What it is
Hiring runs on a set of licensed tools, each with its own cost, owner and renewal date. This audit examines what each one contributes.
For every tool, the audit covers:
- Tool use case (what stage of the hiring process, and for what purpose)
- Tool capabilities
- Tool configuration - KPIs, workflow optimisation score, data cleanliness and standardisation
- Tool utilisation and current output
- Current ROI per tool
- Target utilisation
- Technology gaps
Every tool counts, from the applicant tracking system (ATS) outwards.
The output includes a prioritised recommendation report, including, where relevant, optimisation, standardisation, consolidation, or deprecation advice.
What you get
- A tool-by-tool review (up to 10 tools)
- Utilisation & ROI per tool
- Workflow quality and data cleanliness assessment
- Target utilisation to justify tool cost
- A 60-minute findings presentation
- 25% of the Hiring Tech Stack and AI Tooling Audit fee as credit toward the Hiring Tech Stack Design or AI & Data Governance (coming soon) if booked within 30 days (or 15% if booked within 60 days)
Buy this when
- Renewal season is approaching and you are looking to consolidate your hiring tech stack
- Finance has asked what the spend on hiring technology is and what is the ROI - before they approve your new budget
- You have a range of tools with potential replication of functions and no clear visibility on which are delivering your hires and which are just tech bloat
- A build-versus-buy decision is due and you need an evaluation of your current hiring tech stack baseline
When not to buy
Do not buy this if your stack is one applicant tracking system (ATS) and nothing else. This audit is suitable once you have several tech tools servicing your hiring.
How it works
- Intake call to scope complexity: tool count, contract and renewal dates, team size, hiring volume, and access requirements.
- Talent Ascent comes back with a quote, a delivery timeframe and a collaboration schedule.
- Data submission, login licence access for Talent Ascent to audit current systems, and weekly calibration.
- Audit and scored recommendations finalised, then a 60-minute findings presentation.
Investment
The starting price for your region is on this page. The actual quote will depend on tool count, data access, and estimated delivery time.
For funds
One methodology across the portfolio: the same audit, the same definitions, comparable company to company - a per-tool register of spend and output, and a portfolio-level view of which tools earn their licence across companies.
How it works. The fund recommends, and the portfolio company engages directly with Talent Ascent. Our services carry no channel economics.
The alternatives
“Our vendor’s customer success team will review our setup for free.”
A vendor reviews its own product - and it cannot recommend its own retirement. This audit scores every tool in the stack against the same standard.
“We already know which tools we use and how many hires we make from each tool.”
In this case, this audit may be less valuable, and we would instead recommend our Hiring Tech Stack Design or AI & Data Governance services, which can help you enhance and optimise for your next stage of acceleration or compliance.
FAQ
What does “investment from” mean?
The published figure is the starting point. The quote is based on tool count, the systems and geographies in scope, data access, and estimated delivery time.
Which tools are in scope?
Every software-licensed tool which is part of the hiring process - LinkedIn licences, applicant tracking systems (ATS), sourcing & outreach tools, scheduling tools, resume screening tools, video meeting and transcription tools, technical assessment tools, automated background check tools, contract management tools, onboarding tools (as part of HRIS or EOR platforms), up to onboarding handover tickets.
How do you measure output per tool?
Based on your own data, as we audit tool configuration and usage.
Why does data cleanliness matter?
Because every future question about your hiring - from a board, an investor, a budget approver, or a regulator - is answered from the data your stack holds. If tools cannot offer a clear view, lack clear taxonomy and tagging, and stages are skipped, your hiring is not auditable. The report records the cleanliness state per tool.
Does this tell us which tools to buy?
No. The gap analysis names the capabilities missing from the stack and the use case each would serve, as candidates for evaluation. Recommending and designing the target stack is Hiring Tech Stack Design.
Does this cover whether our AI tools are data privacy compliant?
No. This audit records what each AI tool does, what decisions it influences, what data it touches and what it delivers. Whether you may lawfully run those tools, and under what controls, is the remit of AI & Data Governance.
Who needs to be involved?
Whoever owns hiring day to day, and who is able to grant Talent Ascent access to the relevant tools in scope which you would like audited. Typically 6 to 10 hours of your team’s time across the engagement.