Recruiting at Scale: 

Insights Gleaned from Building an 80-Person Team 

When growth calls, it rarely whispers. For some businesses, success means adding one or two new hires. But for others, especially those entering a new market or scaling their business, the challenge is far bigger: building an entire team, across multiple levels, by deadline, which is usually at speed.

That’s exactly what Acusensus, a global technology company focused on road safety, faced when they entered the New Zealand market. They needed to recruit approximately 80 staff and get to business-as-usual without compromising on quality or culture.

At Onside, we were proud to partner with them on this journey. But the success of scaled recruitment is always about collaboration.

Why recruiting at scale is unique

Recruiting eighty people isn’t the same as filling 80 individual roles. It’s about:

• Volume: Handling hundreds of applications, interviews and checks simultaneously.
• Consistency: Ensuring every hire goes through the same fair, efficient process.
• Coordination: Aligning hiring managers, recruiters and candidates across tight timelines.
• Culture: Making sure rapid hiring doesn’t dilute the values and behaviours that make a business strong.

The stakes are higher. Without a clear process, it’s easy to compromise on fit, overburden managers, or delay business goals.

What made the Acusensus recruitment project successful

The Acusensus project worked because both sides were all-in.

• Clarity from the client: Acusensus came to us with well-defined role requirements and a clear sense of what success looked like. That meant we could hit the ground running.
• Close partnership: We worked hand-in-hand with their team, adapting as needs evolved.
• Onside’s experience: We coordinated our team to work across all requirements from advertising and screening, to interviews and onboarding. The process was structured but flexible, and every recruiter was hands-on to make sure no detail was missed.

The outcome? Eighty people, hired and onboarded and ready for business as usual.

Define roles upfront

Don’t start until you know exactly what you’re hiring for. Clear position descriptions and role expectations make the process faster and avoid wasted effort.

Balance speed and quality

Fast doesn’t mean careless. Put a structured process in place, from screening to onboarding, so candidates move quickly but standards remain high.

Communicate constantly

Scaling only works if hiring managers, recruiters and candidates are aligned. Clear and frequent communication prevents bottlenecks and misunderstandings.

Keep culture in focus

When hiring at scale, it’s tempting to focus only on skills. But cultural fit matters just as much, especially when building a new team from scratch.

Partner with experts

A recruitment partner brings the systems, expertise and capacity to scale with you. They free your leaders to focus on the business while making sure the hiring pipeline keeps moving.