Align on goals, priority roles, competitors, proof sources, timelines, decision rights, and metrics, then assign owners.

A good kickoff is operational, not inspirational. Agenda: (1) business goals + hiring bottlenecks, (2) priority roles and timelines, (3) true talent competitors, (4) current funnel baselines and biggest leaks, (5) research inputs (interviews, artifacts, data), (6) deliverables that will be used in workflow, (7) decision rights and review process, (8) measurement plan and reporting cadence. End with owners and next steps. This sets the project up to build choosability—measured by conversion—rather than producing a deck.