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TA as a Trusted Advisor

Best Practices Talent Acquisition Professionals Should Leverage in Every Search

Strategy & Performance

Questions to understand the business

  • What are the long-term strategic goals of the organization, and how will this function and role contribute to achieving them?

    • This question seeks to understand the future direction of the organization and how the hire will play a part in that vision.

  • What are the key strategic initiatives currently underway, and how will this role influence their success?

    • Knowing the ongoing strategic projects helps to find a candidate who can provide immediate impact and leadership.

  • What are the biggest market opportunities you foresee in the next 3-5 years, and how can this role help capitalize on them?

    • Identifying potential growth areas helps the search partner to align the candidate's expertise with the organization's expansion plans.

  • What transformative changes do you anticipate in your space, and how could this role drive innovation and adaptation?

    • This question focuses on the needs of the organization to drive impact oriented change and will help align search efforts to find candidates able to lead through change and drive innovative solutions that actually drive measurable impact.

  • What are the most significant competitive threats to your organization, and what role will this executive play in addressing them?

    • Understanding competitive pressures helps in finding a candidate with the strategic acumen to navigate and mitigate these threats.

Business & Finance

Questions to understand finance and performance

  • What strategic investments or divestments are planned, and how will this role be involved in those decisions?

    • Understanding investment strategies ensures the candidate can contribute to financial and strategic decision-making processes.

  • What metrics and measurements are being used to determine success in this function and where are there gaps in visibility?

    • By gaining insight on current-state visibility and looking to the future, the search partner will be able to better vet talent for how they make and measure meaningful change.​

  • What intellectual property coming through in a candidate would be considered a huge “win” for the organization?

    • This will enable the search partner to be cognizant of unique insights outside of what may be expected for the role that could be a valuable addition to a hire.

  • How does the company approach cost management and efficiency improvements?

    • This question reveals the company’s culture around cost control and operational efficiency and will provide deeper insight on where the new hire will likely focus: cost-cutting, optimizing processes, or scaling operations.

  • What are the biggest financial risks currently facing this function and the organization?

    • Identifying financial risks—such as market volatility, regulatory changes, or credit risks—helps determine if the new hire needs strong risk management skills or experience in navigating uncertain financial environments.

Culture & Relationships

Questions to gauge politics

  • How do you envision this role shaping and building both short and long-term organizational structure and culture?

    • This forward-thinking question explores the opportunity for the hire’s potential to build on and influence the evolution of organizational structure and culture.

  • What are the primary strategic relationships and alliances that this role needs to build or enhance? What politics will this hire need to navigate?

    • Identifying critical partnerships and alliances can help search partners identify candidates with the right kind of networking and relationship-building skills.

  • How do you measure strategic success beyond traditional financial metrics, or what may be clearly identified with this function? To what extent will this role own or contribute to those measures?

    • This question looks at broader indicators of success, such as market positioning, innovation, social impact, and sustainability, aligning the role with comprehensive strategic outcomes.

  • How does this role align with the company's mission and values, and how will it help to reinforce them?

    • Ensuring candidate alignment with core values can help sustain organizational integrity and drive mission-focused leadership.

Best Practices

Set each search on the best path forward

  • Ensure every interviewer that has authority to decline a candidate is present during scoping. If their role is involved enough to veto a hiring decision, they should be present at the start of the search.

    • What if they can’t make it or they can’t find the time? Then ensure they sign off on search documentation beyond the position description, including success factors, and role requirements, and ensure they are committed to process, communication cadences, and feedback loops.

  • Always ask your hiring leaders what their expectations are and dive into timeline, process, decision makers and how much influence they have, flags those stakeholders may throw, and any other service level agreements spoken or unspoken before you finish scoping.

    • The key is to document and communicate all expectations back to the team to ensure alignment.

      • This will provide better clarity around accountabilities and ensure that if things change or expectations shift, TA won’t default to taking the fall.

  • Deliver regularly scheduled written insight backed by data – whether it’s via reporting and spreadsheets or anecdotal clips of data, it will build credibility faster, and drive more effective decision making.

    • We define data as information beyond your typical TA search funnel numbers, though keeping hiring leaders up to date on sourcing and search activity should always be a priority for the team.

  • Set key SLAs ahead of time to further alignment and ensure seamless experiences for candidates and hiring managers

    • Critical points to consider include setting interview feedback turnaround agreements of no more than 48 hours (24 is ideal), building out tentative interview blocks so that the team doesn’t get stuck having to wait to coordinate calendars, and ensuring that regularly scheduled update calls are committed.

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