How a Global BPO Turned a One-Off Hiring Drive Into an Embedded Recruiting Partnership
TL;DR
Hugo, a growing BPO company, needed to clear a high-volume CX hiring backlog while filling specialist and leadership roles that were harder to close internally. NOSSA started with a mass-recruitment drive, then expanded into direct placement and embedded recruiting, working inside Hugo's process and owning recruitment through the difficult moments.
At a Glance
Industry - BPO
Hiring scope - CX, Executive support, Leadership, Sales and Operations
Markets - South Africa, US and Nigeria
Engagement - Mass Recruitment → Direct Placement → Embedded Recruiting
First shortlist - 48 hours
Competitive result - At least 80% of hires on a later CX drive, against three competing agencies
The Client
Hugo is a US-based BPO company with ongoing hiring needs across customer experience, operations, leadership, and revenue. Some roles needed to be filled at volume, others required a targeted search for a small pool of qualified candidates. The challenge was not simply finding recruiters. It was having enough recruiting capacity and specialist market knowledge to keep hiring moving without compromising the bar.
The Challenge
The engagement began with a straightforward need: hire CX talent at volume. It quickly became more complex.
Volume: The client needed to clear a CX hiring backlog quickly. The first mass-recruitment drive required NOSSA to move candidates through a repeatable process at scale while keeping the pipeline moving.
Specialist searches: Alongside volume hiring, the client had roles that required a very different approach. An Executive Assistant search had already been difficult to close internally, while a Country Manager and VP of Operational Transformation required senior South Africa-based candidates from a narrow qualified pool.
Changing conditions: The recruitment process also had to absorb the realities of live hiring: candidate drop-off, offer questions, unreachable candidates, referrals, and a hiring freeze that affected the pipeline midway through a campaign.
Hugo needed more than candidate sourcing. They needed a partner that could move at volume, adapt when circumstances changed, and take ownership when things became difficult.
The Approach: Built Around the Client's Hiring Process
NOSSA first understood how the client hired, what its hiring managers needed, and where the recruitment process was creating friction.
From there, NOSSA worked within the client's existing workflow and adjusted its approach according to the role.
Start with calibration, not candidate volume
Before sourcing, NOSSA worked with hiring managers to understand the intent behind each role, not just the job description.
The team asked the questions needed to establish what the client actually needed, then used that understanding to calibrate candidates before they reached the hiring manager.
This mattered differently at each end of the hiring spectrum:
For CX hiring, it created a repeatable process that could be run at volume.
For specialist and leadership roles, it prevented the search from becoming a high-volume exercise in a market where few candidates genuinely fit using local market knowledge to reach candidates for roles such as Country Manager and VP of Operational Transformation.
That ability to switch between volume and precision became important as the relationship expanded.
Move quickly without handing over unqualified volume
NOSSA's first shortlist was typically delivered within 48 hours, down from seven days. Speed was not treated as simply sending more candidates. The team used the first shortlist to test calibration with the hiring manager, and when the brief and available talent did not line up, NOSSA surfaced that early and recalibrated rather than continuing the same search.
Own the process when things got difficult
NOSSA's role extended beyond finding candidates.
The team managed assessment communications, candidate updates, offer management, rejection and hold messaging, referral outreach, and sensitive situations across the pipeline. When one candidate challenged an offer that was within Hugo's advertised range but below their expectations, NOSSA handled it directly, escalating internally and explaining the remuneration structure to the candidate rather than leaving Hugo to resolve it. When candidates became unreachable, or a hiring freeze affected the campaign, NOSSA kept the pipeline and candidate communication moving.
The Result
What started as one hiring drive became an embedded partnership across Hugo's hiring function. The scope, and the trust behind it, grew at each stage.
| At the start | As the partnership grew | |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement | A single CX mass-recruitment drive | Embedded RPO across CX, sales, operations and leadership |
| Hires | ~20 CX agents | Further CX drives plus senior placements: Executive Assistant, Country Manager, VP of Operational Transformation |
| Role types | CX agents only |
Volume, specialist and leadership roles |
Performance held up as the scope widened:
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Time to first shortlist | 48 hours, down from 7 days |
| Typical CX time-to-fill | ~3 weeks for straightforward roles |
| Niche-role time-to-fill | 4 to 6 weeks where the qualified pool was small |
| Competitive win rate |
At least 80% of hires on a later CX drive, against three competing agencies |
The competitive result is the standout: working on the same account as three other recruiting companies, NOSSA still secured the clear majority of the hires.
In the Client's Words
“It’s easy to work with NOSSA because they always try to get to the bottom of the issue and find people who genuinely fit the role.”
Conclusion
NOSSA gave Hugo one recruiting partner across every hiring situation: high-volume when capacity was the constraint, specialist search when the talent pool was, and embedded recruiting when hiring became ongoing. The result was not a single successful campaign, but a recruiting process Hugo could rely on as its needs changed.
Planning a volume hiring drive or building out a delivery team? NOSSA partners with high-growth companies to hire specialist talent at speed, from direct placement through embedded recruiting. Get Started.