Meet Jillian Knowles

She’s an Early Careers Talent & Brand Strategy Consultant who helps enterprise companies build scalable people systems that attract, develop, and retain top Gen Z talent. She designs frameworks, curriculums, and cross-functional systems that connect talent acquisition, leadership development, and employer branding—strengthening talent density and future-proofing workforce strategy.

How She Got Here

Before launching her consulting practice, Jillian spent six years at AlphaSights, where she rose from Associate to Founding Director of Talent Acquisition for the Americas. She built and scaled the firm’s first centralized early careers hiring function—crafting a talent strategy that quadrupled company headcount and positioned AlphaSights as a top employer brand across U.S. campuses. Her systems-level approach helped transform AlphaSights into a market leader within the expert network industry.

In her latest signature consulting project, she partnered with Third Bridge—a global expert research firm serving private equity funds and strategy consulting giants—to design and launch their first-ever U.S. internship program, built from the ground up.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see what past leadership teams have said about partnering with Jillian ⬇️

Jillian partners with talent acquisition, L&D, and people operations teams to build scalable early careers systems that attract, engage, and retain top Gen Z talent. She specializes in designing high-impact curriculums, programs, operational frameworks, and brand strategies that strengthen talent pipelines and future-proof workforce culture.

Gen Z Talent Strategy Consulting:

Core Offerings

  • Intern Program Build & Strategy
    Full-cycle design and operationalization of internship programs—from hiring strategy and learning design to performance frameworks and manager enablement.

  • Recruiting Operations & Hiring Infrastructure
    Systems-level audit strategic overhaul (including Greenhouse implementation) to streamline workflows, build diagnostic frameworks for key metrics, revamp processes, and optimize TA team performance.

  • Employer Brand Copywriting & Ghostwriting
    Development of employee-led content campaigns and high-converting messaging across LinkedIn, career pages, and early-career candidate touchpoints.

📅 Currently booking Q3/Q4 project-based and monthly retainer partnerships. To inquire about your team’s talent strategy needs, reach out via LinkedIn, or schedule a call.

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 1-2 days a week to tackle your most critical talent and branding challenges, with a focus on any of my specialty areas listed above.

To request pricing, schedule a discovery call below.

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.

To request pricing, schedule a discovery call below.

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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