What is the Strategic Talent Map?
Strategic Talent Map is a discreet talent mapping service for a target role. It connects your business priorities to named external profiles, showing where relevant experience exists and which requirements may need adjusting before you recruit.
The Competitive Talent Architecture Audit examines how comparable companies structure a function. Strategic Talent Map identifies people for the roles you need. Our Fractional Recruitment support takes agreed priorities into candidate conversations and hiring delivery. You can enter at any stage.
Who is the Strategic Talent Map suitable for?
“We know what this person needs to achieve. We need to understand who has done something relevant before.”
For founders and leadership teams at Seed to Series B technology companies, particularly when you need to:
- Find scarce expertise: identify people whose experience matches a specific commercial or technical challenge, beyond a job-title search.
- Plan a senior appointment: compare backgrounds for a Head of, Director, VP or executive role.
- Prepare for attrition: build a researched reference list for business-critical roles before a vacancy becomes urgent.
- Calibrate a hiring brief: see whether your desired mix of experience appears in real profiles and where trade-offs arise.
- Benchmark capability: understand what relevant experience looks like across different stages, business models and role scopes.
VC operating and platform partners can refer a portfolio founder facing any of these decisions.
When is the right time for this?
Before approving a difficult search, opening a confidential replacement role or committing to requirements you have not tested against the market. It also fits succession planning when you want external options alongside potential internal successors.
Why book the Strategic Talent Map?
The Map brings role scope and business context into the comparison, so you can decide which experience matters and which skills in what mix are available in the market - before launching recruitment and spending time on interviews.
Who should not buy the Strategic Talent Map?
The Strategic Talent Map is best for cases where you require validation for your planned role scope, when you wish to benchmark internal talent against the market, or when you want a crisis management plan in case of strategic role attrition. This service may not be the best fit if
- You need candidates contacted and interviewed now. For this, inquire about Fractional Recruitment.
- Your first question is how to structure an entire function. For this, start with the Competitive Talent Architecture Audit.
What do you get with the Talent Ascent Strategic Talent Map?
- 30 or 50 named external profiles, allocated across up to three agreed roles, with at least ten profiles per role
- A sourced profile comparison: relevant experience, career progression, company stage and scale, business model, geography and role scope
- A decision report: recommended directions for each role, profile trade-offs and implications for your hiring requirements
- Optional internal comparison: up to ten client-nominated people across the engagement, using information you supply.
- Two calibration sessions of up to 45 minutes each
- A 60-minute delivery call
The Map records researched relevance at the time of delivery; candidate interest, availability and suitability are established through subsequent recruitment. Internal comparisons are not performance assessments.
What information does Talent Ascent require to deliver your Strategic Talent Map?
- Your business priorities and the outcomes each role must deliver
- Current team context
- Essential and flexible requirements
- Location and compensation parameters
- Any existing job description or Audit findings
- For internal comparisons, the nominated people’s experience, responsibilities and relevant outcomes
What is the process for booking a Strategic Talent Map with Talent Ascent?
- Schedule an intro call with Talent Ascent.
- Talent Ascent will revert back with a proposal quote, based on your requirements.
- Once agreed, research begins after intake and scope confirmation.
- Two calibration sessions of up to 45 minutes each.
- A 60-minute delivery call with up to 4 stakeholders.
How much does the Talent Ascent Strategic Talent Map cost?
Proposed delivery from five weeks for the 30-profile pack and seven weeks for the 50-profile pack, after complete intake and scope confirmation. Both packs include the report and sessions above.
Candidate outreach and recruitment are separately agreed through Fractional Recruitment.
How does the cost of the Talent Ascent Strategic Talent Map compare with a standard executive search agency fee?
The Map fee pays for research and a reusable decision resource before candidate contact. A placement fee pays for recruitment toward an appointment. If you commission both mapping and recruitment, include both in your hiring budget.
Compare the pack fee with the research, internal time and separate search work in your actual agency proposal.
What are the alternatives to the Talent Ascent Strategic Talent Map?
| Route | What you get | Typical cost | When it’s the better choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research internally | Backgrounds investigated by your own team; allow time to do it consistently alongside their existing priorities | Internal time | Your team has the research expertise and the capacity |
| Use your network | Introductions from people who already know the experience you need; you may still need wider research to compare them with other options | No fee | Your network already reaches the experience you need |
| Commission recruitment directly | Fractional Recruitment or a retained search firm tests the brief through live conversations | Retainer or quoted fee | You are ready to approach candidates now |
| Strategic Talent Map | 30 or 50 named external profiles for up to three roles, a sourced comparison and a decision report, with no candidate contact | – | You need researched options and a calibrated brief before recruitment begins |
FAQ
How do you find people with a rare combination of skills?
We begin with considering your operating reality, the outcomes and capabilities that matter. We then consider what environments could have produced those competencies. Strategic Talent Map researches relevant backgrounds across agreed roles and markets, including adjacent profiles that may meet the underlying need.
Is talent mapping only for executive succession planning?
No. It also supports critical specialist hiring, future vacancies and capability benchmarking. The role or target plan for the function over the next year must be sufficiently defined to judge relevance; the title does not need to be executive.
Can the Map help refine our job description?
Yes. Real profiles can show where your requirements align, where they compete and which alternatives deserve consideration. You receive implications for the brief; a full job and team design engagement is separate.
Will the people on the Map know we are researching them?
Talent Ascent does not contact candidates during this engagement. Confidentiality requirements and how the research is conducted are agreed at the outset.
Does a mapped profile mean someone is available or a top performer?
No. The Map documents relevant experience and the evidence behind it. Interest, availability and performance require validation during recruitment. A saved profile list also needs refreshing before future use.
Can Talent Ascent approach the people we select?
Yes, through a separately agreed Fractional Recruitment engagement. The Strategic Talent Map informs the starting brief; candidate conversations then test interest and fit.
Have additional questions?
Contact us, or reach out to us via WhatsApp directly, and we will be happy to help.