Hiring Manager Intake Meeting Template

Hold the meeting before the job is posted. The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) tells federal managers and HR to discuss how they will assess and rank candidates well before any job opens¹. Bring the manager's notes, your salary bands and your record of similar searches.

For that record, export every similar job filled in the last two years: level, band, accepted offer and days from opening to acceptance. Group them by level and by where the accepted offer landed in its band.

Use medians, since one slow search distorts an average, and show how many jobs sit behind each. Here, senior searches paying above the band's 75th percentile took a median 67 days, against 118 at or below the midpoint. That's a pattern, not proof that money buys speed, but start your plan from it.

No salary bands yet? Start with a market-based salary band template.

Begin with what this person will have delivered 90 days in, specifically enough that you'd both agree it happened. Then ask what isn't getting done while the seat is empty, and who covers it.

Take the requirements one at a time, recording each answer as given:

• What will they do in week two that needs it?
• Could we teach it in the first quarter?
• How would we test it, rather than take their word for it?
• What would we accept instead?

A requirement stays a must-have only with a specific week-two task and a test behind it. The rest become strong preferences or preferences, recorded without argument and never deleted.

In the US, the EEOC says a requirement or test that screens out a protected group must be job related, associated with the skills needed to perform the job successfully². If an equally effective alternative screens out fewer people from that group, it says to use that instead.

Pick proven tests. A 2022 review led by Paul Sackett of the University of Minnesota ranked structured interviews, job knowledge tests and work samples among the best predictors of job performance³.

Ask for a date, not a quarter. Then ask what happens if it slips by a month, and what a week of delay costs. Contractor cover, a slipped launch or a customer commitment can each be priced by the week.

If the honest answer is "nothing much," write that down. The date is then a preference, and waiting for the right person costs little. An urgent date with nothing behind it tends to slip quietly, without anyone deciding.

Last, ask how long the manager expects this person to stay in the seat. A higher salary is paid every year, while delay and training costs are paid once, so the answer can flip which option is cheapest. Don't assume forever: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found private-sector employees had been with their current employer a median 3.9 years⁴ in January 2026.

Set the manager's date beside your median for the level and offer they want. If the median comes first, there's no conflict. If not, one of three things will happen, by choice now or by default later:

• Hold the level and budget, and accept a later start.
• Hold the level and date, and pay above the budget.
• Hold the date and budget, and hire at a lower level.

Widening the search or adding a sourcer may shorten your median, but plan on the old one until it moves. Price each option for one year and over the expected stay.

The higher offer is cheapest in year one and most expensive over the 3.1-year stay, and the lower level is the reverse. Here, the manager chose the later start: the long stay ruled out the higher offer, and a mid-level hire couldn't lead the project soon enough.

If you choose the higher offer, compare it with current staff pay using the job offer letter and pay equity check, and make sure the posted range covers it. New York State, for one, requires employers with four or more employees to post a range believed to be accurate at the time of posting⁵.

A date missed because feedback took a week isn't a sourcing failure. OPM counts the availability of managers to engage in hiring¹ among the challenges of federal hiring. Write down both sides' promises, each with an owner, like these:

• Recruiter: first candidates within 8 business days, then 4 a week.
• Recruiter: tell the manager the same week if your open roles rise above 6.
• Manager: feedback within 2 business days, and 3 interview slots held each week.
• Both: no new requirements without a new agreement, and a review if there's no offer by the median day.

Write the outcome on one page and sign it in the meeting, or the same day. Include the 90-day result, level and band, date and weekly cost, and expected stay. Add all three options with their numbers, the one you chose and what it gives up.

Keep the rejected options visible: when someone asks in month three why the search is slow, the answer is already agreed. Send a short note to everyone the choice affects, naming the cost and who approved it. Say where the cost lands: contractor cover booked outside salaries can make slow hiring look free.

Next, turn the agreed requirements into a posting with the job description and requirement register, and give each test to one interviewer using the interview process and scorecard template. To skip the arithmetic, choose Edit with AI: River builds the time-to-fill table and prices the options for you.