Challenge: Recruiting Skilled Sales Talent in a Slow Housing Market
A national home builder needed to hire high-performing sales professionals across multiple U.S. markets to support new home developments. At the same time, Human Resources faced significant budget reductions and staff cuts, requiring new cost-saving strategies while maintaining hiring quality.
The slow recovery of the housing market intensified competition for qualified salespeople, particularly passive candidates already working successfully for competitors. Traditional recruiting methods were no longer producing sufficient results, and the in-house recruiting team’s reduced capacity made scaling efforts even more difficult.
Solution: Targeting Passive Talent and Outsourcing Non-Core Recruiting Functions
A comprehensive review of the company’s recruitment approach revealed strong internal capabilities alongside areas better suited for outsourcing. By strategically outsourcing non-core elements, the company reduced local recruiting spend and decreased in-house recruiting headcount by 38%.
Key insights included:
- The most qualified candidates were passive sales professionals already employed by competitors.
- Given economic conditions, these candidates required a compelling reason to consider leaving stable roles.
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Action Plan: Building a Market-Specific, Passive-Candidate Recruiting Strategy
- Learned the hiring expectations and processes unique to each market.
- Delivered direct-hire recruiting services locally to reduce advertising costs and strengthen referral pipelines.
- Developed a comprehensive database to support ongoing passive-candidate outreach.
- Established the company’s recruiting identity and launched a coordinated recruiting campaign.
- Scheduled weekly calls to keep HR and Hiring Managers informed and aligned.
- Demonstrated the importance of efficient processes to avoid losing passive candidates due to delays.
Results: Reduced Costs, Stronger Pipelines, and Consistent Hiring Success
- HR successfully reallocated personnel and reduced headcount as planned.
- Recruiting became more focused with dedicated professional direct recruiters.
- The candidate pipeline became highly targeted, with 98% representing passive job seekers.
- The hiring rate remained steady even in a slow market, and overall recruiting costs decreased by 32%.
- The company began exploring additional outsourcing opportunities based on the success of this model.
Impact: Strengthening Recruitment Strategy During a Challenging Housing Market
By outsourcing non-core recruitment functions and prioritizing passive talent engagement, the company maintained a steady flow of qualified sales hires while significantly reducing costs. This strategy strengthened the organization’s competitive position in a stalled housing market and created a scalable model for future hiring initiatives.