Meet Jillian Knowles

She’s an independent Corporate Talent Strategy Consultant specializing in fast-growing professional services and nonprofit firms. Known for her expertise in the early-careers space, Jillian designs, re-envisions, and launches scalable, high-impact programs that strengthen talent density and optimize workforce strategy to drive transformative organizational growth.

How She Got Here

Jillian climbed the ranks from Associate to Founding Talent Acquisition Director for the Americas at AlphaSights, where she built and scaled the company’s first centralized early-careers talent infrastructure. Over six years, she crafted a hiring strategy that transformed AlphaSights into a market leader in the expert network industry, achieving 4x hiring growth and quadrupling the company size during her tour of duty. Her work in shaping and elevating its talent brand established AlphaSights as a leading early-careers employer on campuses across the U.S.

Now, an independent Corporate Talent Strategy Consultant, Jillian is exclusively partnered with Third Bridge, a leading expert research firm, for her latest project—leading the design and launch of their first-ever internship program from the ground up.

To learn more about partnering with her in Q3 [2025], get in touch.

[And scroll to the bottom to see what AlphaSights’ executive team has to say about working with Jillian.]

Talent Strategy Consulting Service Specialities:

  • Employer Branding & Talent Marketing

  • Recruiting Operations and Team Enablement

  • Interview Efficacy and Hiring Manager Development

  • On-Campus Recruitment Strategy

  • Internship Program Design

  • Talent Sourcing

  • High-Volume Recruiting Strategy

Exclusive & Semi-Exclusive

Partnerships

Monthly Retainer

Partner with a talent strategy expert to navigate the complexities of building, scaling, or re-envisioning your hiring and people strategy. I’ll embed myself into your organization, dedicating 2+ days a week to tackle your most critical talent challenges, with a focus on any of my specialty areas listed above.

Starting Monthly Commitment $9,500 (2-days per week) with flexibility depending on project needs.

Custom Program Build

Have a specific talent program that needs hands-on strategic execution? Whether it's designing an internship program, launching a major employer branding strategy, or creating a pre-executive managerial development program, I’ll handle the heavy lifting. Share your vision, and I’ll bring it to life.

Starting at $21,250 per quarter for part-time commitment, with flexibility based on project needs.

Speciality Services

Interviewer Coaching & Performance Optimization

Elevate your hiring game with targeted interviewer coaching and performance optimization. This offering is tailored to refine your team’s interview skills and enhance their candidate evaluation effectiveness. Throughout our engagement, I’ll shadow your interviewers to pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement, provide personalized coaching, and develop performance management strategies to ensure consistent, high-quality hiring decisions.

Includes:

  • 75-minute kick-off consultation

  • Interviewer shadowing and coaching

  • Detailed interviewer feedback and coaching sessions

  • Performance management strategies and progress tracking

Starting at $4,500. Pricing varies by hiring team size | Learn More

3-Week Candidate Evaluation Process Revamp

Transform your candidate evaluation process with this accelerated 3-week revamp. I'll dive deep into your current approach, identify areas for improvement, and revamp your process to boost efficiency and effectiveness. This comprehensive package includes an in-depth process audit, ideal candidate persona and hiring competency build-out, redesigned interview stages, multi-round interview scripts, custom scorecards, and more!

Includes:

  • Comprehensive process audit and redesigned interview stages

  • Ideal candidate persona, hiring competencies, and multi-stage interview scripts

  • Custom scorecards, updated job descriptions, and candidate prep materials

  • DIY hiring manager training deck and interviewer guide

Pricing $6,000 | Learn More

Greenhouse Recruiting ATS Implementation

If you ask me to recommend an ATS, my answer will always be Greenhouse. No, this isn’t an ad—I'm just a huge advocate for it because it's a tool that truly scales with you, and I genuinely enjoy setting it up.

Includes:

  • Approx. 3-month engagement

  • Full implementation of Greenhouse Recruiting

  • Custom recruiter workflow development

  • Team training on the tool

Starting at $12,000

Micro-engagements

Custom Interview Script Build

For when you’re ready to implement a structured approach to uncover the right talent for your team. Whether you’re refining your current method or starting fresh, I’ll help you define your ideal candidate persona, identify key hiring competencies, and craft a custom interview script that equips your team to make confident, quality decisions on who’s the perfect match.

Includes:

  • 75-minute scoping session

  • Ideal candidate persona & hiring competency buildout

  • Custom interview script

Pricing $350 | Learn More

Interviewer Training Workshop for Hiring Managers

Empower your hiring managers with the skills they need to become fierce gatekeepers of quality talent. This workshop covers everything from best practices and effective questioning techniques to accurately assessing candidates, with custom firm elements and practical exercises tailored to your team’s specific needs. Your interviewers will leave equipped to elevate their candidate evaluation game and make confident, top-tier hiring decisions.

Includes:

  • 75-minute scoping session

  • Customized training materials

  • Interactive workshop delivery

  • Follow-up summary and recommendations

Starting at $2,500. Remote & Onsite options | Learn More

Head of Talent Acquisition for a Day

Sometimes you need uninterrupted time with a TA thought partner who’s been where you are and can help guide you toward your goals. Whether you’re a fellow TA professional, founder, or hiring-focused stakeholder, this offering gives you in-house expertise for a day to tackle your most pressing talent challenges. From strategic planning and hands-on support to brainstorm sessions, I’m here to help set your hiring strategies on the path to success.

Includes:

  • 1-hour planning session

  • 7-hour workday

  • Debrief and action plan document

Starting at $3,500. Remote & Onsite options | Learn More

Testimonials

  • Sean Corrigan, Chief Operating Officer @ AlphaSights

    I had the pleasure of working closely with Jill for six years to develop and grow the Talent Acquisition function at AlphaSights. Jill was instrumental in driving excellent hiring outcomes by refining our critical processes and motivating those around her to be their best. Her strategic ideation and execution in sharpening our interview processes, reducing time-to-hire, and improving candidate evaluation & recruiting operations were crucial to our success.

    Beyond her operational expertise, Jill was an incredible leader and master motivator for her team, through authentic leadership and her ability to showcase a strong vision for the future. She excelled in building incredible stakeholder relationships and leveraging them to overcome any roadblocks to success. Jill’s expertise would be exceptionally valuable to any company aiming to elevate their recruiting operations and hire more A players onto their teams!

  • Sloan Danenhower, SVP of Talent Effectiveness @ AlphaSights

    I would jump at the opportunity to work with Jillian again. Throughout her six years at AlphaSights, she brought tremendous value to our firm — from our interview training to collaborating with senior leadership to build objective, structured and fair interview processes for the thousands of candidates we screen annually.

    Aside from her technical prowess, Jillian “gets it” and is an inspiring role model to those around her, whatever the level. She brings her A-game every day and is a team player who doesn’t hesitate to get her hands dirty. I enthusiastically

  • Sascha Schermer, Senior Vice President @ AlphaSights

    I partnered closely with Jill for nearly two years to optimize our interview process. Her extensive experience and deep process knowledge, combined with excellent communication skills, were crucial to our project's success. Her patience and insightful brainstorming sessions significantly enhanced my understanding of our hiring practices.

    Jill's technical expertise and innovative ideas have profoundly shaped the hiring and interview process in our company and are a lasting legacy she's left behind. I highly recommend Jill to any small or medium-sized company seeking to optimize their interview process, train their interviewers, and build robust operational recruiting systems.

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