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One team, one focus: The power of partnership transforms volume hiring

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After facing hiring challenges in their call center operations, this consumer technology company reached out to Korn Ferry for support. Our Recruitment Process Outsourcing team moved quickly to address immediate needs while collaborating with the client to fully understand their business goals. Korn Ferry has filled more than 45,000 roles for this client and reduced their average cost per hire along the way.

WHAT WE DID

  • Managed Call Center hiring in a variety of challenging markets / locations.
  • Expanded the Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) to a wider section of repeatable high-volume positions in other business areas.
  • Scaled the RPO team up and down rapidly to meet fluctuating demand during the pandemic.
  • Achieved specific hiring goals, such as boosting female representation in traditionally male-dominated teams.

The challenge

Meeting call center hiring needs

This longstanding RPO partnership began when our client faced major hiring challenges in its Call Center operations. As the client Talent Acquisition (TA) leader explained, “Our organization undertook a major transformation, with numerous Call Centers being consolidated. That’s when we brought in Korn Ferry, as we could not support the hiring volume that we needed to staff up these now larger Call Centers in the markets that we chose.”

The immediate focus was delivering the necessary volume of hires to meet business requirements. The pressure was on Korn Ferry because the initial hiring requirements had been underestimated. As the TA leader described it, “Korn Ferry came in under the gun to really ramp up quickly.”

Once we stabilized the hiring situation, opportunities were identified to tackle wider talent challenges, such as quality of hire, high attrition rates and female workforce representation.

Additional challenges arose unexpectedly through the pandemic period, as the client faced the task of managing rapidly fluctuating peaks and troughs of demand.

 

The solution

Scaling the team for maximum support

The new outsourced recruitment service was built on close collaboration between Korn Ferry and the client’s internal TA team and operational business leaders. We put together a dedicated RPO team that focused on truly understanding the client and why roles were critical to business success. As the TA leader explained, “They built relationships not only with the TA team, but also with the hiring managers, and with the vice presidents within operational teams. Our main Korn Ferry contact was on calls multiple times a day with all the leaders trying to make sure that we were successful and able to move forward.”

Understanding the ‘why’ around hiring helped the KF RPO team drive results by being more in tune with business needs and the scope of the roles they were hiring for. By seeing the bigger picture, our RPO team was able to drive results more effectively.

As a result, we were able to stabilize Call Center class hiring and reach 100% class fills (plus ability to overextend) after six months. The next major challenge arose when the client added a further 70+ job titles for volume hiring. We quickly doubled the KF RPO team to resource what had now become a dedicated recruitment partnership, beyond the original scope of the Call Center recruitment.

The ability to scale rapidly proved crucial again during the pandemic when the client saw a sudden upsurge in demand. We were able to double our team size again in under two months to deliver on exacting volume targets. According to the TA leader, “No matter what we came to the Korn Ferry team with, they were willing and ready to work with us to find an answer.”

Once the right resources and processes were in place to achieve volume targets, we could now focus on adding further value by enhancing the operating model. One priority was improving assessment techniques and the candidate experience to help raise quality of hire and reduce attrition levels among new joiners. In addition, we deployed an effective mix of recruitment marketing, brand awareness building and community outreach to target and engage relevant candidates in under-represented groups and competitive job markets.

Delivering tangible results

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    45,000+

    Positions filled in 9 years

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    $65m

    Savings achieved

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    100%

    Increase in RPO team size during pandemic

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    100%

    Increase in female technician hires

The results

A 'one team' approach achieves cost savings and diversity goals

According to the client TA leader, “I could not be happier with the relationship that we have with Korn Ferry, and the success that we've made throughout the years.” To date Korn Ferry has filled more than 45,000 roles within the client’s business. The client estimates the total cost savings from the RPO solution at a staggering $65 million over the nine-year period – an average cost per hire saving of just under $1,500 across those 45,000 roles.

There has also been a tangible impact on key diversity metrics. As the TA leader outlined, “We hired more female technicians within the first quarter of focused activity than we had done in the previous couple of years.” Female hires in this male dominated profession have now seen a 100% increase.

Looking back over the lifespan of the relationship, the importance of driving towards a common goal is clear. As the client TA leader said, “Our partnership with Korn Ferry has felt like one team with one focus. We're all going for the same results. Their successes are my successes, and my successes are their successes.”

“We hired more female technicians within the first quarter of focused activity than we had done in the previous couple of years.”

Recruitment Process Outsourcing

More than RPO — talent realized

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