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Research

Hiring Failures Trace Back to the Kickoff

Samantha Bateman · Co-Founder & CEO · July 8, 2026

Most hiring failures do not start with the candidate. They start in the first conversation of the search — the kickoff — where alignment is either built or skipped. Our founding research with 30+ TA leaders points to one root cause behind most hiring problems: misalignment at kickoff.

67%
of hiring failures trace back to poor kickoff alignment
3×
more consistent decisions with structured scorecards
30+
TA leaders interviewed in our founding research

Misalignment starts at kickoff

Hiring managers and recruiters leave with different mental models — no structured record, no shared criteria. That gap widens downstream. Most teams already know this. Almost none do it consistently. Alynd makes structure impossible to skip.

Inconsistent questions = inconsistent evaluation

When each interviewer brings their own questions, you’re comparing interviewers’ intuitions — not candidates against the role. Structured scorecards fix this.

Key insight

Inconsistency is where bias lives. Candidates for the same role get different information, different questions, different evaluation. Everyone expects fairness. The process was never built for it.

See where your own kickoff process leaks alignment. It takes about 90 seconds.

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