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The TalentMaps library
Field guides for recruitment agencies. Learn how to research a market, present it to a client and charge for the work.
43 field guidesFree to read. No signup.
A complete guide to the work.
What talent mapping means for a recruitment agency, not corporate HR: how to build a map, deliver a search with it, and sell market intelligence as a service. The hub guide, with links to go deep on each part.
Read the complete guideFrom blank page to finished talent map.
Talent mapping is the practice of identifying and profiling the people in a market who could fill a role before you need to fill it. A plain-English definition for agencies: what a map contains, and how it differs from market mapping, pipelining and recruitment.
Recruiters use these three terms interchangeably, but they mean different things. A clear, agency-side definition of each and when to use which.
Talent mapping describes a market; executive search engages it to fill a specific role, and headhunting is the act of approaching the person you want. A clear, agency-side distinction — and how a paid map wins the search that follows.
Talent mapping is commissioned once and paid whether or not a hire follows. Contingent recruitment is paid only if a candidate is placed in one specific role. A clear, agency-side comparison of how the two are priced, when to use which, and how they work together.
Learn how recruiters map an external market: scope the brief, select employers, identify relevant people and present the findings. Includes a worked example and free templates.
The repeatable talent mapping process for recruiters: scope the brief, build the company list, find the people, enrich the profiles and present a client-ready map. Template included.
The anatomy of a client-ready market mapping report: the seven sections that belong in it, what separates intelligence from raw data, and how to present a map so the client acts on it.
How to run a shortlist presentation: restate the brief, explain the field, present candidates against the same requirements, write evidence-backed fit notes and leave with decisions. Includes an annotated example and a printable agenda.
The briefs clients pay for.
When should you offer a talent map? When a client says one of these five things. The trigger phrases that signal a mapping brief is coming, and how to turn each into a scoped, paid project.
What is a market-entry talent map? It answers whether the talent exists in a location, what it costs, and who's already there — turning a gut-feel expansion call into a sourced decision. How to scope and deliver one.
What is a succession talent map? A confidential map of the external candidates who could replace a critical leader — built before the seat is empty. When clients need one, how to run it discreetly, and what to hand over.
What is a competitor talent map? An org view of a rival's team — structure, key people, seniority, pay and reachability — sold as intelligence, not a poaching list. What it contains, how to build it, and why clients pay for it.
How mapping bends to each market.
What does talent mapping look like in fintech? A read on a market that hires in funding-driven bursts — the competitor set, the regulated roles with tiny pools, and why a map sells when the money is moving. How to scope and price one.
What does talent mapping look like in legal recruitment? A read on a market where the value sits in partners and practice groups, not CVs — who holds the portable client books, which teams are deep or thin, and who could move. How to scope and price a legal talent map.
What does talent mapping look like in life sciences? A read on a market where the talent is scarce, hyper-specialised and clustered by geography — which therapeutic areas, which named scientists and clinical leaders, and whether they'll move. How to scope a life-sciences talent map.
What does talent mapping look like in private equity? Two markets, both paid: the executives PE firms install in portfolio companies, and the investment professionals inside the funds. How to scope one, with a worked portfolio-CFO example and a calibration matrix.
Build a cybersecurity talent map using a worked cloud-security brief, employer-selection matrix and capability checks. Includes current UK context and clearance boundaries.
Build a SaaS talent map around a worked sales-leadership brief. Includes employer selection, sales-motion checks, candidate evidence and questions for qualification.
What does talent mapping look like in renewable energy? A read on a market being built from adjacent industries and hiring in policy-driven waves — the subsector split, the talent crossing in from oil and gas, the regional hubs, and how to scope a cleantech talent map.
What does talent mapping look like in professional services? A read on accountancy, audit, tax and advisory firms built on the up-or-out pyramid — mapping by service line and grade, the Big Four to industry flow, and partner-level moves. How to scope one.
What does talent mapping look like in banking, insurance and asset management? A read on a market where the senior roles are regulated and the register is public — but the structure, pay and reachability behind the names are not. How to scope and price a financial services talent map.
What does talent mapping look like in healthcare? The NHS publishes its workforce to the person, but the briefs agencies get paid for sit in the layer around it — private providers, clinical leadership, interims and digital health — where shortage rules and the registers only tell you half. How to scope one.
What does talent mapping look like in engineering and manufacturing? Engineers work in every industry, so the map is drawn by discipline, industry and geography at once — and much of the hiring moves with projects, sites and an ageing senior bench. How to scope one.
What does talent mapping look like in construction? A construction map follows projects, sites, contractors and specialist trades rather than neat HQ org charts — and it tells a client whether a bid, region or build programme is actually staffable.
Build a public sector talent map using role scope, published structures and pay evidence. Includes a worked example, source checks and commissioning guidance.
Map logistics and supply chain leaders by site, network and operational responsibility. Includes a worked example, source checks and a delivery checklist.
Build a defence talent map around programme experience, disciplines and sites. Learn how to separate evidence of capability from security checks and availability.
The functions clients hire for, and what changes when you map each one.
Map sales leaders by sales motion, team scope and commercial responsibility. Includes a worked example, evidence checks and a client-report checklist.
Map CFOs and finance directors by ownership, remit and transaction experience. Includes a worked example, source checks and the limits of company filings.
Map engineering leaders by management scope, technical authority and delivery context. Compare CTOs, VPs and principal engineers with a practical worked example.
Map HR directors and CPOs by operating model, workforce and change experience. Includes a worked example, research checks and confidential delivery guidance.
Package, price and convert the work.
A practical playbook for recruitment agencies on packaging, pricing, pitching and delivering talent mapping as a paid service, not a free pitch giveaway.
How does a talent map win a retained search? A paid map gets you a warm, already-buying client and proof you know their market — so the search is yours to lose. The economics and the structure, laid out.
A sourced comparison of talent mapping software for agencies mapping external markets: sourcing platforms, labour-market analytics, agency CRMs and dedicated mapping tools, with current published pricing, a decision matrix and a buying worksheet.
The data behind the pitch.
UK recruitment market data for October 2026: ONS vacancies and KPMG & REC hiring trends, with source dates, the vacancy series and practical interpretation for agencies.
Offer talent mapping during a hiring freeze when a client has a research decision to fund. Define the scope, confirm the budget and agree any follow-on search separately.
A published pricing model for UK talent mapping. At an assumed £550 day rate, a typical single-function map models at around £5,500 as a fixed fee, from roughly £2,750 for a broad brief to £15,000 for a rare executive one. Every assumption is stated, so you can swap in your own.
Short, citable definitions of the terms clients and candidates use.
Talent intelligence uses workforce evidence to guide hiring and workforce decisions. Explore data sources, practical examples and how it relates to talent mapping.
Executive search research maps employers and potential leaders for a senior hire. Learn the workflow, researcher role, evidence standards and deliverables.
Org chart mapping reconstructs teams, roles and reporting lines from evidence. Learn how recruiters build a useful chart and label gaps and inferred relationships.
Talent pipelining builds and maintains relationships with people for future roles. Learn the stages, useful metrics and how a pipeline differs from a talent pool.
Candidate mapping identifies and assesses potential candidates against a specific role. Learn the process, useful fields and how it differs from sourcing.
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