To evolve its talent acquisition strategy and hire the best talent in the competitive business process outsourcing industry (BPO), the leading global business services provider chose Cielo’s High Volume Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solution to establish a technology-enabled, candidate-centric approach to recruitment. The company understands the importance of adopting new technologies and strategies to stay competitive and relevant in all areas of its business. Founded more than 200 years ago, the organization evolved from a small print shop in London to a leading tech-enabled business support services provider for some of the world’s largest organizations. Headquartered in New York City, it now has 5,600 employees across 40 countries, including 2,800 in the U.S.
Finding the right partner
Before entering an RPO partnership with Cielo, the company sought help from another RPO provider to improve its talent acquisition strategy in North America. But they continued to run into obstacles such as the speed of candidates moving through the hiring process. The organization was not attracting enough quality candidates to best serve its customers and surpass rivals. Company leaders eventually found the missing pieces: the right partner and technology.
Determined that RPO would still help solve its talent acquisition-related challenges, the organization sought out Cielo for its proven ability to balance technology, people and process within its RPO services. In addition, because both companies have similar business models of strategic high-value outsourcing partnerships, they have an inherent mutual understanding of needs and demands. This created a strong partnership from the start, helping them deliver success in unique ways.
“Cielo has truly evolved into an integral extension of our organization and lives up to their guiding philosophy of ‘WE BECOME YOU™.’ They have successfully adapted their service delivery model to align with our specific needs and have provided the account leadership we need to meet our objectives. It’s critical to have the right Client Services Manager for your organization. That didn’t happen immediately, but relatively quickly we were aligned with one of the best. Cielo has earned this enthusiastic endorsement.” – Head of Talent Acquisition, Global BPO Provider
Balancing tech, people & process
Working closely with the organization’s talent acquisition leadership, the Cielo team integrated a tech-enabled High Volume RPO solution with the existing applicant tracking system and Cielo’s propriety technology designed for high-tech, high-touch hiring experiences. With the support of the mobile-first technology platform, candidates were served tailored recruitment marketing ads, could easily apply for available positions, complete their assessments, and seamlessly self-schedule an interview.
For roles requiring more qualifications before being passed to a hiring manager, they created another process and workflow to add additional recruiter pre-screen criteria. Cielo’s innate ability to understand the business needs allowed them to quickly evolve the TA approach – with both technology and human touchpoints in mind – to better serve business leaders.
Using a tech-enabled approach increased communication and allowed candidates to move efficiently through the hiring process, from interview and ultimately to offer. The team now avoided delays caused by unnecessary manual tasks such as attaching resumes to email, interview scheduling, and moving candidates through the applicant tracking system, allowing hiring managers to focus on other critical job responsibilities and give candidates a best-in-class experience.
The team also utilized monthly hiring events, rapidly modifying the in-person model to virtual when the pandemic hit to continue mass hiring efforts.
To get a pulse on how new hires and hiring managers feel about the hiring process, the team deployed post-hire satisfaction surveys. This feedback helps ensure the talent acquisition strategy remains impactful and relevant to the needs and wants of everyone involved. The surveys delivered insights that led to impactful changes, including shortening the application process by removing duplicate communications to make it more efficient for candidates.
“The communication was great, and the quality of candidates have improved so much with the prescreening.” – Hiring Manager
“I was very impressed with how seamless the hiring process was in the virtual world.” – Account Manager
Delivering results
The BPO services provider incorporated improved process and technology into the organization’s talent acquisition strategy to help source and hire quality candidates. These enhancements created a smooth recruitment experience for both candidates and hiring managers. Since first collaborating in June 2019, the team has accomplished:
- Increased rate of candidates showing up to interviews to 77% in 2020, up 10%
- Decreased time-to-fill by 13 days, 24% lower than the average across industries served
- Decreased time from offer accept to start date to less than nine business days
