Hiring is usually the largest discretionary spend category in a Series A or B company, and the one that has never been examined to the standard applied to every other line: no audit trail, no benchmark, no agreed definitions. There is a process on paper and a process that actually runs, and almost all of the loss sits in the distance between them.
What it is
A structured examination of your hiring funnel:
- stage-by-stage conversion
- time-to-fill
- hiring cycle time
- first-shortlist hit rate
- empty-seat opportunity cost per function
- interview load and cost per stage
- recruitment process vulnerability, for example: when an offer is rejected, do you go back to the drawing board, or is there a second and third finalist ready to offer?
- offer win rate
- average hire cost per function
- candidate assessment reliability and consistency
- salary offer deviation from plan
- attrition trends
We measure how well the hiring process functions, and identify the risks.
You receive a findings pack, a costed list of every failure point, and a prioritised fix roadmap. That roadmap doubles as the scoping document for any Design work that follows, and part of the audit fee is credited toward the relevant Design service if you would like us to build the solution.
What you get
- A granular metrics audit report
- A forecast of the cost attached to each identified failure point
- A prioritised fix roadmap that scopes any Design engagement
- A 60-minute findings presentation
- A 30-minute follow-up session, included, for any questions after delivery
- 25% of the fee credited toward Recruitment Metrics Design, Job Levelling & Competency Matrix Design or Full Hiring System Design if booked within 30 days; 15% within 60 days
Buy this when
- A round closed recently and a scaling wave is starting
- You are falling behind on securing the hires you need to deliver your commercial strategy
- The board wants a hiring forecast the company can actually hit
- You are twelve to eighteen months from a raise and want capital-efficiency evidence
When not to buy
Do not buy this if you plan fewer than five hires in the next twelve months. The audit is most relevant when you anticipate higher-volume hiring.
Use the free calculators instead, or the New Hire Cost Report or the New Hire ROI Report, which look at a specific requisition rather than at your hiring engine.
How it works
- Intake call to scope complexity: hiring history, hiring plans, current team structure, target timelines, current hiring systems and resources.
- Talent Ascent comes back with a quote, a delivery timeframe and a collaboration schedule.
- Data submission, access to the relevant systems, and weekly calibration.
- Audit and recommendations roadmap finalised, then a 60-minute findings presentation.
- A 30-minute follow-up session, included, for any further questions.
Investment
The starting price for your region is on this page: in the panel beside this article, and in the comparison chart below. The quote itself depends on assignment complexity and estimated delivery time.
For funds
One methodology across the portfolio: the same audit, the same definitions, comparable company to company - a hiring read you can put in an LP update.
How it works. The fund recommends, and the portfolio company engages directly with Talent Ascent. Our services carry no channel economics.
The alternatives, honestly
“Our RPO or embedded recruiters will health-check us for free.” A health-check offered by a supplier is scoped around what that supplier provides. This audit is scoped around your hiring engine: it quantifies how that engine is performing today and gives you visibility of the risk in it, so you are best placed to make an informed decision about your next steps.
“We already have the data.” That is a strong start. The audit exists to show you where you may need to enhance capability or improve process in order to meet the next scaling wave. The data from your previous stage is valuable precisely because we use it to identify the downstream gaps and bottlenecks that appear when hiring demand spikes and puts pressure on your current system.
FAQ
What does “from” mean? The published figure is the starting point. The quote is based on assignment complexity and estimated delivery time, taking account of the systems and people in scope, the geographies involved, and your business objectives.
Who needs to be involved? Whoever owns hiring day to day, plus access to your applicant tracking system. Typically six to eight hours of your team’s time across four weeks. Where relevant we may request additional sessions with specific function leaders or interviewers, usually where historic interview conversion is low or attrition is high, so we can investigate the edge cases and put the resulting insight into the final audit.