Checklist

Hiring Kick-off Checklist

Get aligned before you start hiring.

A good hiring process starts before the job ad goes live.

Use this checklist with your hiring manager to clarify what you're actually hiring for, what success looks like and how you'll assess it.

Start the checklist

Quick Checklist One-page version

Use this checklist in your hiring kick-off

Go through the sections with your hiring manager and mark them complete as you align on the role.

Capture the outcome in your notes or, where appropriate and with everyone's consent, use your organisation's approved transcription tool.

When you are done, bring the transcript or your notes to EuliAI and turn them into a structured Hiring Kit.

1.Prepare
Review the information you already have.
2.Discuss
Work through the checklist with your hiring manager.
3.Capture
Take notes or create an approved transcript.
4.Build
Bring the outcome to EuliAI.

Prepare

Before the kick-off: Do your homework

A good hiring kick-off starts before the meeting. Spend 10–15 minutes gathering the information that's already available so you can use the conversation for the questions that actually need discussion.

Review the existing job description, if there is one. Check when it was last updated rather than assuming it's still accurate.
Check the org chart. Understand where the role sits, who it reports to and how the team is structured.
Review internal documentation. Check Confluence, your intranet or other relevant sources for team, product and role context.
Look at previous or similar vacancies, but use them as context, not as a template to copy blindly.
Check your ATS. Review previous hiring processes for the role or team. What requirements, interview stages and challenges came up before?
Understand the business context. What does the team do, what are its current priorities and why might this hire matter now?
Check what you already know: salary range, location, working model, contract type, headcount approval and target start date.
Note what's missing or contradictory. These become your kick-off questions.

The goal isn't to arrive knowing everything. It's to avoid spending the kick-off asking questions you could have answered yourself.

2. Define what success looks like

Experience requirements are only useful if they connect to what someone actually needs to achieve.

What should this person achieve in their first 3–6 months?
What would make you say after 12 months: "This was a great hire"?
What are the 3–5 most important outcomes of the role?
Which problems should they be able to solve independently?
What distinguishes someone who is good in this role from someone who is excellent?

Instead of

5+ years of experience with X.

Try

Can independently do X in situation Y to achieve Z.

3. Define and challenge the requirements

For every requirement, ask one question first: Is this really necessary to succeed in the role?

What does good performance look like?
What evidence would demonstrate this?
Does the candidate need prior experience, or would transferable experience work?
How will we assess it?

Must-have

Nice-to-have

Learnable on the job

Not actually necessary

If nobody knows how a requirement will be assessed, challenge whether it really belongs in the must-have list.

4. Responsibilities & ownership

What will this person actually spend their time doing?
What are their 3–5 core responsibilities?
Which responsibilities are most important?
What will they own independently?
Where will they collaborate with others?
What decisions can they make themselves?
Are responsibilities in the existing job description outdated or unrealistic?

5. Candidate motivation

A hiring kick-off shouldn't only define what you want from candidates. It should also clarify why a strong candidate would choose you.

Why would a strong candidate want this job?
What can they learn here?
What level of ownership will they have?
What makes the team interesting?
What is genuinely different about this opportunity?
What could make candidates hesitate?
Are we being realistic about what we can offer?

6. Design the hiring process

Don't start by scheduling interviews. Start with what needs to be assessed.

Who assesses it?
At which stage?
With which question, task or evidence?
What does a strong answer look like?
Is another interviewer already assessing the same thing?

Criterion

Owner

Interview stage

Assessment method

Expected evidence

Recruiter Screen

What should Recruiting assess?

Hiring Manager Interview

What requires deeper functional or role-specific assessment?

Practical Assessment

What is important enough that the candidate should demonstrate it?

Additional Interview

Is it necessary and what unique signal does it add?

Every critical criterion needs an owner.
Every interview stage needs a purpose.

7. Agree on decision rules

Agree on the rules before meeting candidates, not after developing a favourite.

Which criteria are non-negotiable?
Which criteria can be compensated by strengths elsewhere?
What would constitute insufficient evidence?
What are genuine deal-breakers?
How will interviewers record evidence?
Who makes the final decision?
How will disagreements be resolved?

Ready to hire?

Final check

Before opening the role, you should be able to say:

We know why we're hiring.
We know what success looks like.
Our must-haves are genuinely necessary.
Every must-have is assessable.
Every important criterion has an interview owner.
Every interview stage has a clear purpose.
We know what evidence we're looking for.
Candidates can understand why this role is worth considering.
Our job ad and interview process describe the same job.

Next step

Kick-off done? Bring the conversation to EuliAI.

Bring your transcript or notes. EuliAI structures the information from your kick-off and helps you turn it into a Hiring Kit for the role.

No transcript? You can also continue with EuliAI's guided intake.

Upload transcript or notes Continue with guided intake