RPO vs. Internal TA: The Cost of Success in High-Volume Hiring
Why RPO Outperforms Internal TA for High-Volume Hiring
Meeting high-volume hiring demands, like the 5,000 new hires at Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), is no easy feat. It requires precision, scalability, and efficiency—all while ensuring that the right talent is placed in the right roles. For organizations deciding between an internal Talent Acquisition (TA) team and a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider, the choice often comes down to more than just cost; it’s about maximizing value and driving outcomes.
The Challenge of High-Volume Hiring
Large-scale hiring isn’t just about filling roles—it’s about doing so consistently, quickly, and with high-quality outcomes. Events like the CNE demand thousands of hires within a tight timeline, across a wide range of roles—from seasonal staff and operations workers to safety personnel and event managers. In such cases, a traditional internal TA team may be overwhelmed by the volume, especially when combined with other ongoing recruitment needs.
The complexity of high-volume recruitment intensifies when factoring in compliance, onboarding logistics, and specialized skills. Often, companies find themselves struggling to build a recruitment engine that can meet both the scale and speed required without sacrificing candidate quality.
Why Internal TA Teams Struggle at Scale
Internal TA teams typically have deep institutional knowledge and understand the company culture intimately. However, they often operate with limited bandwidth and lack the tools to manage fluctuating hiring needs efficiently. When tasked with high-volume projects, these teams can become bottlenecks, unable to adjust quickly enough to shifting demands.
In addition, internal teams are rarely equipped with advanced recruitment technologies or real-time labor market analytics. This leads to slower time-to-fill, higher attrition rates, and poor candidate experiences—factors that can harm employer brand and workforce readiness.
The RPO Advantage
RPO providers, in contrast, are built for scale. Their entire business model revolves around delivering end-to-end recruitment support across industries, timelines, and workforce models. From building pipelines to executing high-volume campaigns, RPOs provide infrastructure and expertise that surpasses the capabilities of most in-house teams.
RPOs begin with a tailored strategy. They assess your hiring goals, identify key challenges, and create a custom solution built around results. Whether it's finding thousands of candidates in a few weeks or developing a robust recruitment funnel for seasonal roles, they deliver efficiently and consistently.
Recruitment plan example:
Needs Assessment: Work with the client to determine job types, volume, skill levels, and hiring timelines.
Sourcing Strategy: Use multi-channel outreach, including social media, job boards, and referral networks to attract a wide pool of candidates.
Candidate Screening: Leverage automation to pre-screen applicants based on role criteria, availability, and prior experience.
Interview Coordination: Manage interview logistics with internal stakeholders, ensuring timely candidate engagement.
Offer and Onboarding: Handle the offer process, background checks, and pre-day-one onboarding to reduce drop-offs.
Each recruitment plan example is built with flexibility, allowing organizations to scale up or down depending on demand.
Case Study: 5,000 Hires at the Canadian National Exhibition
Toronto’s iconic CNE offers a real-world example of how high-volume hiring demands can be met with RPO expertise. With 5,000 seasonal roles to fill in a short time frame, the stakes were high. These roles ranged from ticketing and guest services to security and food service—each requiring specific screening, certifications, or language capabilities.
An RPO was brought in to manage the end-to-end process, including sourcing, vetting, interviewing, and onboarding. The result was a seamless recruitment experience that ensured every position was filled before opening day. Candidate drop-off rates decreased significantly compared to previous years, and managers praised the quality and readiness of new hires.
This is the kind of outcome that internal TA teams, while capable, often struggle to replicate under time and resource pressure. The ability of RPOs to deploy experienced recruiters, digital tools, and pre-existing candidate networks at scale makes them ideal partners for events like the CNE.
Speed and Efficiency: Built into the Model
One of the most critical benefits of working with an RPO is speed. From leveraging AI to identify qualified candidates to automating screening processes and onboarding documentation, RPOs cut hiring time dramatically. In high-volume scenarios, every day saved prevents operational delays and helps organizations maintain business continuity.
This rapid turnaround is possible because RPOs operate on a metrics-driven model. Time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, quality-of-hire, and source-of-hire are continuously monitored, optimized, and reported back to the client.
For example, one logistics firm expanded operations across Ontario and needed to hire 700+ workers in six weeks. An RPO partner created a recruitment plan example that prioritized warehouse hubs with existing labor shortages, implemented referral bonuses, and launched geo-targeted ads to attract applicants within commuting distance. The plan exceeded hiring targets while keeping costs below budget.
Technology and Talent Intelligence
Internal TA teams often lack access to the latest recruitment technology. Many RPOs, however, bring proprietary platforms or integrate seamlessly with a client’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Features like chatbots, AI-driven sourcing, candidate scoring, and real-time dashboards enable smarter, faster decision-making.
RPOs also use talent intelligence—market mapping, salary benchmarking, and competitor analysis—to refine strategy. This ensures organizations stay ahead of hiring trends and attract the best-fit candidates for both short-term and long-term success.
Workforce Planning for the Future
While most organizations think of RPOs as a solution for immediate needs, many use their RPO partners to build future pipelines. This includes internal mobility programs, succession planning, and employer branding efforts. In other words, RPOs don’t just fill roles—they help shape the workforce of tomorrow.
For instance, during the height of pandemic recovery, an RPO helped a healthcare network in British Columbia rebuild its nursing and admin teams. The RPO created a 12-month hiring roadmap, identified university partners, and used student engagement campaigns to create early pipelines. This forward-looking recruitment plan example not only addressed urgent hiring needs but improved retention by targeting long-term fit.
Cost Control Without Cutting Corners
While many organizations initially seek RPO services for their cost-effectiveness, they often stay for the strategic value. Because RPOs operate on defined SLAs and volume-based pricing, cost predictability improves significantly. More importantly, hiring costs decrease over time as pipelines become more efficient.
A financial services company in Quebec saved over $1M annually after partnering with an RPO to centralize recruitment across multiple business units. The provider consolidated vendors, standardized processes, and implemented automated screening—leading to a 35% improvement in time-to-fill and a 20% increase in candidate satisfaction.
Meeting High-Volume Hiring Demands Requires More Than Speed
Meeting high-volume hiring demands goes beyond quick placements. It requires quality assurance, process consistency, and a candidate experience that enhances brand reputation. An RPO brings all of this into one ecosystem—technology, talent, and time-saving tools—so organizations can focus on business outcomes, not backlogged requisitions.
The RPO model also includes compliance and reporting tools to ensure hiring practices meet legal, regulatory, and DEI standards. As employment laws continue to evolve across provinces and states, having a partner that mitigates legal risk is more valuable than ever.
Here’s another recruitment plan example that showcases how RPOs adapt quickly:
Client: A U.S.-based retailer entering the Canadian market
Hiring Need: 1,000 store associates and managers in 90 days
Solution: The RPO deployed bilingual recruiters, used labor market data to identify candidate-rich regions, and introduced video-based screening to handle high applicant volume.
Result: 1,032 hires completed, 96% show-up rate for onboarding
This kind of adaptability is what makes RPOs the go-to solution for organizations looking to scale fast without compromising quality.
Balancing Internal TA and RPO for Hybrid Success
It’s important to note that RPOs don’t need to replace internal TA teams—they can enhance them. Many organizations use a hybrid model where their internal recruiters manage strategic or executive roles, while RPOs handle volume, seasonal, or specialized hiring.
This collaboration allows internal teams to focus on culture fit and stakeholder engagement, while RPOs bring in the volume and technology muscle needed to execute at scale.
Conclusion: Optimizing for the Future of Work
The future of recruitment is agile, data-driven, and human-centered. Organizations that want to remain competitive need to rethink their recruitment infrastructure—especially when facing high-volume hiring scenarios. Whether you’re staffing an annual event like the CNE, expanding your national footprint, or simply trying to keep up with seasonal demand, partnering with an RPO provides a strategic edge.
A well-designed recruitment plan example executed by an RPO can dramatically shift outcomes: lowering time-to-fill, reducing costs, improving retention, and strengthening your employer brand.
Ready to Optimize Your Hiring Process?
At Robertson RPO, we’re experts in managing high-volume recruitment with precision and efficiency. Whether you’re preparing for your next large-scale event or scaling up operations, we’ll design a tailored strategy to meet your unique needs.
Contact us to explore how our RPO solutions can help you meet high-volume hiring demands and deliver exceptional candidate experiences—every time.