How to Lead a Great Intake Call as a Freelance Recruiter

Freelance recruiters often jump straight into sourcing candidates based on a rough job spec or a vague LinkedIn message. That might work for simple roles, but when you're filling a technical position or working with a founder who barely has time to write a full job description - things get messy fast.

This is where the intake meeting comes in. It's not a checkbox or a formality, but a structured conversation that sets the foundation for a successful hire. For freelance recruiters working with startups or small agencies, a strong intake meeting saves time, builds trust, and increases your placement rate.

What Is an Intake Meeting?

An intake meeting is a focused conversation between a recruiter and the hiring stakeholder (usually a founder, CTO, or hiring manager) that happens before you begin sourcing. The goal is to understand the role, the company context, the must-haves versus the nice-to-haves, and how success will be measured.

This meeting aligns expectations. It gives you the insight needed to target the right candidates, craft better messaging, and set realistic timelines. For IT and technical roles - where talent is highly specialized and job titles often vary from company to company - this alignment is critical.

Why Intake Meetings Matter in Tech Recruiting

Technical recruiting is full of nuance. A “Senior Backend Engineer” at one startup might be working in Go with a DevOps-heavy scope. Somewhere else, the same title means Python APIs and collaborating closely with data science. Without clarity, you’ll waste hours sourcing candidates who don’t match the actual need.

Intake meetings help you:

• Understand the tech stack in real context, not just buzzwords from the job post
• Learn what problems the engineer will solve, not just what tools they’ll use
• Clarify reporting lines, collaboration, and team structure
• Identify the core value props for candidates (remote flexibility, greenfield projects, etc.)
• Align on compensation and candidate availability expectations

When you skip this step, you risk misalignment, no-shows, or worse - offers rejected because the role wasn’t clearly understood.

When to Schedule the Intake Meeting

Ideally, the intake meeting should happen as soon as you're engaged to fill a role, before you start reaching out to any candidates. For freelance recruiters, this is often the first real sync call with the client.

Block off 30 to 45 minutes. It can be a video call or phone call, but it should be dedicated time - not squeezed between other meetings. If more than one decision-maker is involved (e.g., a founder and a lead engineer), include them both.

What to Cover During the Intake Meeting

Your goal is to come away with everything you need to start sourcing effectively. This isn’t just about collecting job details - it’s about understanding context, priorities, and the story you’ll tell candidates.

Here’s what to cover:

1. Company Context

• What does the company do? What’s the current team size?
• What’s the funding stage, product maturity, or revenue model?
• What’s unique about working here?

2. Role Details

• What will this person do in their first 3–6 months?
• What does success look like in this role?
• Which technologies are essential, and which are nice-to-haves?

3. Team & Collaboration

• Who will they report to?
• Will they be working with other engineers, product managers, or designers?
• What’s the remote or hybrid setup?

4. Hiring Process

• What’s the interview process and timeline?
• Who’s involved in decision-making?
• How fast can they give feedback?

5. Candidate Profile

• What background or experience is ideal?
• Are there specific industries, companies, or projects that align well?
• What soft skills or personality traits are essential?

Pro Tip: Use a Shared Intake Template

Create a reusable intake template that you can fill out with the client during the call. Not only does this keep you organized, but it also signals professionalism and saves time on follow-ups. It can be as simple as a Google Doc or Notion page.

What to Ask for After the Meeting

• A sample job description, if one exists (even if it’s rough)
• Access to the hiring manager for ongoing clarifications
• Approval to start outreach or to review your first batch of candidates

Some freelance recruiters also use this moment to formalize the scope: number of roles, payment terms, exclusivity, or target timelines. Check our guide on how to craft winning job requirements.

Using Intake Insights With Glozo

Once the intake meeting is done, your next move is to turn those insights into action. Glozo makes that part easier.

Here’s how:

• Prompt-based search: You can describe the ideal candidate in natural language. For example: "Senior backend engineer with Python, AWS, and experience scaling APIs. Needs to be comfortable in a startup environment with minimal oversight."
• Candidate openness: Based on your intake, Glozo will prioritize candidates who are more likely to respond and be open to change.
• Search and message in one place: No need to juggle sourcing tools and email. You can move straight from intake insights to outreach within the same platform.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even experienced recruiters make mistakes during intake meetings. Watch out for these:

• Skipping it entirely. Relying on a forwarded job spec is a fast way to misfire.
• Not asking for priorities. Everything can’t be a must-have.
• Failing to confirm next steps. Always recap and align on timelines.
• Overpromising. Don’t commit to delivering candidates in 48 hours unless you’re confident it’s realistic.

Challenges You Might Encounter During the Intake Meeting

Even when you're prepared, intake meetings don’t always go smoothly. Clients might show up distracted, unclear, or with unrealistic expectations. As a freelance recruiter, you're also managing the dynamic of being an external partner - which means establishing credibility quickly.

Here are some common challenges:

• Vague answers: The hiring manager may not have clarity about what they need. In this case, shift the conversation to past hiring successes or failures and extract key traits from those stories.
• Tech overload or disconnect: For technical roles, founders or HR leaders might throw around buzzwords without understanding what’s essential. Clarify by asking, "Which of these tools do they actually use day to day?"
• Unrealistic expectations: Sometimes clients want a senior engineer with five languages, startup grit, and a $90k budget. Gently push back with market insights, recent placement data, or sourcing challenges.
• No decision-maker in the room: If you're only speaking with HR or a coordinator, ask whether you can schedule a quick follow-up with the technical lead. Your sourcing quality depends on it.
• Time pressure: You might only get 20 minutes instead of 45. Prioritize the highest-impact questions first, and send follow-up notes to confirm the rest asynchronously.

Handling these situations well shows your value. You're not just filling roles - you’re advising, guiding, and helping them hire smarter.

Final Thoughts

Great sourcing starts with great information. The intake meeting isn’t a formality, but your edge as a freelance tech recruiter. It helps you act fast, avoid misunderstandings, and build credibility with clients.

And with tools like Glozo, you can turn a 30-minute intake conversation into highly targeted outreach that actually gets replies.