After reviewing the results of True Platform’s recent Talent Partner survey, we were struck by the realization that the top four responsibilities of most talent partners require four distinct sets of data.

Talent partners are bouncing between various systems and spreadsheets to get the data they need—they have direct access to some of the systems, but deal teams and operating partners own the others. This creates a set of inefficiencies that can complicate routine data pulls so significantly that completing a report becomes a quarterly KPI.

Executive search software, like Thrive TRM, however, solves this by virtue of being a private talent relationship management solution that allows confidential data from multiple sources to be shared and aggregated. This puts all relevant information in the hands of talent partners faster to streamline analyses.

Here are 10 metrics that map to talent partner responsibilities, why they’re valuable, and ways you can customize them within Thrive.

Advising Portfolio Companies on Recruiting Matters

1. View your current roster of C-Suite executives

Metric: Total number of hires within a specified time period 

This table view helps you see recent and incoming executives hired across the entire portfolio. The Thrive team can monitor LinkedIn to highlight changes in job titles, which further supports this intelligence. Many talent partners use this to identify gaps in function or sector expertise in order to better direct future talent work.

Customizations: Track only specific C-Suite titles or a broader range of roles, including board members and senior directors. Adjust the time period to view only recent hires from the previous quarter, or expand it to see more activity. 

2. Review the most successful sourcing methods for executive talent

Metric: Total company and firm-sourced placements 

Reviewing the placements for the most common roles over the last 12 months, this view lets you see how many times portfolio companies have worked with an external firm versus sourcing from their internal talent team.

Many talent partners uncover activities that took place without their knowledge and are better able to assess how portfolio companies partnered with external search firms to improve their recommendations for similar roles moving forward. This also can identify trends in sourcing channels that may be interesting to deal team and board members. 

3. Show how the hiring strategy supports the investment thesis

Metric: Number of placements at each portfolio company 

This view provides a quick snapshot into portfolio companies with the most placements in the last 12 months, which can give you a temperature check on how hiring activity aligns with the firm’s overall investment thesis. If there were specific sectors or a major investment that required significant changes to the leadership team, did the talent team effectively executive against that? 

Having the placement source broken is one extra data point that talent partners who manage searches can show as evidence for how they are meeting strategic objectives. 

4. Understand the impact of C-Suite leadership on portfolio company performance

Metric: Percent increase in overall valuation or investment activity compared to placement activity

See the aggregated view of all investment activity and total valuation across the entire portfolio against placement activity. Having insight into how the leadership hiring strategy increased investment activity and valuations over time can be a big differentiator in wooing prospective founders, and elevating the strategic function of executive talent at the firm.

Customization: Filter according to portfolio company to surface the data most relevant to operating partners

Join us live on February 26 to discuss metrics for Talent Partners →

Advising Portfolio Companies on Recruiting Matters

5. Track existing portfolio companies and recent investments

Metric: Total number of portfolio companies

This one may sound obvious, but for larger firms with hundreds of active investments, it can be difficult for talent teams to get an accurate view of deal team activity within their talent CRM. Thrive’s Portfolio Details dashboard pulls data from external systems like Deal Cloud, Deal Source, or Affinity to show every portfolio company in one place. 

Customizations: Change the column view to gain a quick understanding of the sector, deal date, total investment, or any other details that are important to you.

6. Monitor recent and historic hires at portfolio companies

Metric: Average tenure

Talent partners know the executives they’ve hired personally or worked with external search firms to bring on board. But gaining visibility outside the scope of your work to see every executive employed across every portfolio company is worth its weight in gold. 

Customizations: Change the column view for a quick understanding of title, hire date, associated portfolio company, and other data points you care about. Filter according to company and placement source.

7. Identify executive leadership performance over time  

Metrics: Average executive rating, executive tenure relative to exit activity,

Executive tenure by function highlights the C-Suite leaders who may be approaching an equity event, giving Talent Partners time to review whether they are on target for hitting their goals.

Executive ratings show the overall strength of executive leaders by function to see how operating partners, board members, search partners, or other subject matter experts assess their capabilities. If your team relies on external assessments or tracks these ratings outside Thrive, we can aggregate that data for the talent team.

These views help talent partners understand how executives have performed over time. 

Customizations: Filter according to sector, company, or placement source to go deeper on which functions are ranked highest and which individuals contributed to their placements

Managing Search Firm Relationships and Oversight of Executive Searches Across the Portfolio

8. Share details on the hiring process and any efficiency gains

Metrics: Time to hire, average days open, or average days to close

If you work on searches, highlight how improvements to your search process can reduce the time it takes to find, interview, and place a candidate in the right role. If you primarily manage searches run by external firms, measuring their progress against your benchmarks can keep partners accountable.

9. Rank search firm partners

Metric: Number of closed searches by firm 

After reviewing placements sourced from external firms, use this dashboard view to dig deeper. Which firms had the highest closed searches? Are there trends across functional areas? Do certain firms operate faster within specific sectors? Then investigate how those placements perform over time with the view below to make better recommendations in the future.

Advising Portfolio Companies on Compensation Matters

5. Assess executive compensation

Metric: Median tenure, base, bonus, and equity 

This view aggregates data from all executives across Thrive’s entire database and can be modified by a wide range of filters like company size and sector to meet your specific needs. In this example, filtering for the CMO function gives you the median tenure, base salary, bonus, and equity so you can quickly answer questions on compensation packages.

Conclusion

The talent partner role now requires significant data analysis, with varying degrees of complexity depending on the firm size. For those operating solo or with smaller teams, it’s not feasible to aggregate all the views needed to demonstrate success while simultaneously managing daily executive talent tasks. 

Having these customizable visualizations lets stakeholders see the impact of the overall executive talent strategy on performance. 



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