Rethinking Recruitment: How cbs Optimised and Strategically Advanced Its Processes with p78 Pulse Check
From Quick Wins to Big Rocks – Transforming Recruitment at cbs
Company / Industry
cbs (Corporate Business Solutions) / Business Consulting and IT Services
Range of Services
cbs Corporate Business Solutions Unternehmensberatung GmbH (cbs) is part of the Materna Group and operates as a global consulting organisation, delivering digital end-to-end business process solutions for its clients. With its headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, the company employs over 1,600 people across more than 35 locations worldwide.
Website
www.cbs-consulting.com
Karrierewebsite
www.cbs-consulting.com/apac/careers-at-cbs
Recruitment is constantly evolving – and rightly so. To attract top talent, organisations must continuously develop their approaches, make data-informed decisions, and work closely with business units. That’s exactly why cbs chose to conduct a comprehensive analysis of its existing recruitment processes. The result: a clear roadmap with immediate quick wins, long-term strategic initiatives, and fresh ideas for employer branding and active sourcing.
To ensure that recruitment remains both efficient and strategically aligned in the future, cbs put its processes under the microscope – supported by the HR IT specialists at p78.
Over a structured five-phase model and a three-month period, internal workflows were assessed, interviews were conducted with key recruitment stakeholders, and data-driven recommendations were developed. The outcome provided valuable insights into areas for improvement and delivered practical measures to further position recruitment as a true business partner within the organisation.
Under Review: Why cbs Reassessed Its Recruitment Strategy
The recruitment experts at cbs hire several hundred new employees each year. Over time, the recruitment team has continuously evolved and optimised many of its processes. But recruitment is not a static discipline – it must adapt to ever-changing demands. As the company grows, so do the challenges: processes that once served well can eventually reach their limits and need to be re-evaluated. At the same time, the talent market is shifting. Candidate expectations today differ greatly from those of just a few years ago, and internal demands on recruitment have also increased.
With this mindset, the cbs recruitment team posed several key questions: How efficient are our current processes? Are there obstacles or unnecessary complexities? Are our recruiting channels set up for success? How can we leverage data more effectively? And how can the recruitment team strengthen its role as a strategic partner within the business?
One of the main goals of the project was to gain an objective, outside-in assessment of the recruitment processes. After many successful years of talent acquisition, there was – as in many organisations – the risk of operational blind spots. cbs wanted to ensure that its proven processes remain future-ready and benefit from fresh industry insights. At the same time, preserving agility was essential, as flexibility is a cornerstone of cbs’s corporate culture.
The project also aimed to position recruitment more strategically within the company – not merely as an operational service function, but as an active contributor to organisational development.
Beyond process optimisation, the initiative also explored broader strategic questions: How can employer branding be strengthened? Which future topics need to be addressed early on? And how does cbs compare with other companies in the market?
With these goals in mind, cbs partnered with its subsidiary, projekt0708 GmbH (p78), to carry out a systematic analysis of its recruitment approach. p78’s deep expertise in HR IT transformations made them the ideal partner for this comprehensive review and the development of clear, data-driven recommendations.
Structured Analysis: Five Steps to Recruitment Optimisation
To strategically advance its recruitment function, cbs partnered with p78 to conduct a Recruitment and Employer Branding Pulse Check. The aim was to gain a comprehensive view of existing processes, strengths, and potential areas for improvement. This involved not only assessing internal perspectives but also benchmarking against best practices from other organisations.
The approach was based on a holistic review of all recruitment-relevant dimensions – from strategic alignment and operational workflows to technology use and candidate experience. Key stakeholders beyond the recruitment team were also involved to ensure a complete picture of current processes and challenges. Maintaining agility was critical: over-standardisation was deliberately avoided to preserve the flexibility that is core to cbs’s corporate culture.
Thanks to this structured methodology, the findings were grounded in data and external benchmarks – not just subjective impressions. The project ran over a three-month period and followed a five-phase model:
1. Kick-off and Defining Guiding Principles
The project began with a kick-off workshop involving key members of the recruitment team, executive leadership, and p78 consultants. This session established the scope of the Pulse Check and clarified the objectives.
A second workshop followed, where “Guiding Principles” were defined to serve as reference points throughout the analysis. Key challenges raised by the recruitment team included:
- Inconsistent collaboration between recruitment and business units across the company.
- Varying perceptions of recruitment: strategic in some departments, operational in others.
- A lack of a unified recruitment strategy across all business areas.
- Limited use of data to inform strategic decisions in recruitment.
These early insights shaped the structure of the subsequent analysis.
2. Current State Analysis and Stakeholder Interviews
The next phase included targeted workshops to identify and prioritise areas for action. In total, 18 stakeholder interviews were conducted across 360 degrees – including recruiters, hiring managers, HR marketing, executive leadership, and external recruitment partners. New employees who had joined cbs within the past year also shared their experiences with the application and onboarding processes. The involvement of senior leadership underscored the strategic importance of the initiative and helped ensure broad buy-in.
3. Market Comparison and Data Analysis
Simultaneously, p78 conducted an in-depth data analysis using its analytics expertise. Key areas examined included:
- Application pipeline: Volume of applications and time-to-fill per vacancy.
- Candidate experience: Feedback from new hires and identification of pain points.
- Channel effectiveness: Which recruitment sources delivered the strongest candidates?
- Process bottlenecks: Where were delays occurring in the recruitment funnel?
This data-driven view helped validate and complement insights from interviews. Additionally, market trends and innovations were benchmarked to position cbs competitively in the talent landscape.
4. Categorising Outcomes: Quick Wins, Big Rocks & Future Topics
The identified actions were grouped into three categories:
- Quick Wins – Immediate actions with fast impact, such as: Optimising job ads, Speeding up initial candidate responses, More targeted candidate outreach.
- Big Rocks – Strategic, long-term initiatives, including: Increasing employer brand visibility, Improving job ad reach, Introducing data-driven recruitment processes.
- Future Topics – Overarching trends likely to shape recruitment in the coming years, such as: Employer branding innovation, Recruitment analytics, Use of AI in talent acquisition.
This classification allowed for prioritisation based on ease of implementation and strategic value.
5. Interim and Final Presentation
Following the analysis, an interim presentation was held to align on findings and ensure stakeholder perspectives were reflected. Initial actions were prioritised and practical next steps were outlined.
The final presentation provided a comprehensive overview of recommendations and a concrete implementation roadmap. Each Quick Win was assigned a clear owner, while a long-term project plan was developed for the Big Rocks.
One key takeaway: recruitment must not be viewed in isolation. It should be deeply connected to broader HR themes like talent development and organisational culture.
From Challenges to Solutions: Key Insights from the Project
Throughout the analysis phase, the project team encountered a number of unexpected challenges. One of the most striking revelations was the diversity of perspectives across the organisation – making it clear that recruitment does not operate the same way in every part of the business. Differing expectations, processes, and requirements made it difficult at times to define a unified approach to optimisation.
1. Developing a Unified Recruitment Strategy Across Business Units
One of the project’s biggest hurdles was designing a recruitment strategy that could work effectively across all departments. It quickly became evident that simply applying general best practices wouldn’t be enough – instead, the specific needs of each business unit had to be taken into account. While some teams were already collaborating closely with recruitment and thinking strategically, others still viewed it primarily as an operational service.
This highlighted the need for standardised yet flexible processes that could be adapted to different departmental needs.
2. Embracing Critical Voices as a Catalyst for Improvement
During the interview phase, it became clear that critical feedback was often the most valuable. Constructive input from within the company – particularly from recent hires – helped expose genuine weaknesses in the recruitment process, especially regarding candidate experience.
3. Identifying Quick Wins for Immediate Impact
Not every challenge required a long-term strategic response. Some improvements could be implemented immediately through “quick wins,” such as:
- Improved job ads – making them more engaging and easier to find for candidates.
- Faster response times – streamlining internal alignment to accelerate communication.
- Clearer messaging – ensuring a more transparent application process to reduce uncertainty.
These small but meaningful changes provided quick value and built momentum for the broader transformation.
4. Ongoing Reviews as a Key Success Factor
A key takeaway from the project was the importance of regularly reviewing recruitment strategies to ensure lasting success. The analysis revealed that market conditions, candidate expectations, and technologies are constantly evolving – meaning a one-time assessment is not enough.
To stay ahead of these changes, the team recommended routine Pulse Checks to reassess recruitment processes and quickly adapt to new challenges as they arise.
Future-Focused Recruitment: Next Steps at a Glance
Following the completion of the analysis, it was clear: cbs’s recruitment processes are already well-structured, but there remains room for improvement. Using a maturity model assessment, the current state of recruitment was evaluated in detail. cbs achieved an average maturity rating of 3 out of 5, indicating a generally proactive approach. While some areas were already operating strategically and data-driven, others – particularly recruitment analytics and job posting processes – were identified as having further development potential.
With these insights, targeted actions were defined to further professionalise and future-proof recruitment. The results were divided into two categories: short-term quick wins that could be implemented immediately, and long-term strategic initiatives, referred to as “Big Rocks”.
Several of the quick wins were implemented directly after the analysis phase. These included the optimisation of job advertisements to make them clearer and more appealing to candidates. In addition, internal coordination between recruitment and hiring managers was improved to enable faster responses to applications and prevent delays in the selection process. Adjustments were also made to the interview process to standardise the structure and further enhance the candidate experience.
While these short-term improvements were swiftly implemented, the Big Rocks now form the focus of longer-term strategic development. A key priority is the closer integration of recruitment with business units to ensure even stronger collaboration. It also became clear that data-based decision-making processes need to be further expanded and recruitment metrics used more deliberately.
Another key area that emerged during the project was the development of employer branding. The analysis showed that cbs could position itself more clearly as an employer to stand out more effectively in the job market and attract qualified professionals. Initial steps have already been taken to increase cbs’s visibility as an employer. To better reach the right talent, new approaches to direct outreach in the field of active sourcing are being explored, and the use of modern technologies in candidate search is being further optimised.
In addition to these specific measures, the project also revealed that a one-off analysis is not enough to ensure long-term success. It was recommended that recruitment be reviewed on a regular basis in order to identify emerging challenges early and respond effectively.
With these measures, cbs is taking a future-ready approach and ensuring that its recruitment function continues to evolve and strengthen over time.