The success of your projects depends on getting the right skills in place—whether by leveraging internal talent or hiring externally. Instead of just listing required skills and plugging gaps with new hires, there’s a smarter way to think about building your team.
There’s a secret that many hiring partners won’t tell you when building your founding team: the more robust, well-rounded, and agile your hires are, the fewer people you need to bring on board. Our recent project with Orderpay showcased exactly that. By delivering a team of highly skilled individuals, we eliminated the need for two additional hires, resulting in a saving of over £200,000 in salaries, benefits, taxes, and hiring fees.
For Orderpay, this meant not only a more agile workforce but also a strategically aligned project, a happier and more fulfilled team, and ultimately a more profitable business. Orderpay is building a ‘super-app’ for the payments industry—a single platform for ordering, payment, and gifting, used by over 2,500 venues across the UK. To understand their needs, both culturally and technically, we took the time to immerse ourselves in their environment.
This deep dive allowed us to identify the type of versatile talent that Orderpay truly needed— individuals who could wear multiple hats and adapt quickly. We ran workshops with their developers and senior management, and even joined their company Slack channel to get an insider’s view, ensuring we could find candidates who would reduce the need for additional hires while bringing maximum value.
Challenges
Orderpay faced several challenges: they had a small team that needed engineers who could hit the ground running, they aimed to hire the top 1% of full-stack JavaScript engineers, and they needed every new hire to be both exceptionally skilled and an excellent cultural fit.
Given these needs, we leveraged our Toolbox to make an impact.
Our deep understanding of Orderpay’s environment allowed us to craft a role-level value proposition that resonated with top talent. We were able to effectively present both the company and the opportunity as a perfect fit for candidates who sought to make a real difference. By aligning candidate aspirations with the team’s needs, we ensured the shortlist consisted of individuals who were not only technically exceptional but also culturally aligned.
Opportunities
For Orderpay, it was crucial to communicate the unique opportunities available to potential candidates. Joining Orderpay meant becoming part of a young, ambitious team with the chance to work alongside expert-level engineers, disrupt the barcode payments space, and benefit from exceptional one-on-one mentoring by a Head of Development dedicated to nurturing talent.
The role also offered substantial autonomy, allowing engineers to take full ownership of their code and make meaningful contributions from day one, aligning perfectly with the agile and versatile talent Orderpay needed.
An Unusual Result
For most recruitment partners, the goal is to place as many candidates as possible, but we took a different path. We prioritised Orderpay’s long-term success by focusing on hiring fewer, more versatile individuals—ultimately reducing their overall hiring needs.
Within just 40 days, we filled every vacancy. The lead developers quickly got up to speed, adding immediate value and allowing Orderpay to forgo hiring two additional mid-level
roles. We chose to put the client’s best interests first, even if it meant fewer placements for us. This approach earned us exclusive terms and established us as a trusted partner committed to their sustained growth.
How do you save £200,000 on hiring fees? By working with a recruitment partner that looks beyond short-term gains and reveals the strategies that genuinely save you time, money, and hassle—while building an effective, agile team.
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A breathe of fresh air in a world of stagnant recruitment firms. YNH worked closely with me to scale my team, they delivered quality shortlists of Developers that are well matched to our culture & technical environment.
James | Head of Engineering, Orderpay
