Episode 43
How Celonis is using Prioritization and Agile Swarming to hire talent 2X faster | with Kevin Blair
Most TA leaders optimize metrics that look good on a scorecard but miss the business outcomes that matter. Kevin Blair shares how Celonis uses a nine-block prioritization model and agile swarming to cut time-to-fill from 120 days to 19 days on high-value roles.
Episode Key Takeaways
Reducing time-to-hire across the board is a vanity metric. One leader cut hiring time by 40% by accelerating low-value, high-volume roles—making the scorecard green while hard-to-fill, revenue-critical positions stayed stuck at 120 days. The real lever is differentiation: allocate resources to where they move the needle for the business.
Kevin Blair’s nine-block model plots roles on two axes: business value (does this role make money?) and hiring complexity (talent scarcity, brand pull, process velocity, compensation fit). This separates roles that *look* important from roles that *are* important, and surfaces which ones deserve dedicated capacity.
Standardized, configured, and customized service tiers replace the myth of egalitarian recruitment. Low-value roles get automation and self-service; mid-tier gets full-cycle support; high-value gets sources, coordinators, and agile teams. The result: improvements across all three tiers, not just the top.
Agile sourcing sprints and swarming teams cut sourcer wastage from 25% to 5%. Instead of one sourcer attached to a role for weeks, deploy 6–10 sourcers in two-day sprints, rotating off as pipeline builds. Then restart the swarm on the next search. Velocity compounds; latency collapses.
This model works at any scale. Whether you’re hiring 100 or 50,000 people annually, the principle is the same: plot your work, segment your service, and be prepared to show red dots on your scorecard while you perfect it. Vulnerability beats self-congratulation.
Frequently
Asked
Questions
What is the nine-block prioritization model for TA?
A 3×3 grid mapping roles on business value (high/medium/low) and hiring complexity (high/medium/low). Business value reflects revenue impact; hiring complexity combines talent availability, brand appeal, process speed, and compensation competitiveness. Roles plot into nine zones, each warranting different resource allocation and service design.
How do you allocate recruiters under a prioritization model?
Don’t distribute evenly. If 100 roles and 10 recruiters, don’t do 10 each. Instead, assign 1 recruiter to 40 high-value roles, 1 to 30 medium-value, and 8 to 30 low-value each. This concentrates capability where it matters most and frees capacity to move the business needle.
Why is traditional sourcer-recruiter pairing ineffective?
One sourcer plus one recruiter doesn’t equal two recruiters’ output; it often yields 1.3–1.5x. Sourcers create dependency and stretch recruiters thin. Better: hire more junior recruiters for volume roles, or deploy sourcers in agile sprints—two-day bursts that build pipeline, then rotate off to restart elsewhere.
What's the difference between low, medium, and high-value roles?
Low-value roles (e.g., admin, support) have less commercial impact but high volume; they get automation and self-service. Medium-value roles get standard full-cycle support. High-value roles (product, engineering, sales) drive revenue; they get dedicated sources, coordinators, and agile teams to hit 30-day time-to-fill targets.
Can small TA teams use prioritization?
Yes. Scale doesn’t matter; the principle does. A team hiring 100 people yearly can still segment work into tiers. One recruiter handles 50 high-priority roles, two handle 25 each in lower tiers. Differentiation of service and resource focus applies whether you’re lean or large.