intake-meeting

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