project RPO case study: social media company quickly attracts thousands of applicants to hire top 1% of talent.
Targeted talent marketing and new candidate portal help company find the digital sales talent it needs
growing the talent pool to find the best
As a rapidly growing digital and social media platform, this company recognized the need to hire more digital sales professionals to facilitate its ongoing growth across Europe — and to do so quickly.
But the company wasn’t willing to hire just anyone; its goal was to hire only from the top 1% of candidates. To truly identify and hire the best of the best, it would need to increase its applicant flow to create a larger talent pool. With sales among the most in-demand skills among employers today, and the competition for the digital talent who bring innovation heating up, identifying and attracting enough candidates was a challenge.
The company recognized that its traditional approach to recruitment would no longer work to increase its talent pool in the short time span required. Instead, it needed a new, forward-thinking and more agile way to stand out from the competition, get its job ads in front of more top talent and convince them to apply.
talent marketing strategies to reach and attract the best of the best
To increase its reach and gain access to more digital sales professionals, the company partnered with Randstad Sourceright to implement a project-based recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) program, supported by talent marketing campaigns and expertise. Designed to empower companies to quickly attract, evaluate and hire talent, the project RPO delivered the agility the organization needed to fill key positions faster.
The program’s integrated talent marketing services also helped the organization improve talent attraction at speed; the creation of a candidate portal and associated job advertising was completed in just three days. Along with the development of candidate-focused marketing, new job ads were developed by the talent marketing team to speak more directly to the needs and wants of the company’s targeted job seekers. Ads specifically highlighted what they’ll do, how they’ll help clients grow their business and how they’ll grow in their own careers.
The program also included real-time optimization of its programmatic advertising for talent marketing. With applicant tracking data automatically feeding into the advertising platform, the company benefits from getting its job ads in front of the right people at the right time. And with real-time tracking, the company has full visibility into campaign spend, performance and reporting.
attracting digital sales professionals in a highly competitive market
With this new strategy in place, the company greatly increased its ability to reach new talent. In just the first three months, the company received 3,600 applications for its crucial digital sales positions, providing the larger talent pool it needed to identify and select the best candidates.
Through the enhanced talent marketing activities, the company also lowered its recruiting costs. For instance, cost per click decreased by 40%, and cost per applicant by 87%. Overall, the talent marketing strategy delivered 41% of the total hires, while the total cost of hire is well below the benchmark. The ability to fill its key digital sales roles quickly with the best candidates available was a business imperative for this company. By leveraging project RPO, it succeeded on that front, ensuring it has the talent in place to support its rapid growth.