Recruiting under pressure: behind the scenes of an agile system put in place at Deloitte

In busy times, even the most well-structured HR teams can reach a saturation point. This is precisely what Deloitte faced at the end and beginning of the year, when the recruitment load suddenly exceeded the capacity of its internal team, which consisted of eight experienced recruiters. Faced with this operational pressure and tight deadlines, the firm needed to find a solution that could provide immediate support, without compromising on quality.

It is in this context that a tailor-made RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) system was activated for three months. The objective: to take over critical recruitments, with an agile approach, high-level expertise, and both local and international coverage. This one-off partnership has enabled Deloitte not only to meet its staffing targets, but also to identify new pools of high-value-added talent.

The challenge facing Deloitte was not trivial. At the end of each year, the firm sees its recruitment needs increase significantly, driven by project cycles that intensify across several service lines. Usually, this increase is absorbed internally, but in 2024, the situation has crossed a critical threshold.

Despite a strong HR team of eight full-time recruiters, the volume of positions to be filled, combined with specific profile requirements and incompressible deadlines, has put internal capacities under strain. The challenges were twofold: to maintain the quality of recruitment in a context of high pressure, while avoiding overload for the teams in place.

Beyond the simple volume, it was also a question of targeting rare profiles, sometimes on an international scale, in a very short time. For Deloitte, the solution could only be temporary, but had to be immediately operational, fully aligned with its standards, and able to ensure a high level of coordination with its internal teams.

To respond to this emergency situation, an entirely dedicated RPO system was deployed in a few days. The approach was built around three pillars: expertise, sourcing intensity, and synergy with Deloitte's internal teams.

A senior recruiter, with more than ten years of experience on complex assignments, has been integrated into the system. This seasoned profile had the ability to interact directly with hiring managers, to qualify needs in a detailed manner and to manage priorities according to business constraints.

The intensity of sourcing was quickly ramped up. The local market was mobilized as a priority, but the teams also activated talent pools in six countries: Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire and France. This international approach has made it possible to open up channels that had not been exploited until then, by providing new solutions to positions initially considered difficult to fill.

The strength of this intervention lay in its ability to function as a mirror image of Deloitte's HR teams, without creating a break in internal processes. Reporting, comitology, weekly updates, informal exchanges: everything has been designed to guarantee strategic alignment and fluidity in decision-making. This level of integration was decisive in securing results in such a short period of time.

In just three months, the scheme has made it possible to finalise nine qualified recruitments, i.e. an average of three profiles placed per month. Beyond the quantitative performance, the mission produced several major qualitative effects.

First of all, the sourcing effort generated a pool of more than 150 identified candidates, 75 of whom were presented for interviews. This groundwork not only filled urgent positions, but also enriched Deloitte's internal database, laying the foundation for future needs.

Secondly, international coverage was a decisive lever. Some key profiles have been recruited from outside Morocco, confirming that geographical openness has become a competitive asset for companies looking for specialized talent. This international dimension, which is often difficult to activate quickly, was made possible thanks to an in-depth knowledge of the African and French-speaking markets.

Finally, the mission contributed to a direct reduction in the burden on internal HR teams. Freed from the immediate pressure, they were able to refocus on other strategic priorities without sacrificing the quality requirements of recruitment. At the same time, the close collaboration and transparency of the system have strengthened internal cohesion and made HR decisions more fluid.

The impact of the project has therefore gone beyond the logic of urgency: it has enabled Deloitte to consolidate its practices, broaden its vision of talent pools and anchor a culture of agile recruitment in the face of peaks in activity.