Scaling a Critical Intake Function for a National Domestic Violence Support Program
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When vulnerable communities are depending on your service, every hour counts and you need a recruitment partner who can scale with urgency, precision and empathy.
50+
roles
successfully filled over 18 months
48-hour turnaround
of shortlist from briefing
92%
female
representation across all hires
18 month
scalable partnership
Client Overview
An Australian not-for-profit delivering essential community services across homelessness, family welfare, mental health, and crisis support, employing over 2,000 staff and volunteers across NSW, ACT, VIC and QLD.
After winning a government-funded pilot program supporting individuals escaping domestic violence, the organisation needed immediate capability uplift in its intake team. Initially seeking three temporary staff for six weeks, the engagement rapidly evolved in scope and scale.

The Challenge
The client needed to quickly staff multiple intake roles across several locations, all while managing extremely tight turnaround times, sensitivity of the work and the need for candidates who could operate with empathy, accuracy, and resilience.
Key challenges included:
- 48-hour turnaround expectations across high-volume roles
- Strict compliance (police checks, WWCC, references)
- Specialised training requirements relating to confidentiality, risk assessment and key policies and procedures
- High emotional load, requiring candidates with strong resilience
- Ensuring performance consistency across a contingent workforce spread across multiple teams
What began as a short-term need quickly escalated into a large-scale workforce project requiring sustained talent pipelines, proactive retention work and continuous partnership.
Our Approach
MAYDAY became an embedded extension of the organisation’s hiring function, providing continuous and proactive recruitment support.
- Mobilised Weekly Talent Pipelines: Built and refreshed talent pools every week, allowing us to respond to urgent requests with fully screened candidates within 24–48 hours.
- Ran a Tailored Compliance-First Process: Our compliance team managed all police checks, WWCC clearances, references and onboarding requirements, removing administrative load for internal teams.
- Collaborated Directly with Team Leaders: Worked side-by-side with managers to refine interview questions, clarify skill gaps and understand evolving operational pressures.
- Supported Candidates Throughout the Assignment: Held weekly catchups, managed performance conversations, addressed training needs and provided real-time feedback to managers.
- Reduced Attrition Through High-Touch Care: Close engagement helped maintain morale, ensure wellbeing and keep quality high in emotionally demanding roles.
The Impact
- 49 temporary hires placed, 1 permanent placement and 8 payroll candidates over 18 months
- 6 temporary staff converted to permanent, including 3 promoted into management roles
- Average 48-hour turnaround from request to candidate submission
- 18-month partnership, growing from 3 temps to a peak workforce of 35 contingent workers
- High diversity representation with 49 women placed
- Stronger training and coaching outcomes, driven by real-time feedback loops
- Seamless program delivery, enabling thousands of vulnerable individuals to access support and timely payments
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