Alignment with the business
How connected is TA to the operating reality and direction of the
company it serves?
01
Does your TA team have visibility into the company's 12 to 24 month
workforce
plan?
Consider whether a workforce plan exists, who built it, and whether TA
was part of that conversation.
A
A formal workforce plan does not currently exist.
B
A plan exists, but TA was not involved in building it.
C
TA was consulted during the planning process.
D
TA is a co-owner of the workforce plan with operations, finance,
and HR.
02
If a recruiter on your team were asked to name the company's top three
operational priorities this year, how would they likely respond?
This is about business literacy across the team and not just at the
leadership level.
A
Most would struggle to name them with confidence.
B
It would depend heavily on tenure and individual interest.
C
Most could name them, with varying depth of understanding.
D
They could name them and explain how each connects to hiring
decisions.
03
Has the organization identified which specific roles are mission-critical to
the year ahead?
Mission-critical here means: roles where a mis-hire, vacancy, or delayed
fill would materially affect operations, revenue, or risk.
A
No, all open roles are treated with roughly equal priority.
B
Informally, in conversation, but not documented.
C
Yes, with a documented list — though it doesn't always drive
resourcing.
D
Yes, and resourcing, cadence, and senior attention reflect that
prioritization.
04
When senior leadership references hiring in executive conversations, how is
it most often framed?
The language leaders use about TA often reveals how the function is
positioned in the organization.
A
As a cost, a bottleneck, or a source of friction.
B
As an operational necessity to be managed.
C
As a capability worth investing in.
D
As a strategic capability tied directly to business outcomes.
Team and capability
What is the current shape, skill profile, and development trajectory of
your TA team?
05
For your most critical roles, what is the primary source of candidates?
This is a factual question about where the people you ultimately hire
come from and not where you wish they came from.
A
Inbound applicants and job board responses.
B
A mix of inbound and light outbound outreach.
C
Active sourcing of passive candidates by recruiters on the team.
D
Active sourcing combined with cultivated talent communities and
external search partners as needed.
06
When a recruiter speaks with a senior, in-demand candidate, what is the
typical quality of that conversation?
Consider the kind of dialogue a senior candidate (employed, with options)
would actually have when contacted by your team.
A
Primarily scripted; difficult to hold a senior candidate's
interest beyond a few minutes.
B
Varies considerably, a few recruiters are strong, others are
not.
C
Generally substantive, with preparation; depth varies by
individual.
D
Consistently business-fluent across the team; senior candidates
are engaged as peers.
07
In the past 12 months, what development has your TA team received beyond
product and ATS training?
Vendor demos and platform certifications are useful, but distinct from
broader recruiter development.
A
None, learning has been entirely on the job.
B
Ad hoc, a webinar or conference here and there.
C
A development program exists, with inconsistent execution.
D
A structured, sequenced development arc with regular
facilitator-led sessions.
08
When a search runs into difficulty, what is the typical pattern of response
on your team?
Examples of difficulty: a stalled pipeline, a lost finalist, a misaligned
hiring manager.
A
The team waits for direction from leadership before responding.
B
A manager typically steps in to triage and reassign.
C
Recruiters surface the issue and ask for guidance.
D
Recruiters identify the issue, propose adjustments, and act.
Process and friction
Where do delays, drop-offs, and friction live in your end-to-end hiring
process?
09
When a new requisition is opened, what typically happens at the start?
Intake conversations vary widely across organizations and the
variation
tends to predict downstream friction.
A
The job description is handed over and recruiting begins
immediately.
B
An informal conversation occurs when the recruiter requests one.
C
A standard intake template is used, with quality varying by hiring
manager.
D
A structured intake is required on every requisition for covering
criteria, target profile, and outreach approach.
10
How often does the TA team review live searches together in a structured
way?
Consider whether reviews happen on a defined cadence, and what those
reviews actually focus on.
A
Rarely, or only when something has gone wrong.
B
Monthly or quarterly, primarily as status updates.
C
Weekly, focused mostly on numbers and open requisitions.
D
Weekly, structured to include strategy and coaching on critical
searches.
11
From first interview to verbal offer, how long does a strong candidate
typically wait?
If this number isn't immediately known, that itself is a finding worth
noting.
A
This timing isn't currently tracked cleanly.
B
Three weeks or more, with candidate drop-off occurring as a
result.
C
Two to three weeks, with known friction around scheduling and
approvals.
D
Under two weeks for strong candidates, by design.
12
When a hiring manager has a critical role to fill, where do they typically
start?
This question speaks to the level of trust hiring managers place in the
TA function.
A
They engage their own network or an external recruiter first.
B
Some come to TA first; others do not. It varies by manager.
C
They come to TA first, while also doing their own outreach in
parallel.
D
TA is their default partner, and they trust the process to
deliver.
Experience candidates and hiring managers
What is the quality of the experience the function is delivering, on
both sides of the table?
13
What is the standard for communication with candidates who apply or are
sourced?
Including those not moved forward to interviews.
A
Most candidates do not receive a response unless they're advanced.
B
Automated responses are standard; human follow-up is inconsistent.
C
Active candidates receive consistent human follow-up; passive
sourced candidates, less so.
D
Personalized, timely communication is an enforced standard
regardless of source.
14
When reaching out to a senior passive candidate, what does the outreach
typically look like?
Consider what would actually be sent and not what your team aspires to
send.
A
A standard template used across most roles.
B
A personalized subject line, with a largely generic body.
C
Researched and role-specific, written by junior staff.
D
Researched, written or reviewed by senior recruiters, with real
business context.
15
If hiring managers were asked to rate the TA function on a scale of 1–10,
what would the honest average likely be?
Estimate based on what you actually hear, not what is said in formal
feedback.
16
When offers are extended to top-choice candidates, what is the typical
acceptance rate?
Offer acceptance is one of the cleanest indicators of the candidate
experience and pre-offer alignment.
Systems, data, and ROI
Are the tools, metrics, and financial story behind TA serving the
function and the people who fund it?
17
What share of your ATS and broader TA tech stack capabilities is your team
actively using?
Most organizations use a fraction of what their platforms can do. The
first step is naming the actual share.
A
Less than 25% of it's primarily used as a record-keeping system.
B
Between 25% and 50%, core workflows only.
C
Between 50% and 75%, with known gaps in higher-value features.
D
75% or more, actively activated across the team.
18
When TA reports up to executive leadership, which kinds of metrics dominate
the conversation?
Notice not what's tracked, but what actually gets discussed when the
function is presented.
A
Activity metrics, requisitions open, applications received,
interviews held.
B
Efficiency metrics, time to fill, cost per hire.
C
Outcome metrics, quality of hire, offer acceptance, retention.
D
Business-impact metrics, agency spend avoided, time to
productivity, revenue or output per hire.
19
What is the trajectory of your third-party agency and search firm spend over
the last 24 months?
External spend is often a useful indicator of internal capability, and
how that capability is shifting.
A
Rising, without a clear plan to address it.
B
Roughly flat, at a level the business considers significant.
C
Declining as internal sourcing capability has grown.
D
Used selectively and strategically, only where internal
capacity
is the wrong fit.
20
If the CFO asked what the business received in return for last year's TA
investment, how could you respond?
Consider whether the answer would describe activity, hires made, or
financial impact.
A
The answer would describe hires made, not value delivered.
B
A partial answer to some metrics, not a full financial story.
C
A full answer could be assembled with some effort.
D
A clear ROI story is already told to leadership on a regular
cadence.
Adaptation and readiness
How prepared is the function for what the labor market, candidates, and
technology are doing next?
21
Outside of your own website and job postings, how visible is the company to
the talent you most want to hire?
Visibility includes content, leader presence, industry participation, and
presence in the venues where your target talent actually spends time.
A
Largely invisible outside of where candidates seek us out.
B
Some LinkedIn activity, primarily job-related.
C
Active employer-brand content, with uneven consistency.
D
Recognized in our sector leaders and recruiters publish, and
target candidates know who we are.
22
For specialized roles you hire repeatedly, do you have a known and nurtured
pool of relevant talent?
A talent pool is different from a list of past applicants and it implies
relationships, engagement, and current data.
A
Every search starts from a cold beginning.
B
Some individual recruiters maintain informal networks.
C
Talent pools exist but are not actively nurtured.
D
Mapped, named, regularly engaged talent communities sit behind our
hardest roles.
23
If hiring volume were to double over the next 90 days, how would the
function respond?
This is a question about capacity design, not heroics.
A
The function would struggle to maintain quality.
B
We would manage with overtime and outside support, with some
quality cost.
C
We would scale up through a planned approach, with strain.
D
We are designed for variable volume and would flex without quality
loss.
24
How is your team adopting and applying new tools including AI-enabled
sourcing, screening, and engagement capabilities?
Adoption sits on a spectrum from cautious to systemic. Either end can be
defensible depending on context.
A
We have not yet evaluated newer tools in a structured way.
B
Individual recruiters experiment; no team-wide standard exists.
C
We have selected tools and are working through adoption
inconsistently.
D
We have an intentional approach to tool selection, adoption, and
measurement.
