Hiring demand won't sit still. Is your Talent team built to move with it?
New markets, fresh routes and sudden shifts in demand are part of everyday life in Travel & Mobility, and they rarely give Talent teams much notice.
A team shaped around this year's plan can look very different from what's needed once demand accelerates or the business pivots towards skills it doesn't usually hire for.
See who we support525
hires for Uber
116
GTM hires for Bolt
23
day avg. time to hire at Uber
91%
offer acceptance at Uber
Built for a steadier world than the one you're hiring in
Most Talent functions are designed around a fixed headcount and a predictable flow of roles, an approach that holds up only as long as the business behaves predictably. Travel and mobility rarely plays by those rules, and teams end up rebuilding their approach every time demand shifts. The real challenge is responding at pace without permanently growing the team each time requirements move.
The real cost of playing catch-up on hiring
A sudden spike in demand rarely just means more roles to fill. Recruiters get pulled off other priorities, hiring managers wait longer for support, and permanent headcount can leave you funding capacity you no longer need once things settle.
Before deciding how to respond, it's worth asking:
How temporary is this spike likely to be?
Does the team already know these markets or roles?
What's at risk of slipping under the extra workload?
How fast does hiring really need to ramp up?
What happens to that capacity once demand eases?
Answering these honestly makes it easier to choose between adding permanent capacity and bringing in capability for a defined period, market or challenge.
A more flexible way to hire, mapped out
Our Travel & Mobility Hiring Playbook breaks down how Talent teams can design a hiring model that flexes with demand and bring in extra capability exactly when it's needed.
Read the Travel & Mobility Hiring PlaybookWhat 525 hires with Uber taught us about scaling
The instinct when demand rises is usually to add headcount. Our Uber partnership told a different story: it's the operating model, not just team size, that determines whether delivery holds up. These numbers came from adapting delivery as requirements changed, while candidates and hiring managers still got a consistent experience throughout.
525
hires
23 days
avg. time to hire
91%
offer acceptance
Uber is just one example. We've delivered similar results for Bolt, GetYourGuide and Blacklane, covering everything from international go-to-market growth to embedded delivery across Business, Tech, Product and Talent. The details differ each time, but the approach stays consistent: capability shaped around what the business actually needs.
Capability over capacity
Even a strong, well-established Talent team can feel the strain when demand picks up. Rather than growing headcount permanently, adding capability around the team already in place is often the better fix.
That might look like extra recruiters to cover a busy period, specialist know-how for roles or markets outside the team's usual patch, or a dedicated squad brought in for one specific hiring project.
Your team keeps ownership of the strategy, culture, relationships and priorities that make hiring work; we simply plug the gap. In practice, that's either embedded recruiters sitting inside your existing team, or a project-based team focused on a specific requirement or spike in demand.
Explore how we can support your Talent teamIs it time your Talent team had more room to flex?
Even well-established teams feel the strain when demand spikes, a new market opens up, or a specialist role lands on the desk. That's usually the clearest sign of where extra capability would help most.
Let's talk about your business, what's coming up, and where the rec hub could complement the Talent function you've already built.
Book a discovery call