Why we launched Pillar alongside our agency services
For more than four decades, White Horse Employment has supported organisations through traditional recruitment, helping businesses find the people they need, when they need them. Over that time, we’ve seen recruitment change significantly. Hiring has become more complex. Skills shortages have intensified. Candidate expectations have shifted. Internal Talent Acquisition teams are carrying heavier workloads than ever before. Leadership teams are under increasing pressure to balance growth with cost control, while maintaining quality and candidate experience.
What became clear to us was some hiring challenges aren’t recruitment problems. They are capacity, structure and predictability problems.
That insight is what led us to launch Pillar by White Horse, our Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solution, designed to sit alongside our agency services, not replace it.
The real question isn’t whether Agency or RPO is better.
It’s understanding when each approach creates the most value.
Growth phases
Periods of organisational growth are exciting, but they place significant pressure on hiring capability.
Whether driven by expansion, investment, acquisitions, new services or organisational transformation, recruitment demand often increases rapidly across multiple functions at once. Research across UK employers shows that organisations in growth phases can experience hiring increases of 30 - 50% year on year, while internal recruitment team capacity typically grows far more slowly. This gap creates strain.
Without additional support, organisations often experience:
- Longer time-to-hire
- Increased reliance on agencies
- Inconsistent candidate experience
- Hiring manager frustration
- Internal team burnout
RPO provides scalable recruitment capability without the need to increase permanent headcount, allowing organisations to grow while maintaining structure, consistency and control.
Hiring spikes and project mobilisation
Many organisations hire in waves.
New client wins, programme launches, regulatory change, seasonal demand or transformation initiatives can create sudden recruitment spikes that internal teams are not resourced to absorb. In these moments, speed becomes critical.
The average UK professional vacancy takes 36 - 42 days to fill, and delays can cost organisations between £500 and £1,500 per day per vacancy, depending on the role and its impact on operations or revenue. Structured RPO models enable organisations to mobilise quickly, coordinate stakeholders and protect delivery timelines, particularly when multiple hires are required simultaneously.
Hard-to-fill and specialist roles
Skill shortages are now a structural reality across many sectors.
The challenge is rarely advertising roles, it is accessing and engaging the right talent before competitors do.
Labour market data shows that approximately 70% of the workforce is passive, meaning they are not actively applying for jobs. Specialist talent pools are often small relative to demand, particularly in technical, regulated or niche professional areas.
RPO introduces proactive talent mapping, market intelligence and sustained engagement strategies that build talent pipelines over time, rather than relying purely on reactive recruitment activity.
Overstretched talent acquisition teams
One of the most common triggers for RPO is not hiring volume alone, it is pressure on internal teams.
Recruitment functions today manage far more than hiring:
- Stakeholder management
- Employer branding
- Reporting and analytics
- Agency coordination
- Process administration
- Candidate experience
- Compliance requirements
Industry benchmarks indicate many internal recruiters manage 25 - 40 active requisitions simultaneously, which is well above optimal levels for quality delivery.
RPO provides embedded expertise, additional delivery capacity and process optimisation, strengthening internal teams rather than replacing them.
The commercial reality: cost and efficiency
Traditional multi-agency recruitment models can become expensive during sustained hiring periods. Multiple suppliers, duplicated effort, inconsistent processes and reactive sourcing often increase cost per hire without improving outcomes.
Organisations moving toward structured recruitment models commonly achieve:
- 25 - 40% reduction in cost per hire
- 30%+ improvement in time to hire
- Greater hiring predictability
- Reduced agency reliance
- Improved candidate quality and retention
Perhaps most importantly, leadership gains clearer visibility and control over recruitment investment. To find out more about the benefits of RPO or to investigate if RPO is right for you, read our blogs 10 Practical Benefits of RPO and Things you Need to Know Before Starting your Recruitment Process Outsourcing Journey
When agency recruitment is the right choice
White Horse Employment remains proud of its agency heritage, and there are many situations where contingency or retained search is absolutely the most effective solution.
For example:
- Individual hires
- Confidential replacements
- Highly niche searches
- Immediate urgent needs
- Low or unpredictable hiring volumes
Agency recruitment is fast, flexible and highly effective in these scenarios.
RPO is not a replacement for agency recruitment. It is an evolution for organisations whose hiring needs have grown beyond transactional recruitment alone.
Why Pillar Exists
Pillar was created to give organisations choice.
Some organisations need a recruiter.
Some need a recruitment partner.
Some need recruitment infrastructure.
By combining our agency expertise with RPO capability, we can recommend the right approach, honestly and commercially, based on what will create the most value.
Support can range from short-term projects or embedded recruiters through to fully managed RPO models, always designed to flex around organisational needs.
Starting With Discovery
Every organisation is different, so we begin with a short discovery conversation to understand your hiring plans, pressures and internal capacity.
The aim isn’t to sell RPO, it’s to determine whether a structured approach would genuinely add value, or whether traditional agency support remains the right fit.
Our role is simply to help you make the right decision for your business.
The Outcome
When implemented at the right time, RPO delivers more than faster hiring or lower cost.
It creates:
- Confidence during growth
- Stability during change
- Capacity during pressure
- Visibility for leadership
- Better experiences for candidates and hiring managers
- Stronger internal recruitment capability
Most importantly, it gives organisations control over one of their most critical business functions, talent.
If you're keen to find out more about RPO and how it could flex into your business, get in touch with Kelly at kelly.wand@wh-employment.co.uk to book your discovery call.