Industry Leaders Launch Initiative to Transform
Talent Acquisition Through Standardised Metrics
Following calls for industry-wide standardisation at the Enterprise Summit in June, Adrian Thomas and Jeremy Thornton from Talent Benchmarking have officially launched Project Impact, a groundbreaking initiative that promises to revolutionise how the TA industry measures and compares performance.
The project, which received overwhelming support from the Resourcing Leaders community at both the Global Talent Leaders’ Summit and RecFest, aims to establish standardised, benchmark-able metrics across the talent acquisition sector. This standardisation would enable organisations to make direct performance comparisons—creating an “apples-to-apples” framework similar to the established benchmarking practices used in accountancy to evaluate company performance and value.
The initiative is being spearheaded by a dedicated project team comprising Adrian Thomas, Jeremy Thornton, Kirstie Kelly, and Will Barrit, with strategic oversight from an experienced steering group including Shane Barnfield, Michelle Monahan, Jenna Hurley, Nikhilesh Mathur, Charlotte Lloyd, Jennifer Candee, Jules Anderson, and Dan Caines.
The standardised benchmarks represent a significant opportunity for the industry to mature its measurement capabilities, potentially enabling organisations to make more informed strategic decisions, improve operational efficiency, and demonstrate clear ROI to stakeholders. As the project progresses, organisers are actively seeking additional organisations to participate, with the ultimate goal of achieving industry-wide adoption of these transformative standardised benchmarks.
This initiative positions the talent acquisition industry to move beyond fragmented, organisation-specific metrics toward a unified measurement framework that could drive innovation, improve best practices, and enhance the profession’s credibility across the business landscape.