Talent Acquisition

Talent Acquisition

When to Use

• Open, prioritize, or close requisitions tied to workforce and headcount plans
• Write or refine job descriptions, leveling, and role success profiles with hiring managers
• Design or improve interview loops, stages, scorecards, and candidate experience (coordination—not question banks alone)
• Run ATS/CRM pipelines, stage definitions, SLAs, and recruiter–HM operating rhythms
• Coordinate offers through approval, negotiation support, and close (not legal offer drafting)
• Report TA metrics—time-to-fill, pass-through, source mix, diversity funnel, agency performance
• Manage agencies/RPO statements of work, scorecards, and slate quality
• Articulate employer value proposition for a role or function in hiring materials
• Hand off hired candidates to onboarding with structured start information
• Apply hiring compliance basics—EEO awareness, OFCCP-style documentation habits, right-to-work checkpoints (not legal advice)

When NOT to Use

• Proactive boolean search, talent maps, and outreach sequences only → talent-sourcer
• Interview question banks, scorecard rubrics, or calibration session design only → interview-prep, interview-system-designer
• Compensation benchmarking, bands, or equity modeling → comp-analysis
• Legal offer letter text, employment law, or policy interpretation → draft-offer, hr-business-partner
• Org-wide people strategy, culture programs, or executive workforce planning → chro-advisor
• Employee HR onboarding, HRIS provisioning, or offboarding → people-operations-specialist, onboarding
• Req status tracking without process design → recruiting-pipeline (when present)
• Employer brand campaigns outside hiring context → cmo-advisor, brand-strategist

Related skills

Need	Skill
Passive sourcing, boolean search, talent maps, outreach	talent-sourcer
Pipeline stages, req tracking, hiring status updates	recruiting-pipeline
Interview plans, questions, scorecards	interview-prep, interview-system-designer
HR programs, policy, ER, workforce planning	hr-business-partner
Executive people strategy and org design	chro-advisor
Compensation benchmarking and offer math	comp-analysis
Offer letter drafting and negotiation language	draft-offer
New-hire onboarding checklists and day-one ops	onboarding, people-operations-specialist
Headcount and org structure planning	org-planning, capacity-plan
Job descriptions for product/engineering roles	agile-product-owner, cto-advisor

Core Workflows

1. Workforce planning and req intake

1. Confirm headcount approval, budget, level, location, and target start date
2. Align req to team plan, backfill vs net-new, and priority vs other open roles
3. Capture must-haves, nice-to-haves, and anti-profiles from hiring manager
4. Set success metrics for the hire (90-day outcomes, not only skills list)
5. Open req in ATS with correct job code, cost center, and approval chain

See references/talent_acquisition_scope.md and references/requisition_and_job_design.md.

2. Job design and posting

1. Draft JD with inclusive language, level expectations, and realistic requirements
2. Map role to career framework or leveling guide; resolve title/level mismatches early
3. Define comp band directionally with comp-analysis if needed; do not invent numbers
4. Build posting pack: internal blurb, external JD, interview team roster, agency brief
5. Publish to careers site, boards, and referral channels; tag sources in ATS

See references/requisition_and_job_design.md.

3. Interview process and candidate experience

1. Design loop: stages, interviewers, competencies, time targets, and debrief cadence
2. Publish candidate-facing schedule, prep, and feedback SLAs
3. Coordinate panels, take-home boundaries, and work-sample ethics
4. Run debriefs with evidence-based scorecards; avoid consensus without data
5. Manage rejections and withdrawals with respectful, timely communication

See references/interview_process_and_candidate_experience.md.

4. ATS pipeline and hiring manager partnership

1. Define stages, SLAs, and required fields per stage in ATS/CRM
2. Hold weekly HM sync: pipeline health, blockers, calibration, and slate diversity
3. Escalate aging reqs, low pass-through, or HM unavailability early
4. Document decisions, feedback themes, and process changes in req notes
5. Coordinate agency/RPO slates against the same bar as internal sourcing

See references/ats_pipeline_and_hiring_manager_partnership.md.

5. Offers, close, and onboarding handoff

1. Run pre-close checks: references, background scope, comp approval, level sign-off
2. Coordinate verbal offer, written offer routing through draft-offer / HR as required
3. Support negotiation within approved bands; escalate exceptions with business case
4. Manage counter-offers and competing timelines without pressure tactics
5. Hand off to onboarding: start date, equipment, buddy, and day-one agenda

See references/offers_onboarding_and_agency_management.md.

6. Metrics, compliance, and reporting

1. Track time-to-fill, time-in-stage, pass-through, and source effectiveness
2. Monitor diversity funnel by stage; investigate drop-offs without blaming candidates
3. Report agency/RPO performance against SLA and quality scorecard
4. Maintain EEO-appropriate documentation habits per org policy (not legal advice)
5. Retrospect closed reqs: what worked, bottlenecks, and JD/process fixes

See references/ta_metrics_compliance_and_reporting.md.

When to load references

• Scope and boundaries → references/talent_acquisition_scope.md
• Reqs and JDs → references/requisition_and_job_design.md
• Interview loop and CX → references/interview_process_and_candidate_experience.md
• ATS and HM partnership → references/ats_pipeline_and_hiring_manager_partnership.md
• Offers, agencies, onboarding handoff → references/offers_onboarding_and_agency_management.md
• Metrics and hiring compliance basics → references/ta_metrics_compliance_and_reporting.md