About RPA

RPA is a leading independent advertising agency based in Santa Monica, California, known for iconic campaigns for clients like Honda and Farmers Insurance. The agency runs a well-regarded internship program to cultivate early-career talent. Chip Peck, VP of TA, David Peña, Lead Recruiter for early careers, and Romy Rosen, People & Recruiting Coordinator, oversee the program with a focus on diversity and inclusion. RPA even began accepting blind applications (no resume or GPA required) for its summer internships to give first-generation and non-traditional candidates the confidence to apply. 

The Challenges RPA Faced

RPA’s internship program attracts hundreds of applicants across departments like Account Management, Media, Analytics, and more. The recruiting team lacked the bandwidth to thoroughly review each application and video interview in a reasonable time. “The biggest problem right now is we don’t have the bandwidth to go through each one to balance the right amount of applicants by department,” David explained. In the past, they even had to cap the candidate pool at ~60 just to keep the process manageable, leaving many candidates without a chance to interview. This manual process was slow – taking up to 3 weeks or per cycle – and risked missing out on great talent due to an arbitrary cutoff. RPA needed a solution to speed up screening and allow every qualified candidate to have a chance at their coveted internship.

Why RPA Chose Talent Llama

With a growing volume of applicants and a commitment to fairness, RPA turned to AI to scale its internship program. “As AI continues to be a bigger deal here, I think we have to lean into it more,” said David Peña. Talent Llama offered a way to automatically interview and evaluate hundreds of candidates, providing structured insights on communication, experience, and technical skills - all in a simple to use web app.

Just as important, the platform aligned with RPA’s values. Every applicant answered the same questions and was scored objectively, eliminating early bias. Setting up automation is easy, as Talent Llama has an out-of-the box integration with RPA’s Greenhouse ATS to easily import applicants and send back evaluations. By partnering with Talent Llama, RPA hoped to reduce manual workload and speed up hiring without sacrificing the human touch or quality of hire.

Results

1) Faster Screening & Greater Volume

Talent Llama gave RPA a major upgrade in screening efficiency. What once took over a week—manually reviewing candidate videos—now takes just 3 to 4 days, cutting review time by nearly 60%. This allowed recruiters to shift their focus to higher-value tasks while keeping the process moving at speed.

At the same time, the team expanded their reach from just 60 applicants per cycle to 300–500, without adding resources. “It has saved us a lot of time, for sure. The process is finding the best talent,” said David Peña, reflecting on the impact.

2) Fair, Data-Driven Evaluation for Everyone

Using AI interviews for first-round screening made RPA’s process far more equitable. Instead of relying on resume filters or limiting the intake, now every applicant gets a chance to shine in an interview. “The equity process of it is that everyone gets to shoot their shot. Even if it’s not directly talking to me, everyone gets an opportunity to tell their story,” David said. 

This inclusive approach leveled the playing field between referrals and non-referrals – data showed that referred candidates and those without connections performed similarly in Talent Llama’s scoring, confirming the lack of bias in the process.  Now, hiring decisions are informed by richer data on each candidate’s actual responses and competencies, rather than superficial resume qualifiers.

3) Improved Candidate & Recruiter Experience

RPA not only sped up hiring – they also enhanced the experience for both candidates and the hiring team. The Talent Llama interviews are designed to feel like a real conversation, which many candidates find novel and engaging. To further put applicants at ease, David reassured applicants directly in the job posting that Talent Llama is “not a program that will be making decisions by itself but will help us in maximizing our time to ensure we can provide you with a better experience”, emphasizing that each person would still “get a chance to talk to a recruiter” as part of the process. By communicating openly, RPA kept the human touch in the loop and alleviated candidate anxieties about AI.

On the recruiter side, Talent Llama provided deeper insights that improved decision quality. “Most of the feedback has been it’s not that there’s a better attitude or tone of voice—it’s all aspect-specific, like being more impact-driven or speaking to results,” David observed. In other words, the hiring team’s discussions shifted from vague impressions to specific qualities of candidate responses. Talent Llama’s transcript and scoring breakdown let them quickly pinpoint who gave concrete, results-oriented answers versus who spoke in generalities. Hiring managers also appreciated the thoroughness of the technical assessments.

RPA’s technical leaders were “flipping out” (in a good way) over how effective the AI interviews were at evaluating candidates for skills and problem-solving. The platform even flags potential authenticity issues – for instance, if a candidate takes unusually long pauses or clicks between tabs and windows – helping RPA catch any inauthentic responses. Overall, Talent Llama made the screening experience more consistent and insightful, enabling RPA’s recruiters to make data-informed decisions with confidence.

The results speak for themselves

‍ RPA dramatically improved the speed, scale, and fairness of their intern hiring, making David and his team the champions of campus recruiting within the agency. Given the success, RPA is expanding Talent Llama to new roles (such as upcoming Account Management and Analytics openings) and will continue the partnership for upcoming intern cycles. The next generation of RPA interns – including those in the Summer 2025 “AdCamp” program – can all “shoot their shot” and be confident that their talent will be seen.

You Can Have These Results Too

If you’re looking to streamline your hiring process and enhance your candidate experience just like RPA, get in touch with Talent Llama today. Sign up now or book a demo with our team to learn more about how we can help you achieve similar results.