Powering Australia’s energy transition
Consolidated Power Projects Australia, known as CPP, is a leading high-voltage infrastructure provider connecting renewable energy projects to Australia’s electricity grid. As part of Quanta Services, a global Fortune 500 company, CPP specialises in the design, construction, commissioning and maintenance of substations, transmission lines, wind farms and battery storage systems.
Established in 1996, CPP has connected more wind farms and renewable energy storage systems than any other company in Australia. With more than 850 employees and offices in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, the business partners with major transmission providers to deliver complex, end-to-end energy infrastructure solutions nationally.
Building the talent function from the ground up
CPP’s Talent Acquisition team consists of seven people: a Talent Acquisition Manager, Senior Talent Acquisition Advisor, four Talent Acquisition Advisors and a Talent Acquisition Coordinator. The team is based at CPP’s Adelaide head office but supports recruitment across the national business.
The function has been built from the ground up over the past four years. During that time, it has progressively evolved from a team focused primarily on filling vacancies into a trusted talent advisory function that supports workforce planning, organisational design, market entry, remuneration decisions, employer brand and long-term capability development.
The challenge
CPP operates in one of Australia’s most constrained labour markets. The national energy transition is accelerating demand for engineering, construction and infrastructure professionals at a rate that the available talent market cannot easily support.
Historically, success was measured by vacancies filled.
Today, success is also measured by our ability to influence workforce strategy, challenge hiring assumptions and help leaders make decisions based on talent market realities.
For our Talent Acquisition team, rather than simply working harder to fill vacancies, the team needed to help the business make better-informed decisions about where talent could be found, what emerging talent pipelines could be developed (e.g., graduates, apprentices) and where traditional hiring assumptions needed to be challenged (e.g., did they always need to be senior level?).
Strategic Alignment
CPP’s broader growth strategy is centred on expanding engineering capability nationally and entering new geographic markets to support Australia’s growing energy transition pipeline. To support this, the Talent Acquisition team evolved from a recruitment delivery function into a strategic workforce advisory partner.
A key initiative was the development of CPP’s Engineering Resourcing Strategy, which used labour market intelligence and talent mapping to provide immediate, medium and long-term recommendations for engineering growth. Rather than continuing to compete for the same limited pool of senior engineers, we advised the business to:
- Strengthen engineering capability nationally
- Create clearer internal leadership pathways
- Invest in graduate and emerging engineering talent
- Recruit across a broader mix of experience levels, not just senior hires
- Expand capability into new markets, including Western Australia
The strategy influenced new engineering leadership structures across multiple states, resulting in several internal promotions and stronger succession pathways. It also supported CPP’s expansion into Western Australia by providing market intelligence, salary benchmarking and workforce planning insights that helped determine the viability of establishing a workforce presence in the state.
Over the past 12 months, this advisory approach has helped CPP grow from 714 to 870 employees, recruit circa 50 engineers nationally and double its graduate intake. By combining talent market intelligence with workforce planning advice, Talent Acquisition has helped the business make more informed decisions about how and where it grows.
Metrics
While delivery remains critical, our focus on advisory services has also delivered strong recruitment outcomes.
Over the past 12 months the team:
- Grew CPP’s workforce by 20+ %
- Delivered 98% of recruitment internally
- Maintained agency utilisation at approximately 2%
- Achieved a 96% probation success rate
- Maintained approximately 7% turnover
- Achieved a candidate NPS of +92.3
- Increased graduate applications by 74% year-on-year – a testament to our branding efforts
More importantly, executive leaders now engage Talent Acquisition earlier, involve us in broader workforce discussions and actively seek recommendations rather than simply recruitment support when a role needs to be filled.
For us, that has been one of the clearest indicators that the shift is working.
Key Lessons
Three lessons stand out from our journey.
- Advisory capability starts with credibility.
Market data alone doesn’t change decisions. Leaders need practical recommendations linked to business outcomes. - Recruitment teams often know more than they realise.
TA teams sit on a unique combination of workforce, remuneration, competitor and talent market data. The opportunity is turning that information into actionable insights. - Sustainable growth requires building talent, not just buying it.
One of our biggest learnings was that future workforce growth couldn’t rely solely on hiring experienced talent. Investing in graduates, emerging professionals, internal mobility and leadership pathways has created a more sustainable and scalable approach to building capability for the future.
What’s Next?
Our journey is still evolving.
With the implementation of a new system, continued expansion of our early careers strategy and growing involvement in workforce planning, we see the advisory role of Talent Acquisition becoming even more important.
Recruitment delivery will always be fundamental. However, the greatest value our team now provides is helping the business make informed workforce decisions before a vacancy is advertised.
That mindset shift is paramount in transforming how CPP views Talent Acquisition, from a recruitment service to a strategic workforce partner.
