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

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