Run a hiring intake meeting as a mandatory 45-minute kickoff before the job posts. It produces three artifacts: a locked role profile, written decision criteria, and a documented interview plan. Force the hiring manager to rank must-haves, name every interviewer and what they assess, and identify all veto holders. Here is the step-by-step.

Related reading: Why Your Hiring Process Is Breaking · What Is a Hiring Intake Meeting? A Recruiter’s Definition · How to Cap Interview Rounds: A Decision-Gate Framework.

Before You Start

Schedule the intake before any sourcing begins — posting first guarantees a moving target. Bring a scorecard template and a decision-chain worksheet. The intake is the contract that change control later enforces, so treat it as the first deliverable of the search. See the pillar on fixing broken hiring for how intake anchors the whole system.

Step 1: Lock the role profile

Force the hiring manager to commit to one profile and rank requirements as must-have versus nice-to-have. A ranked, written profile is what stops the mid-search “actually, we need someone more senior” pivot. If the manager will not commit, the search is not ready to open.

Step 2: Write the decision criteria

Define what “qualified” means in concrete terms, then turn it into a scorecard every interviewer uses. Written criteria remove panel subjectivity and give your decision gates something objective to enforce.

Step 3: Map the decision chain

Name every person with stop authority, including hidden client or vendor approvers. This is where you catch the veto holder who would otherwise appear in the final round. Place them at an early gate in the plan.

Step 4: Build the interview plan

Assign each round a single purpose and interviewer, set the round cap, and define the decision gate criteria. The plan becomes the structure your ATS enforces with fixed stages.

Step 5: Set the communication SLA

Agree the update cadence and the owner of candidate communication. Decide which status changes trigger which messages and the deadline for each. This is what prevents ghosting downstream.

How to Know It Worked

A successful intake produces a profile that does not change mid-search, a scorecard every interviewer actually completes, and a decision chain with no surprise approvers. Track mid-search change requests — a working intake drives them toward zero.

Common Mistakes

Treating intake as optional is the original sin — skip it and every downstream failure becomes inevitable. Letting the hiring manager keep the profile vague invites the goalpost move. Forgetting to map the decision chain leaves the veto holder to ambush the process at the end.