Countless talent acquisition teams are stuck in reactive cycles, constantly dashing between holes in the talent wall and not preventing them in the first place.
Instead of being talent partners, they are recruiting order takers.
After years in this space and talking to some of the brilliant minds, I've found that combining 3 practical concepts can transform how we approach hiring problems:
- Product Management Methodology
- First Principles Thinking
- Strategic Role Launches
These product-led principles allow us to speak out about what we are doing strategically.
We also need to adopt this mindset to ensure that when we partner with AI, we’re only putting good into the systems.
1. The Product Manager Mindset
Product managers excel at defining their user. TA teams can adopt this by reframing processes.
For example, instead of an 'intake meeting', consider it a 'product launch'.
Why? The language of building resonates with stakeholders, and no one wants to launch a failed product. Consider this:
- The role is your product
- The description is your product spec
- Candidate personas replace target customers
- Define your success criteria upfront before launching
- Measure cost in time and efficiency through the process
This reframing shifts hiring from a procedural task to strategic planning with clear deliverables.
Combined with AI tools to standardise assessments and identify patterns. This approach creates consistency and improves outcomes.
2. First Principles: Slowing Down to Speed Up
When hiring managers send urgent "we need someone yesterday" requests, the instinct is to act fast: post the job, schedule interviews and start moving.
But this reactive approach often undermines TA’s strategic value and details get overlooked when rushing.
We're treating symptoms instead of solving root problems.
Product managers avoid this by going back to basics: researching, talking to users and addressing the core issue.
TA can do the same by asking foundational questions upfront:
- What business problem will this hire solve?
- What outcomes must they deliver in six months?
- What three skills are truly non-negotiable when screening?
- How does the team define key terms (e.g. managing ambiguity)?
Though slower initially, this approach reduces wasted effort, unqualified candidates, and unnecessary interviews.
The result? Higher-quality hires, stronger partnerships with hiring teams, and high retention.
Coming Up Next...
In the next edition, we’re sharing 3 job description frameworks and providing a no-nonsense product TA strategy to tie it all together.
Stay tuned!