Talent Acquisition Strategy 1 pager: Early-stage versus Growth-stage companies. Early-Stage: Strategy: - Establish a minimum viable talent acquisition framework Priorities: - Establish company culture and values. - Set up basic recruitment processes Key Approaches: - Adopt a first principles approach. - Plan for wobbly hiring. - Establish Employer Brand & leadership personal brands Common Mistakes: - Rely heavily on recruitment agencies. - Lack of strategic 3rd party support. Growth-Stage: Strategy: - Lay a robust framework for scalable hiring. Priorities: - Feedback gathering mechanisms to guide strategy. - Build TA capability Key Approaches: - Manage scaling with human touch. - Optimise CX at scale. - Focus on strategic talent pipelining: Common Mistakes: - Build in-house team too quickly or not at all. - No flexible TA resource. Anything I’m missing?
Great framework Adriano Herdman According to you where does early-stage stops? Series or pre-seed
This is gold! 🔥 I'd maybe add something on the importance of data-driven decisions at both stages. In early-stage, using even the smallest insights can help refine processes, while in growth-stage, scaling based on metrics ensures you're not just hiring for the now but for the future. Also, the leadership buy-in point could be stronger, especially in early-stage, it’s crucial to align leadership with your TA goals. Other than that, you're spot on! Keep nailing it!
Antoine Denizart (Recruiter), to be meditated !
Early stage hires are also the most impactful. A few bad hires can burn all your cash and negatively impact your company culture.
Awesome! Great graphic. I'd add on common mistakes in growth phase is lowering your standards to get things done quickly. Leading to mishires or poor candidate experience which comes back to bite you. Knowing when to slow down to speed up is key.
Like the leadership personal brands Adriano Herdman - thats a good shout and makes a big difference (at the very least get a decent Linkedin put together)
Love this one pager. Think you should add a column for Scale stage?
These templates are a hit every time, Adriano Chris Haslam. I want to take the time to salute you on this because it takes time and effort to these things done properly. Am taking notes! Well done to you and your incredible team - keep up the great work!
I've seen and worked in both. Great realistic capture 👏
Driving Global Talent Strategies for Tech Companies | CEO @ NovaForge | Unlocking Turkish Tech Excellence
3moOne thing I’d add is the importance of data-driven decision-making at both stages. For early-stage companies, tracking initial hiring efforts—even if informal—gives insights into what’s working and what needs to be optimized as the company scales. For growth-stage, having concrete metrics around time-to-hire, source-of-hire, and candidate experience (CX) helps refine and future-proof the talent acquisition strategy. Data helps align hiring goals with business objectives at each stage.