Overview
Based on Who: The A Method for Hiring (Smart & Street) and Topgrading (Bradford Smart). The intake meeting is where the search either succeeds or fails. A recruiter who starts sourcing without a clear scorecard and aligned process will either bring the wrong candidates or have the hiring manager override the criteria halfway through. The intake locks in: what we're hiring for, how we'll evaluate it, and what success looks like.
Workflow
Step 1: Prepare Before the Meeting
Do not walk into intake cold. Pull what you can in advance:
- Read the job description draft (if it exists)
- Review the team org chart: who does this role report to, who are the peers?
- Look at LinkedIn profiles of strong recent hires in similar roles - bring 2-3 as calibration examples
- Understand the business context: why is this role open now? Backfill, new headcount, or growth?
Prepare your intake template before the call so you're capturing live, not reconstructing from memory.
Step 2: Align on the Why and the Urgency
Start the meeting here. The "why now" shapes sourcing urgency and candidate bar.
Questions:
- "Why is this role open right now? Backfill, net new, or strategic expansion?"
- "What happens to the team or the business if this seat stays empty for 90 days?"
- "Is there a hard deadline - a product launch, a funding milestone, a customer commitment - that makes timing critical?"
- "What's the timeline we're working toward? First interviews by [date], offer by [date]?"
Document the answers. Urgency determines how aggressive sourcing needs to be and whether the hiring manager will prioritize interview scheduling.
Step 3: Define Outcomes (Not Requirements)
This is the core of the intake. Most hiring managers come with a list of requirements ("5 years experience, worked at a large company, knows Python"). Push past the requirements to outcomes.
Questions:
- "If you hired this person today and they crushed it in year one, what would they have done?"
- "What does the first 90-day ramp look like? What do they own on day 1 vs. day 90?"
- "What's the hardest problem this person will face in the first 6 months?"
- "What does failure look like in this role? What's the most common way people underperform?"
Capture 3-5 performance outcomes. These become the foundation of the scorecard.
Step 4: Define the Competencies and the Bar
Turn outcomes into competencies. For each outcome, ask: "What capability does someone need to achieve this?"
Then calibrate the bar:
- "On a scale of A, B, C - what's the minimum bar you'd accept? Would you take a B on [competency] if they were an A on [more critical competency]?"
- "Show me the best person you've hired in a similar role. What made them great?"
- "Show me the worst hire in a similar role. What did you miss in the interview?"
Identify the 1-2 "must-have A" competencies (the ones where a C is an automatic no-hire) vs. the "acceptable B" competencies.
Step 5: Define the Interview Process
Get explicit agreement on every stage before sourcing starts. Changing the process mid-search wastes time and signals disorganization to candidates.
Process agreement questions:
- "How many stages do we want? Recommendation: phone screen, hiring manager screen, loop (3-4 interviewers), offer."
- "Who are the interviewers in the loop? Assign them to specific scorecard competencies."
- "What's the debrief format? I recommend independent scorecard submission before any discussion."
- "What's the expected interview timeline? How quickly can you respond to my shortlist?"
Agree on turnaround commitments:
- Recruiter: shortlist within [X] days of opening the req
- Hiring manager: respond to shortlist within [48 hours]
- Interview scheduling: candidates get their loop within [5 business days of passing the screen]
- Debrief and decision: within [48 hours] of completing the loop
These aren't just courtesy - slow loops lose A players.
Step 6: Calibrate on Comp and Offer
Address comp in intake, not when you're about to make an offer.
Questions:
- "What's the comp band for this role?"
- "What was the last person in this role paid? What are peers paid internally?"
- "Is there equity on offer? What's the grant range?"
- "Do we have flexibility at the top of band for exceptional candidates?"
- "Will you support a comp exception if the market requires it?"
Get explicit answers. Discovering a comp mismatch at the offer stage is a sourcing failure that could have been prevented here.
Step 7: Capture and Send the Intake Summary
Within 24 hours of the intake meeting, send a summary doc to [hiring manager] for alignment:
# Intake Summary: [Role Title]
Date: [Date]
Recruiter: [Your name]
Hiring Manager: [Name]
## Why This Role / Urgency
[1-2 sentences on business context and timeline]
## Performance Outcomes
1. [Outcome 1 - 90 days]
2. [Outcome 2 - 6 months]
3. [Outcome 3 - 12 months]
## Competencies and Bar
| Competency | Minimum Bar | Notes |
|------------|-------------|-------|
| [Comp 1] | A required | [Context] |
| [Comp 2] | B acceptable | [Context] |
## Interview Process
Stage 1: Recruiter screen (30 min) - covers [competencies]
Stage 2: Hiring manager interview (60 min) - covers [competencies]
Stage 3: Loop - [Interviewer 1], [Interviewer 2], [Interviewer 3]
Stage 4: Debrief and decision
## Timeline Commitments
Shortlist to HM: [date]
HM responds to shortlist: within 48 hours
Candidate loop completed: within [X] weeks
Offer target: [date]
## Compensation
Band: $[X] - $[Y] base
Equity: [range]
Flexibility: [yes/no and conditions]
## Open Questions
- [Any unresolved items from the meeting]
If [hiring manager] doesn't reply to confirm alignment within 48 hours, follow up. Starting a search without explicit confirmation is a risk.
Anti-Patterns
1. Skipping intake and sourcing from the JD alone
Bad: JD posted, start sending LinkedIn InMails.
Good: Intake happens before sourcing. The JD is an input, not the brief. The intake uncovers what the JD doesn't capture.
2. Letting the hiring manager drive entirely
Bad: "Whatever [hiring manager] wants, that's what we source for."
Good: The recruiter's job is to push back on vague requirements and translate them into observable, evaluable outcomes. "5 years experience" is not evaluable. "Built and shipped a feature end-to-end" is.
3. Not addressing comp until the offer
Bad: Wait until you have a finalist to ask about budget.
Good: Comp is confirmed in intake. If the band can't attract market candidates, escalate before wasting sourcing effort.
4. No process agreement
Bad: "We'll figure out the interview process as we go."
Good: Every stage is defined, every interviewer is assigned, and turnaround commitments are explicit before the first candidate is screened.
5. Soft intake (30-minute chat with no document)
Bad: Quick conversation, no follow-up, everyone remembers it differently.
Good: Intake doc sent within 24 hours, confirmed by [hiring manager]. This is the contract for the search.
Quality Checklist