Leading recruiting is a different job.

For managers and directors who were promoted for being excellent recruiters and are now responsible for a function. How to build the team, hold the bar and run recruiting as an operation the business trusts.

Great recruiters are not automatically great leaders.

Still doing the work

The best recruiter on the team is now the manager, and is quietly carrying a req load instead of building capability.

No operating rhythm

Reporting is assembled the night before a QBR, so the function reacts to questions rather than setting the agenda.

The bar drifts by team

Every pod has its own standard, and nobody owns the difference until quality of hire becomes a problem.

What the training actually works on.

Three things, and the order matters. Systems without credibility do not get adopted, so we start with how the function is run and finish with the executive conversation.

Step 1

Run the function, not the reqs

Capacity, pod structure, prioritisation and where a leader’s time actually earns its keep. How to stop being the most productive individual contributor on your own team.

Step 2

Build and hold the bar

Making quality of hire something you manage rather than report on, and coaching the team to a shared standard instead of a personal one.

Step 3

Own the executive conversation

The numbers that matter to a leadership team, how to present them, and how to make the case for headcount and investment before you are asked.

What your leaders walk away with.

A way of running the function, plus the artefacts to run it from Monday.

A capacity model

What the team can actually deliver, so commitments are made against evidence rather than optimism.

A coaching cadence

One-to-ones that build capability, not status updates on req counts.

A quality of hire measure

Something the business agrees with, that survives contact with a leadership meeting.

A QBR that lands

The structure, the numbers and the narrative, so recruiting is heard as a function not a service desk.

A hiring bar you can hold

Written down, coached, and consistent across pods.

A team structure that scales

Pod design and prioritisation that does not collapse the moment headcount moves.

Decisions you can defend

Where a leader should intervene, and where stepping in is just doing the job you were promoted out of.

A peer group

Leaders from other companies working the same problems, which is usually the part people keep.

Delivered however your leaders work best.

In person

Full leadership team in a room. Best where the team needs to agree an operating model together.

Live virtual

Shorter live sessions across time zones, for leadership teams spread across regions.

Peer workshop

The Recruiting Leadership Labs, for leaders who want the room to include their peers from other companies.

Most recruiting leaders were promoted for being brilliant at a job they no longer do.

John Vlastelica, founder of Recruiting Toolbox, former head of recruiting at Amazon and Expedia, and a consistently top-rated speaker at LinkedIn Talent Connect.

Teams who changed how they hire.

Quotes from the teams who have run this programme.

Bloomberg

He really understood our problems, culture, and opportunities, and made the content really relatable and actionable.

Recruiting Manager

The Gap

Best sourcing training I have had in my entire career.

Senior Recruiter

Illumina

I found a ton of value in every slide, every conversation, every tool shared.

Senior Recruiter

Amazon.com

Feedback was great, professional, entertaining, and respectful of their intelligence and time.

Recruiting Director

Slack

This has been one of the best trainings I have taken, after having worked 21 years in the industry.

Recruiting Director

Disney

Awesome content and applicability. I left with a toolkit to be a better leader.

Recruiting Manager

Starbucks

I can leave today and immediately implement these strategies and tools.

Tech Hiring Manager

Google X

Amazing. Worth every penny. Highly recommend.

Recruiting Leader

Nike

Engaging, credible expert who spoke our language. Extremely helpful to move this organization forward.

Recruiting Director

FAQs

The questions buyers ask before committing. Replace with the ones you actually get.

A half day or a full day in person, or two to three live virtual sessions. We recommend a shape once we have seen your interview loop.

Always. We build around your real roles, levels and hiring bar. Off the shelf is not what we do.

We cap most sessions near 20 so everyone practises and gets feedback. Larger groups run as multiple cohorts.

It depends on format, group size and how much tailoring is involved. Tell us the shape you need and we will give you a number.

You keep the guides and scorecards. Most teams add a follow-up once the new process has run a few real loops.

Free tools to start with.

Three diagnostics you can run on your own hiring this week, before you talk to anyone, including us.

  • Hiring Manager Maturity Model

    A self assessment that shows where your hiring managers actually sit today, and what moving them up a level would be worth.

    Get the download

  • Talent Advisor Self-Assessment

    Two diagnostic guides to check whether your recruiters are really operating as talent advisors, or just taking orders faster.

    Get the download

  • Interviewing Effectiveness Diagnostic

    A diagnostic you can run on your own interview loop this week, built from work with thousands of hiring managers.

    Get the download

Contact us

Tell us what is not working in your hiring. If we are not the right answer we will say so, and point you at who is.