What Helps Before You Engage with a Recruiter
If you want to get the most value from your recruitment partner, here’s what’s useful to have ready, or at least start thinking about:
1. Clarity on the Problem You’re Trying to Solve
Recruitment isn’t just about replacing a role. It’s about solving a business problem.Do you need:
A person to free up your time?
A specialist to drive revenue?
Someone to lead or shape a team?
Knowing the why behind the hire helps shape the who.
2. An Outline of the Role (Even If It’s Rough)
You don’t need a polished job spec, but having a basic idea of:
What the person will do day-to-day
The skills or experience you think they’ll need
What success will look like in 3–6 months
…makes it easier for your recruiter to challenge and shape the role with you.
3. Some Sense of Budget
You don’t need to know the going rate for every role (we can help with that), but having a rough idea of your salary ceiling, bonus potential, or flexibility on package will help keep the search grounded and realistic.
4. An Honest View of What’s in Place Internally
Are your values clear?
Do you have an onboarding plan?
Can you describe your culture confidently?
If not, don’t panic. But this is the kind of stuff that attracts (and keeps) great people, so a recruiter might flag where improvements will help you stand out.
What If I Have None of That?
That’s absolutely fine, you’re not behind. Some of our best partnerships start with:“We know we need someone… but we’re not even sure what that looks like yet.”
In these cases, a specialist recruiter acts more like a hiring partner. We can help you:
Define the real business need
Shape a role and title that fits
Benchmark salaries and packages
Challenge assumptions or internal blockers
Help build the structure and onboarding plan
You don’t need a polished job description to start. You just need the willingness to explore and build it together.
What If I Do Have Everything in Place?
Brilliant. But don’t be afraid to have it challenged.
A good recruiter will never undermine what you’ve built but they will help pressure-test it. We often see job specs or hiring processes that sound great on paper but don’t land well in today’s market.
Being open to feedback on your spec, salary, interview process, or even the type of person you’re targeting can be the difference between hiring someone and hiring the right someone.
Final Thought: Recruitment Is a Collaboration
Whether you come to a recruiter with a clear brief or just a pain point, the most important thing is to treat it as a two-way partnership. You bring the vision and business insight. We’ll bring market knowledge, candidate access, and honest feedback that helps you make the best decision for your team.
You don’t have to have it all figured out to start the conversation. You just have to start it.
