Hiring Campaign Diagnostic | Xist4 | Bristol & London

Before your role goes live, or after a campaign has stopped moving, we review the brief, salary, advert, sourcing plan and candidate journey to show where the search is likely to get stuck, or where it already has.

A role that stays open costs you. A role filled by the wrong person costs you more.

The Hiring Campaign Diagnostic is a two-day review of your role, salary, job description, advert, sourcing plan and candidate journey.

It is designed for two situations: before your role goes live, when you want to make sure the campaign is set up properly, and after a search has stalled, when you need to understand what is holding it back.

Two days. £1,500 fixed.

A clear written plan before more time is lost.

 

Why this matters

Most hiring problems start earlier than people think.

Not at interview. Not at offer. Not when the right candidate disappears.

They usually start with an unclear brief, the wrong salary benchmark, a role that has been written for internal approval rather than the candidate market, or a process that good people will not wait around for.

By the time the problem is obvious, the campaign has often already lost weeks.

The Diagnostic is designed to catch those issues before they become expensive.

What we review

We take your role, whether it is planned, live or already stalled, and review it across the areas that usually decide whether a campaign works.

Salary and market position

Is the salary aligned with what the market is actually paying, or is the campaign asking for more than the budget can realistically attract?

Role definition

Is the role clear, realistic and properly scoped, or is it trying to solve too many problems at once?

Job description

Does the job description explain what the person will actually do, what success looks like and why the role matters?

Advert

Is the advert written for candidates, or does it read like an internal document copied onto a job board?

Sourcing strategy

Are you looking in the right places, or relying on channels that are unlikely to reach the people you need?

Active and passive candidate mix

Can this role be filled through applicants alone, or does it need a more proactive search?

Talent pool realism

Do the people you want actually exist in the numbers you need, at the salary you are offering, in the location or working pattern you require?

Candidate journey

Is the process clear, timely and credible, or are good candidates likely to lose momentum before a decision is made?

Interview process

Are the stages, assessments and decision points helping you choose well, or creating friction that slows everything down?

Employer story

Does the role give the right person a reason to move, especially if they are already in a good job?

What you get back

You get a practical written report with a red-amber-green scorecard showing where the campaign is strong, where it is exposed and what needs fixing first.

You also get:

  • a clear view of the main risks in the current campaign
  • salary and market feedback
  • recommendations on the brief, advert and candidate proposition
  • guidance on where to source and how to keep the role visible
  • a four-week action plan
  • quick wins you can act on immediately
  • a walkthrough call to discuss the findings

The aim is simple: you finish with a plan, not a PDF to file.

Who it is for

The Diagnostic is useful if:

  • you are about to recruit directly and want to check the campaign before it goes live
  • a role has been advertised but response has been poor
  • you are not sure whether the salary is right
  • the job description feels too broad, unclear or internal
  • you are struggling to attract senior or specialist candidates
  • candidates are dropping out or going quiet
  • the hiring process feels slow, unclear or over-complicated
  • you want to understand the market before committing to a full search

It is especially useful for data, technology, AI, cyber security, software, infrastructure and leadership roles where the wrong brief, salary or route to market can cost weeks.

What it costs

The Hiring Campaign Diagnostic is £1,500 fixed.

It takes two days.

There is no obligation to use Xist4 for the search afterwards. The Diagnostic stands alone.

If you do want help with the search after the Diagnostic, we can talk about the right way to support you.

Why Xist4

Xist4 was built on 26 years in specialist recruitment across data, technology, AI, cyber security and leadership.

We know where campaigns tend to fail: vague briefs, misaligned salaries, overlong processes, weak adverts, unrealistic candidate profiles and poor communication with candidates.

We also know that recruitment done badly is expensive in ways that rarely show up neatly on an invoice.

Time gets lost. Delivery slows. Hiring managers get pulled away from their day job. Candidates lose interest. And sometimes, the organisation ends up hiring the wrong person just to end the search.

The Diagnostic is built to prevent that.

 

Recruiting it yourself, or rescuing a search that has stalled?

If you want to understand why a role is not moving, or check the campaign before it goes live, we would be glad to talk it through.

Book Xist4's Hiring Campaign Diagnostic

A proven 5-step process

 

1. Discover

You complete a short discovery questionnaire and join a consultation call. We use this to understand your recruitment goals, the role you are hiring for, the challenges you have faced and what success looks like.

2. Benchmark

We analyse your salary position, sourcing channels and talent availability against live market data in your sector, so you know exactly where you stand, whether your campaign is yet to launch or has already been running.

3. Assess

Using our ten-point framework we evaluate your recruitment approach across job adverts, candidate experience, employer brand, sourcing mix, role design and more, identifying where you are strong and where you have gaps.

4. Advise

We translate the findings into clear, practical recommendations backed by 26 years of specialist recruitment experience in data, technology and leadership. No generic guidance. Specific actions you can take immediately.

5. Deliver

You receive your branded Hiring Campaign Diagnostic report, complete with a visual scorecard and market data. We then walk you through the findings on a playback call, answer your questions and agree what happens next.

What our clients say

Testimonials

Xist4’s Executive Search solved our lack of time and market reach, truly understood our brief, and delivered strong candidates from near and far while keeping us updated each week. We made the hire within seven weeks and would not go back to our old approach.

Our first experience with Xist4 was excellent: they prepared thoroughly, understood a new role in an unfamiliar industry, kept us on track with regular catch ups, and even gave us ATS access. Their commitment to diversity and Gozie’s responsive, reliable approach helped us find not just one but several outstanding candidates.

Referred by a trusted partner after wasting time elsewhere, Xist4 quickly understood our brief and delivered quality candidates fast, even posting the advert within hours. Professional throughout the interviews and offer stage; we will use them again and strongly recommend them.

As a FinTech start-up without a dedicated HR team, we needed a specialist who truly “gets it”. Xist4 matched both the technical and cultural brief, quickly placing two outstanding Quant Developers; we’ll be partnering with them again and highly recommend their work.

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