--- title: Treat Hiring Managers as Customers | Case Study description: How a life sciences company built its recruiting strategy with 159 hiring managers and its recruiters, then funded a new hub from the model it replaced. image: https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-strategy-and-roadmap-at-a-life-sciences-company#main-content) [![PeopleCentrix](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hubfs/assets/images/peoplecentrix-logo.svg "PeopleCentrix")](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/) [LET'S CONNECT →](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Insights](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) Show submenu for Insights - [Our Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) - [People Strategy](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-strategy) - [People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) - [How We Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work) - [Insights](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) Show submenu for Insights - [Our Work](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) - [Our Thinking](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-thinking) - [About Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) - [Work With Us](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) People Centricity case study # Treat Hiring Managers *as Customers*: A Recruiting Strategy **159**people managers surveyed, in 3 languages **35**recruiters rating the same priorities **3**days of design sprint, 14 people in the room **5**pillars, from workforce planning to new-hire success Snapshot Client A life sciences company (anonymised) Sector, size, geography Private Sector; 5,000–10,000 staff; headquartered in Europe, with operations worldwide Engagement People Centricity · Attract Our role Led the definition of the talent acquisition strategy and roadmap — voice of the customer with people managers and recruiters, outside-in view of recruiting practices and peer models, design sprint, strategy and operating model, indicator map, leadership playback and offsite; activation by the client Mode of engagement Led Timeframe 2022 Project duration 3–6 months · Empathise, Strategise, Realise (approval and operating model) and Analyse (indicators by pillar); activation by the client The situation ## The question behind *the question.* This company hires hundreds of people a year, in many countries. Its people strategy had made recruiting excellence a pillar, and a small global talent acquisition team had just been created to deliver it. In its 2 largest European markets, recruiting ran through an outsourced provider that had reached its limits: more steps, falling satisfaction, no way to scale further. The new team had a mandate, not yet a strategy. And the managers who hire, its first customers, had not yet been asked what they needed. As it was asked “Help us write our talent acquisition strategy.” As we reframed it Treat the managers who hire and the recruiters who serve them as the customers of the strategy: hear them first, design the answer with them, and fund the new model from the one it replaces. How we worked ## Four moves, *one loop.* This engagement ran on the [People Centricity Methodology™](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work): four moves turning what people say and do into insight, insight into choices, choices into measured impact — and impact back into evidence. 01 ### Empathise Data → Insights Understand before prescribing. We started with the people who use the service, and with the market around it. 159 people managers answered a survey in 3 languages; 35 recruiters answered its mirror, rating the same priorities and their own capabilities. Focus groups with managers and with the recruiting team added the reasons behind the scores, and the hiring manager’s path was mapped step by step. Outside in, we set leading recruiting practices and peers’ operating models against it. Read side by side, more than 750 manager wishes and the recruiters’ ratings narrowed to a short list of gaps: the problem statement. 02 ### Strategise Insights → Strategy Turn insight into choices. Then 3 days in a room with 14 people, run as a design sprint. Only priorities that at least 40% of respondents ranked in their top 3 made the agenda. 2 journey maps of 8 steps, the hiring manager’s and the candidate’s, framed the choices; ideas were voted on, the leader who owned the result made the final call, and the rest were filed as maybe-later. 5 design principles held the line, among them business-driven, data-driven and a deliberate balance of global and local. The result: 5 pillars, 4 enablers and 12 initiatives for the first 6 months; 2 more waited a year. 03 ### Realise Strategy → Impact Make it real, and make it yours. Then the decision and the model. HR leadership shaped the strategy at its own offsite, approved it, and wrote 3 of the initiatives into its own scorecard. The change reached hiring managers too: one recruitment policy, one requisition process, and training in how to recruit. In place of the outsourced provider came a hub serving 4 European countries, staffed by language rather than by country and funded by the contract it ended; further waves would need their own funding model. Each initiative got a charter, a sponsor and a core team. 2 of them, [candidate assessment](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/candidate-assessment-methods-at-a-life-sciences-company) and [recruiting KPIs](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/talent-acquisition-kpis-at-a-life-sciences-company), brought us back that autumn. 04 ### Analyse Impact → Data Measure, learn, return. Value was mapped before it was promised. Each pillar got its indicators, from time to fill and offer acceptance to probation pass rate and first-year attrition, so progress could be read pillar by pillar. The hub’s case rested on cost neutrality, not on projected savings. And early attrition, already on the company scorecard, became the strategy’s test of hiring quality: the clearest sign of whether better recruiting produces people who stay. The instrument ### Designed from the customer’s journey **Map.** 2 journeys, the hiring manager’s and the candidate’s, each in 8 steps, with every gap from the surveys and focus groups pinned to the step where the customer feels it. **Sketch alone.** Everyone drafts solutions on their own before any discussion, so the loudest idea does not set the agenda. **Decide once.** Ideas are shown and voted on, the leader who owns the result makes the final call, and each winner becomes an initiative with an owner. A strategy designed around the customer’s journey, not the function’s org chart, and chosen by the people who will deliver it. What moved ## What changed, *and what didn't.* **12**initiatives chartered within weeks of approval, each with a sponsor and a core team Evidence Decision taken Adopted in practice Measured impact What moved HR leadership approved the strategy in the summer of 2022, and it went straight into delivery: **12** initiatives were chartered within weeks, each with a sponsor, a lead and a core team. The European hub went live at the end of the year, in place of the outsourced provider, at no extra cost. What didn't move The value case stopped at cost neutrality: the gains of faster, better hiring were mapped to indicators, not priced. Candidates and new hires were represented through journey maps, not heard directly, and limited capacity in the recruiting team and in HR IT put the full first-year plan at risk. What we'd say to a peer A recruiting strategy is judged by the managers who hire. Hear them first, set the recruiters’ view beside theirs, and let the people who will deliver it choose in the room. Then fund the new model from the one it replaces, and agree how value will be read before anyone promises it. [Let's talk](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/work-with-us) [Discover People Centricity](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/people-centricity) [Read more cases](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) **Method note:** [People Centricity Methodology™](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/how-we-work); mirrored surveys of 159 managers and 35 recruiters; focus groups; 3-day design sprint; indicators by pillar. ## Keep reading [![Ask HR’s Users and HR’s Providers the Same Questions](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg?width=300&name=case-post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [Ask HR’s Users and HR’s Providers the Same Questions](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/post-pandemic-people-strategy-refresh-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [![A People Strategy That Listened to Every Shift](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg?width=300&name=case-people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [A People Strategy That Listened to Every Shift](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2026-2031-at-a-multilateral-organisation) [![A People Strategy Boards Could Fund, Not Just Approve](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/hs-fs/hubfs/social-sharing/cases/case-people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution.jpg?width=300&name=case-people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution.jpg)](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) ###### [Our Work,](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work)[Case Study](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/our-work) ##### [A People Strategy Boards Could Fund, Not Just Approve](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) [Tanguy Dulac](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/about-us) [Read More](https://www.peoplecentrix.eu/blog/people-strategy-2023-2028-at-a-public-institution) WeAreHuman@Work One piece of evidence on sustainable work, every Sunday. 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