Most searches go sideways before the sourcing even begins. If your intake meeting is vague or rushed, you are setting yourself up to miss the mark entirely.

At Talent Growth Partners, we treat sourcing as a separate expertise from recruiting. Like effectively using AI, sourcing requires a combination of technology and creativity. While sourcing handles the front-end using data, market intelligence, creative search strings to find passive candidates, and connecting with those candidates, it relies entirely on the clarity gained at the very start.

The Power of the Partnership

Our intake calls are how we kick off every search. We believe it is critical to have both the researcher/sourcer and the recruiter on that call. This introduces the hiring leader to the team that will actually be doing the work and allows us to work in conjunction for a successful search.

As Glen Cathey, SVP at Randstad and author of Boolean Black Belt, famously noted:

"Sourcing and finding people is the most important. You can't recruit, message, or network with someone you haven't found."

Why the Intake Matters

Alignment is Key: We define what success looks like in context, not just on paper.
Must-haves vs. Nice-to-haves: We clarify the difference so our search strings are precise.
Listening for the Unspoken: We hear what hasn't worked before and why.
The Communication Cadence: We share our process and how we will stay in sync throughout the search.