Case Study - Exceeding x CareerGuard
The Challenge
Exceeding, a procurement and consultancy services business, faced ongoing challenges in recruitment. Over the course of 12 months, they mis-hired five key staff members across procurement and project management roles. Each mis-hire resulted in wasted salary costs, management time, retraining, and delayed project delivery — creating a measurable impact on their business growth and client outcomes.
Their existing recruitment process relied heavily on manual screening of CVs and interviews, which lacked a consistent, evidence-based way to assess technical ability or cultural fit. This approach not only slowed hiring but also increased the risk of mismatched candidates.
The Solution
Exceeding partnered with CareerGuard to introduce SkillScreening, a recruitment solution designed to evaluate both technical and soft skills through online assessments. Within just three weeks, the Exceeding team was fully onboarded and had integrated SkillScreening into their hiring workflow.
Now, every candidate for procurement, project management, and commercial contract management roles is invited to complete assessments, allowing CareerGuard’s platform to recommend the strongest matches. This gave Exceeding a reliable way to identify technical fit while streamlining the recruitment journey.
Results
40% reduction in time-to-hire
0 mis-hires since implementing CareerGuard
4 weeks from onboarding to first successful hires
Significant reduction in manual CV screening and wasted interview hours
Improved confidence and alignment in hiring decisions across teams
Improved employer branding and candidate feedback on interview process
TestimonialÂ
Before CareerGuard, we struggled with lengthy recruitment cycles and repeated mis-hires. In just one year, we onboarded five candidates who weren’t the right technical or cultural fit, costing us significant time, money, and lost opportunities.
Since switching to CareerGuard, our recruitment process has been transformed. Their SkillScreening product allows us to test candidates across both soft skills and technical skills, giving us data-driven recommendations instead of relying on CVs alone. We were fully onboarded within three weeks, and immediately started seeing results — faster hiring, better quality candidates, and greater confidence in our decisions.
Thanks to CareerGuard, we’ve successfully hired procurement managers, project managers, and commercial contract managers who are now delivering trusted advisory consultancy support with clients such as the National Crime Agency, Chaucer, NHS, and the University of Sussex. The platform has cut our time-to-hire by 40%, reduced mis-hires to zero, and given us a scalable process for both junior and experienced hires. CareerGuard has truly raised the bar for our recruitment process.
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Steve Rowland – Exceeding Ltd.
Project Details
This is a company that we supported to hire a wide variety of technology support staff, procurement, business analysts, project managers, commercial and contract management professionals and more.
Date: February 2,2025
Client: Exceeding
Location: London, England
Industry: Technology & Procurement