You have decided to bring on an embedded recruiter. The contract is signed, the start date is set, and you are wondering what happens next. The first 90 days with an embedded recruiting partner set the trajectory for everything that follows. Here is what that timeline actually looks like, what to expect at each stage, and how to get the most out of the partnership.
Week 1: Discovery and immersion
The first week is all about understanding your company. A good embedded recruiter will spend this time absorbing everything they need to represent your brand authentically to candidates.
This includes learning your company story, understanding your product and market position, meeting the hiring managers, reviewing existing job descriptions, and mapping out the current state of your recruiting function. They will want to see your tech stack, your ATS setup, your interview process documentation (if it exists), and any data you have on past hiring efforts.
Unlike an agency recruiter who takes a job description and disappears, an embedded recruiter invests upfront time in understanding the context. This is what makes the difference between sending resumes and actually matching the right people to your team.
Expect your embedded recruiter to ask a lot of questions in the first week. The more honest and detailed your answers, the faster they ramp.
What you should prepare before day one
To accelerate the ramp, have these ready before your embedded recruiter starts:
- Access to your ATS, email, and communication tools (Slack, Teams, etc.)
- A list of open roles with hiring manager names and target start dates
- Any existing job descriptions, even rough ones
- Your company pitch deck or one-pager
- Context on past hiring wins and misses (what worked, what did not)
Weeks 2 to 4: Process setup and first pipeline
By the second week, your embedded recruiter should be actively building pipeline for your highest-priority roles. This phase involves structuring the recruiting process, calibrating with hiring managers, and getting the first qualified candidates into the funnel.
Intake sessions with hiring managers
Each open role gets a structured intake meeting. This is not a casual conversation about "what you are looking for." It is a detailed session that covers the role's requirements, the ideal candidate profile, the interview process, the compensation range, and the timeline. Good intake sessions prevent the misalignment that kills most hiring efforts.
Sourcing strategy development
Based on the intake sessions, your embedded recruiter will develop a sourcing strategy for each role. This typically includes a mix of outbound sourcing (LinkedIn, networks, communities), inbound optimization (job postings, career page improvements), and referral activation (getting your team involved in identifying candidates from their networks).
For hard-to-fill roles, expect a conversation about realistic timelines and potential trade-offs. A good recruiter will tell you honestly if your expectations around compensation, location, or experience level will make a role difficult to fill. This candor is one of the biggest advantages of the embedded model.
First candidates in the pipeline
By the end of week three or early in week four, you should see qualified candidates entering your pipeline. These are not resume dumps. They are screened, interested candidates who match the profile you discussed during intake.
The calibration process is critical during this phase. After the first few candidate submissions, expect a feedback loop where you and the recruiter refine the target profile based on real candidates. This is normal and healthy. It is how you go from "we think we want X" to "we know we need Y."
Days 30 to 60: Momentum and first hires
The second month is where the partnership starts generating tangible results. Your embedded recruiter is now fully ramped, calibrated with your hiring managers, and running a process that matches your company's pace and culture.
Interview process optimization
As candidates move through the pipeline, your recruiter will identify friction points in the interview process. Maybe the take-home assignment is taking too long and candidates are dropping out. Maybe there is a scheduling bottleneck because a key interviewer is booked solid. Maybe feedback from interviews is coming in too slowly.
An embedded recruiter spots these issues because they are living inside your process every day. They will flag problems and suggest fixes in real time, not in a quarterly review that comes too late to matter.
First offers and closes
Depending on the complexity of your roles, the first hires should happen in the 30 to 60 day window. For standard engineering, sales, or operations roles, this timeline is typical. For specialized or senior roles, it may take longer, and your recruiter will have set those expectations during intake.
Your embedded recruiter handles the offer process end to end: market data for compensation, offer letter drafting, candidate negotiation, and close. They know the candidate's motivations because they have been in direct communication throughout the process. This relationship-based approach leads to higher offer acceptance rates compared to agency models.
Days 60 to 90: Optimization and reporting
By the third month, the focus shifts from setup and execution to optimization and measurement. This is where you start seeing the full value of the embedded model.
Data-driven adjustments
Your recruiter should be tracking key recruiting metrics: time-to-fill, pipeline velocity, source effectiveness, interview-to-offer ratio, and offer acceptance rate. By day 60, there is enough data to identify patterns and make informed adjustments.
Maybe LinkedIn outbound is converting at 8% while referrals convert at 25%. That data tells you to invest more in referral programs. Maybe candidates from a specific source are consistently getting to final rounds but not converting. That tells you there is a calibration issue worth investigating.
Hiring manager feedback loops
Good embedded recruiters establish regular check-ins with hiring managers. Not just "here are your candidates" updates, but substantive conversations about what is working, what is not, and what the hiring pipeline looks like for the next quarter. These feedback loops ensure the recruiting function stays aligned with the business as priorities shift.
Quarterly planning
At the 90-day mark, you and your embedded recruiter should have a clear picture of your hiring velocity, the quality of your pipeline, and the capacity you need going forward. This is the right time to evaluate whether to maintain the current engagement, scale up for a growth push, or adjust the scope based on changing business needs.
What success looks like at 90 days
Here is a realistic picture of what a successful first 90 days with an embedded recruiter looks like:
- Two to five hires completed, depending on role complexity and volume
- A structured, repeatable hiring process in place for every open role
- Active pipelines with qualified candidates for remaining open positions
- Hiring managers spending less time on recruiting tasks and more time on their core work
- Recruiting data and reporting that gives you visibility into your talent pipeline
- A clear plan for the next quarter's hiring needs
The first 90 days are foundational. They determine whether your embedded recruiting partnership delivers real results or becomes another vendor relationship that fizzles out. The key is investing the time upfront, being honest about your needs and constraints, and treating your embedded recruiter as a true extension of your team, because that is exactly what they are.