecast for time-to-fill and hires pipeline incorporating agreed corrective actions.
• Remediation plan and verification checkpoints scheduled for any unmet criteria.
• Publish the acceptance decision record including per-criterion pass/fail and the buyer signatory.
• Execute the incumbent decommissioning or retention plan and archive or migrate legacy recruiting data per agreed schedule.
• Create the remediation task list with dates for verification and link to the shared dashboard.
• KPI exception review
• Operational issues are reduced or assigned concrete closure dates to remove KPI blockers.
• Enhancement requests triaged and short-term work scheduled where it impacts KPIs.
• Confirm the next month's actions that move metrics toward the Solution Scope targets.
• Update the issue burn-down board and publish status before the next check-in.
• Reconfirm success criteria and owners
• Log prioritized enhancement requests with expected delivery windows.
• Executive KPI summary against Solution Scope
• Validate realized outcomes for core metrics against Solution Scope targets and record any remaining gaps.
• Agree and schedule the prioritized enhancement roadmap for the next quarter.
• Ensure SLA exceptions have clear mitigation plans and verification checkpoints.
• Publish the quarterly KPI deck with trend analysis and identified root causes.
• Finalize the prioritized enhancement roadmap and publish expected delivery windows.
• Document SLA exception resolutions and schedule verification checks for closure.
• All named operational owners confirmed and contact points recorded.
• Critical deployment blockers identified, logged, and scheduled for remediation within agreed timelines.
• Baseline adoption signals captured for comparison at the first measurement meeting.
• Publish go-live health summary including confirmed owners and outstanding blockers.
• Update the issue log with resolution dates for each open blocker.
• Validate ATS access and recruiter embedding for every named recruiter and escalate any missing access.
• Present first validated KPI dataset
• Validate the KPI definitions and dataset used for time-to-fill and cost-per-hire.
• Agree a prioritized remediation plan for any metrics not tracking to Solution Scope targets.
• Confirm the timeline that positions the engagement for the acceptance gate.
• Deliver the validated KPI extract and calculation workbook to the shared channel.
• Publish the remediation plan with milestone dates for each corrective action.
• Update recruitment dashboards to reflect agreed KPI definitions and filters.
• Restate Solution Scope acceptance criteria and numeric targets
• Formal acceptance status recorded for each Solution Scope criterion with a documented buyer signatory where required.
• Incumbent wind-down confirmed, with legacy contract and data disposition documented.
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• Trend analysis and root-cause review
• Deployment and ATS access validation
• Issue triage and burn-down
• Diagnose root causes for any KPI gaps
• Enhancement backlog and prioritization
• Early adoption and usage signals
• Document pass/fail per criterion and record acceptance decision
• Agree corrective actions and timelines
• Enhancement request queue
• Short-term action register
• Blockers and open issues log
• Incumbent wind-down and fallback closure
• Confirm readiness timeline to acceptance gate
• SLA exception and mitigation review
• Agree immediate remediation actions
• Agree remediation items and resolution timeline
• Quarterly action plan and next steps