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Field guides for modern agency recruiting.
Talent and market mapping for agencies, not corporate HR: how to build a map, present it to a client, and charge for the work.
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Talent mapping for recruitment agencies: the complete guide
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 guideFoundations
07From blank page to finished talent map.
What is talent mapping? A definition for recruiters
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.
Read guideTalent mapping vs market mapping vs pipelining
Recruiters use these three terms interchangeably, but they mean different things. A clear, agency-side definition of each and when to use which.
Read guideTalent mapping vs executive search (and headhunting)
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.
Read guideTalent mapping vs recruitment (and contingency search)
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.
Read guideHow to market map a sector, worked end to end
Recruitment market mapping shown as a full worked example: defining the brief, building the company universe, mapping the people and layering the intelligence on one real sector.
Read guideHow to do talent mapping in recruitment, step by step
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.
Read guideWhat goes in a market map (and how to present it)
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.
Read guideBy use case
04The briefs clients pay for.
5 things a client says right before they need a talent map
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.
Read guideMarket-entry talent mapping: answering 'should we open here?'
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.
Read guideSuccession talent mapping: mapping a replacement, quietly
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.
Read guideCompetitor talent mapping: selling intelligence, not candidates
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.
Read guideBy sector
12How mapping bends to each market.
Talent mapping for fintech: mapping a market that hires in waves
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for legal: mapping a market built on lateral moves
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for life sciences: mapping scarce talent in tight clusters
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for private equity: mapping management teams, not just deal teams
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. A discreet, relationship-driven market where a map is the only way in — how to scope one.
Read guideTalent mapping for cybersecurity: mapping a market with more roles than people
What does talent mapping look like in cybersecurity? A read on a market defined by shortage — which specialist domain (offensive, GRC, cloud, OT), who's genuinely skilled rather than just certified, who holds security clearance, and who'll move. How to scope a cyber talent map.
Read guideTalent mapping for SaaS: mapping a market that never sits still
What does talent mapping look like in SaaS? A read on a fast-churning market where go-to-market matters as much as engineering — the revenue engine, the segment competitor set, OTE-heavy comp, and why a map has to be refreshed often. How to scope one.
Read guideTalent mapping for renewable energy: mapping the energy transition's talent
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for professional services: mapping the partnership pyramid
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for financial services: mapping the regulated core
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for healthcare: mapping the market around the NHS
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.
Read guideTalent mapping for engineering and manufacturing: mapping an occupation, not a sector
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 approaching retirement cliff. How to scope one.
Read guideTalent mapping for construction: mapping project-shaped workforces
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.
Read guideSell it as a service
03Package, price and convert the work.
How to sell talent mapping as a service
A practical playbook for recruitment agencies on packaging, pricing, pitching and delivering talent mapping as a paid service, not a free pitch giveaway.
Read guideFrom talent map to retained search: the deliverable that wins the brief
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.
Read guideTalent mapping tools for recruitment agencies, compared
Most talent mapping software lists are built for corporate HR. This comparison covers the tools that matter for agencies mapping external markets: sourcing platforms, intelligence suites, agency CRMs and dedicated mapping tools.
Read guideMarket intelligence
03The data behind the pitch.
UK recruitment market snapshot: the hiring data that matters
Is the UK recruitment market recovering in 2026? Not yet. Vacancies, permanent placements, temp billings and candidate availability for agency owners — each sourced to ONS and the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs, updated monthly.
Read guideTalent mapping in a frozen market: staying billable when hiring stalls
Does talent mapping work when hiring is frozen? Yes — and often better than in a boom. Why a softer market makes mapping more valuable, and how agencies position it as a paid deliverable.
Read guideUK talent mapping fee benchmark: what a map costs in 2026
How much does talent mapping cost? A typical single-function UK talent map prices at around £5,500 as a fixed project fee, ranging from roughly £2,750 for a broad volume brief to £15,000 for a rare executive one. The model behind those numbers, published in full.
Read guide