Workforce Advisory

Strategic consulting for organisations scaling, restructuring, or entering new markets.

Hiring strategy work that sits upstream of any specific search. We diagnose gaps, write hiring roadmaps, build pipeline blueprints, and act as a thinking partner for founders and Heads of who need to make capital-allocation decisions about their team before they make hiring decisions about specific roles.

Best for

▸ Founders post-Series-B or equivalent, planning their next year of hiring
▸ Firms entering a new geography or building out a new function for the first time
▸ Heads of Engineering / Data / Security who need to write a year-one team plan they will be held to
▸ Boards that want an independent view of a portfolio company's people risk

Not for

▸ Firms with a specific role to fill today - start with Specialist Recruitment or Executive Search
▸ Pure org-design work disconnected from hiring - better served by a management consultancy
▸ RFP-style 'tell me how to think about hiring' decks without a real decision behind them

What this looks like in practice

A typical advisory engagement: a founder twelve months past a Series B, planning to grow engineering headcount from 15 to 45 over the next year. They need to know what the team shape should look like at 45, what the hiring sequence is, what the realistic comp bands are in their geography, and what the binding constraints will be three months from now if they do not act on something today.

Six weeks of work produces a written document the firm uses to plan capital, write briefs, and benchmark against the actual hiring market. Most clients return for a quarterly review thereafter.

Engagement timeline

01 Scoping & Intake Week 1
02 Diagnostic & Discovery Weeks 2-3
03 Market Mapping & Benchmarking Weeks 3-5
04 Roadmap & Recommendations Weeks 5-6
05 Executive Review & Sign-off Week 6
06 Optional Ongoing Retainer Month 2+

Frequently asked

Is this just dressed-up sales for your recruitment business? +

No. The two practices are run separately. We have done advisory engagements that concluded with us recommending the client engage a different recruiter, an internal TA build-out, or no external hiring at all. The work has integrity only if the recommendations are independent.

What's the typical scope? +

Most engagements are 4-6 weeks of structured work producing a written roadmap, talent maps for 3-5 critical roles, compensation benchmarking, and an executive review. From there the client decides whether to run any subsequent searches with us, with another firm, or in-house.

Who delivers the work? +

Farid leads every advisory engagement personally. We do not white-label or sub-contract advisory work. Where specialist input is needed (e.g. compensation benchmarking in a niche market), we name the contributor in the deliverable.

Can you advise on existing teams as well as future hires? +

Yes - increasingly, advisory engagements include a confidential read of an existing leadership team's strengths and gaps. We do not perform formal performance assessments; what we offer is an outside-view perspective on team composition relative to where the firm is trying to go.

Other service lines

I

01

Specialist Recruitment

Permanent hiring for technical and mission-critical roles.

II

02

Executive Search

Confidential, research-led engagement for C-suite, VP and director appointments.

IV

04

Contract & Project Staffing

Rapid deployment of vetted contractors and project teams for surge demand.

Engage

Start a workforce advisory conversation.

A 30-minute call to align on whether this is the right model for the work, and what the engagement would look like.

Book a call farid@aeyandassociates.com