We help internal talent acquisition teams reduce time to hire and raise shortlist quality. We’ll partner with you to deliver properly qualified candidates aligned on salary and expectations from the outset, so you spend less time screening, avoid resets and keep momentum across every role.
OVERVIEW
As a Head of Talent or TA lead, you are accountable for outcomes across multiple live roles. You are balancing hiring manager expectations, time to hire targets, ATS admin and candidate experience, often all at once. When briefs shift, feedback slows or salary is unclear, momentum drops and the workload increases.
You are expected to reduce time to fill, improve offer acceptance and control agency spend, without losing quality. That means every shortlist needs to be strong, aligned and ready to move.
We work alongside internal talent acquisition teams as an extension of your function. That means clear submission standards, salary alignment before interview and properly qualified candidates who fit your process. The result is less screening, fewer resets and stronger outcomes across every hire.
THE PROBLEM
Screening takes hours when CVs are not aligned to the brief. You review candidates who were never right in the first place, shortlists miss the mark and the process resets. Time to hire increases, decision fatigue sets in and hiring managers start to lose confidence in the process.
Delays between stages, unclear feedback and shifting expectations lead to candidate drop-off. Strong applicants accept other offers or disengage entirely. Offer acceptance falls, momentum disappears and you are back at market explaining why the role is still open.
Role scope shifts mid-search, salary expectations move and interview criteria evolve. Each change creates rework, new sourcing and fresh screening. Time to fill extends, candidate experience suffers and you are left managing stakeholder expectations from all sides.
Without clear salary benchmarking and market insight, offers stall or drag into negotiation. Counter-offer risk increases and candidates hesitate at the final stage. The result is lower offer acceptance and more scrutiny on agency spend and hiring decisions
HOW WE CAN HELP
We agree on the brief in detail before we approach the market. That includes must-haves, deal breakers, salary range, notice period and counter-offer risk. Every submission is properly qualified with clear notes, not just a CV. You spend less time screening and more time progressing interview-ready candidates.
We follow your agreed process and reporting cadence. No bypassing TA, no duplicate outreach and no last-minute surprises. We keep candidates warm, manage expectations and chase feedback where needed, helping reduce drop-off and improve offer acceptance.
We provide clear salary benchmarking and honest feedback on candidate availability. If a brief is drifting or expectations are misaligned with market rate, we say so early. That helps protect time to hire, avoid resets and support better stakeholder conversations.
We actively approach passive candidates who are not applying directly. Every candidate is briefed on salary, process and expectations before the interview. That reduces stalled offers, protects candidate experience and increases the likelihood that accepted offers turn into successful starts.
Case studies
"We needed a specific mix of skills for a senior social hire, which isn't always easy to find in the market. Digital Waffle listened, asked the right questions, and came back with candidates who genuinely matched the brief. Communication was clear throughout and we had the right person in place inside three weeks. Great to work with."
"Digital Waffle were a real help when we were building out our engineering team. It was a fast-moving period, with a lot happening across our website and apps, and they quickly understood the kind of people we needed. They supported us with both perm and contract hires, kept things moving and made the whole process feel straightforward. Really easy team to work with."
"Zak has been a real help in building out our talent pool at Commify. His ability to source candidates across diverse roles has been genuinely impressive. His professionalism and commitment to our recruitment needs have made a real difference to the quality of people we've been able to hire."
"We brought Digital Waffle in on a retained basis to help us scale at Gnosis. Over twelve months they delivered 28 roles, sourcing the right candidates for each one across functions that aren't always easy to recruit for in this space. They showed a deep understanding of our requirements from the start. Happy to recommend them to anyone hiring at scale."
"We brought Digital Waffle in to run our hiring through the development hub launch, and they've placed over 50 specialists for us across product, development, design and QA in the two years since. The quality has been consistent throughout, which matters across a stretch that long. They've become the team we go to when we need to hire."
"We needed to grow headcount by 50% in 6 months, including hard-to-fill tech roles, which wasn't something we were going to do on our own. Digital Waffle filled the gap properly. They got us the people we needed at the pace we needed them, and at significantly less cost than building out our own recruitment function. We hit the target on schedule."
"We've been hiring across marketing, digital and the wider team for the last 18 months, and Digital Waffle have been our go-to partner throughout. They've placed 82 people for us, from juniors right through to director level, perm and freelance. It's a lot of moving parts for one agency to handle well, and they've kept on top of it the whole way through. We'll be using them again."
"Hitting 40 hires in 18 months across infrastructure and engineering was an ambitious target, and we needed an agency that could deliver against it without us having to manage the process closely. Digital Waffle did exactly that. The shortlists were focused and we didn't waste time on candidates who weren't right. Every role landed on schedule, and the people they brought in are already contributing to the programmes they're supporting."
OUR SOLUTION
As a TA lead, you are accountable for time to hire, quality of hire and cost per hire. Any external support needs to demonstrate clear value and stand up to finance scrutiny.
Intuch is our subscription-based recruitment model designed to give you greater cost control. Instead of a single upfront fee, the cost is spread over 6 or 12 months. You only pay while the hire remains in post. If they leave, payments stop.
This creates a clearer link between agency spend and outcomes, supports internal business cases and reduces financial risk when hiring at pace or across multiple roles.
Our disciplines
Alongside supporting leadership teams with critical hiring decisions, we recruit across the functions that drive revenue, delivery and long-term performance across key disciplines.
SALARY GUIDES
Planning your next hire? Accurate salary benchmarking is key to reducing offer declines and protecting time to hire.
Our 2027 UK salary guides provide up-to-date market rates and hiring insights across core business functions, helping you align salary expectations early and avoid stalled offers.
With comparisons to 2026, projections for 2028 and a broader market overview, they give TA teams the data needed to brief stakeholders clearly, manage counter-offer risk and improve offer acceptance.
RECRUITMENT TERMS
External recruitment support should complement your internal team, whether that means helping on an individual vacancy or taking ownership of a specialist search.
Our standard, exclusive and retained options give you flexibility around how we work together, with clear fees, payment terms and rebate protection.
Latest insights
November 1, 2026 · 11 minute read
November 1, 2026 · 10 minute read
November 1, 2026 · 9 minute read
November 1, 2026 · 10 minute read
FAQs
We agree with your process upfront and follow it. That includes how roles are briefed, how candidates are submitted, how feedback is captured and how everything is logged in your ATS. We do not bypass talent acquisition or approach hiring managers directly. You stay in control, and we operate as an extension of your team.
We qualify candidates properly before submission. Skills, experience, salary expectations, notice period, counter-offer risk and motivation are all checked in advance. Each profile includes clear screening notes, not just a CV. You review fewer, better-aligned candidates and spend more time progressing interviews.
We help protect your time by getting the brief right at the start and keeping momentum between stages. We manage candidate expectations, keep communication tight and flag risks early. That reduces resets, limits drop-off and supports stronger time to hire and time to fill metrics.
We pressure test the brief early and provide honest market feedback if expectations do not match salary or availability. If scope shifts mid-search, we adapt quickly while keeping you informed. That helps you manage stakeholders with data rather than opinion and avoids wasted sourcing effort.
We use targeted direct outreach to engage passive candidates who are not applying through job boards. Before the interview, we align them on salary range, process and expectations. This improves shortlist quality, reduces offer surprises and supports stronger offer acceptance.
We focus on improving the quality of hire and reducing wasted interviews, resets and drop-off. By protecting time to hire and raising offer acceptance, we help lower overall cost per hire. Where the budget is under pressure, our subscription model links cost to time in role, which provides a clear financial rationale.
Intuch is our subscription-based recruitment model. Instead of a large upfront fee, costs are spread over 6 or 12 months. You only pay while the hire remains in post. If they leave, payments stop. This supports agency spend control and reduces the financial impact of early attrition.
Get in touch
If you're looking for additional support across live roles, our recruitment team can help.
Share a few details about the role and we’ll be in touch to discuss your hiring requirements.
Prefer to talk? Call us on 0121 517 0357.
