The challenge

Goognu needed to add people steadily without letting recruiting spend climb with every new hire. As a startup, it had to grow headcount while protecting a limited budget.

The client faced three pressures:

  • Rising cost-per-hire: ad hoc hiring, agency fees and job-board spend added up as hiring volume grew.
  • Uneven pipeline: candidate flow depended on short bursts of effort rather than a steady process.
  • Limited recruiting capacity: the internal team had little time to run structured, high-volume hiring alongside other priorities.

Our approach

We embedded a dedicated recruiter within a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) engagement, giving Goognu a scalable hiring function at a predictable cost.

  • Dedicated recruiter: one recruiter who learned the startup's roles, culture and hiring bar, and acted as an extension of its team.
  • RPO structure: end-to-end ownership of sourcing, screening and coordination, replacing scattered one-off spend with a single managed process.
  • Cost focus: sourcing channels and workflows were chosen to reduce reliance on high-fee agencies and paid job postings.

Implementation

The RPO program was set up in stages so hiring could start quickly and keep improving over time.

  1. Hiring plan: we aligned with Goognu's leadership on open roles, priorities and budget guardrails.
  2. Process design: we defined a lean, repeatable workflow covering intake, screening, interview scheduling and offers.
  3. Pipeline building: the dedicated recruiter built talent pools for recurring roles, so candidates were ready before requisitions opened.
  4. Cost tracking: cost-per-hire and time-to-fill were monitored to show which channels delivered the best return.
  5. Ongoing refinement: channels and screening steps were adjusted based on results and hiring-manager feedback.

Results

Goognu reduced its cost-per-hire and gained a consistent candidate pipeline, so it could keep growing headcount without a matching rise in recruiting spend.

  • Lower cost-per-hire: consolidating hiring under one managed process cut the cost of each new hire.
  • Consistent pipeline: ready talent pools meant open roles had qualified candidates available.
  • Predictable spend: a single engagement replaced scattered, variable recruiting costs.
  • Freed-up team time: internal leaders spent less time on recruiting logistics.

Key takeaways

Three choices let Goognu grow without letting hiring costs run ahead of it, and they apply to any startup scaling on a budget.

  • A dedicated recruiter brings continuity and deep knowledge of the company that ad hoc hiring cannot.
  • An RPO model turns variable recruiting spend into a managed, trackable process.
  • Building talent pools ahead of need keeps the pipeline steady and reduces dependence on costly channels.