Talent management acquisition is the seam between two things a small HR team runs: the talent review, which places the people already inside on the grid and slates successors, and talent acquisition, which brings people in from outside. The seam is a decision, taken one role at a time: does the review have a successor ready, or ready soon enough, or does the role go to market? Most small teams take the decision by feel, hire, and then discover the backfill and the ramp they did not cost. This page is about taking it with the numbers in front of you, for the HR lead or owner of a small team, and it points at the free build-or-buy worksheet on this site that sets the two routes against each other for one role.
What the review has to say before acquisition starts
Acquisition should begin where the succession plan ends. For the role in question the review already holds three facts: whether anyone is slated for it, how ready that person is, and how long it would take to make them ready. If the slate is empty the role goes to market and the only question is cost. If the slate has a name that is ready now, the question is why the company would pay to hire. The hard case is the name that is ready in nine months for a role that falls empty in three, and that is the case the arithmetic is for. The CIPD's talent management factsheet, cited below, describes the review and the plan as one process for exactly this reason: the plan is what tells acquisition whether to start.
Costing the external hire whole: the fee and the ramp
An external hire costs more than the agency fee. It costs the interview time, the onboarding, and the months the new person is paid at full salary while not yet delivering full output. The build-or-buy worksheet takes the fee and the onboarding as one figure of yours, takes the salary and the months to full productivity, and counts the ramp at half productivity across those months. On the worked example a $30,000 hire cost and six months of ramp on a $90,000 salary is $52,500 to buy the role. The half is the worksheet's stated method; every other figure is the reader's own, and no benchmark is published.
Costing the internal successor whole: the development and the backfill
Developing the internal candidate costs what the plan costs, courses, coaching and cover for a stretch assignment, and it costs the backfill of the role they leave behind, which most build-or-buy comparisons forget. The worksheet puts both on the line: $12,000 of development and $15,000 of backfill is $27,000 to build, on the worked example, which is $25,500 less than buying and three months slower. Which the role needs is the company's decision, and the worksheet decides nothing about it; it shows the difference in money and in months so the decision is made on both.
What Ninebix keeps, and what stays with the recruiter
Ninebix keeps the review side of the seam: the critical roles, the slates, each successor's readiness dated, and the build-or-buy sheet against the role it was worked for. It does not run the acquisition: there is no applicant tracking, no job posting and no candidate pipeline here, and those belong to a recruiting product. The subscription is for the record that tells acquisition when to start; the worksheets are free and need no account.
Questions people ask about talent management acquisition
What is the difference between talent management and talent acquisition?
Talent management develops and places the people already in the company; talent acquisition brings people in from outside. The seam between them is the decision, per role, to develop a successor or to hire, and the build-or-buy worksheet on this site costs both routes from your own figures.
When should a company hire externally rather than promote?
When the slate is empty, when the successor cannot be ready in time, or when the role needs something the company does not have. The worksheet shows the money and the months of each route so the decision is taken on both; it publishes no rule about which to choose.
Does Ninebix do applicant tracking?
No. Ninebix keeps the review, the slates and the readiness that tell acquisition when to start, and the build-or-buy sheet for each role. Posting the job and running the pipeline belong to a recruiting product.