Recruitment Process Outsourcing: What it is and why you need it
As an RPO, the number #1 question we get from prospects is: What’s an RPO?
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) has been around since the early 2000s—created in response to the rising internal recruiting costs of the time. However, with relatively slow growth until the 2010s, it’s not surprising that RPOs are still unknown or, at the very least, misunderstood.
Here’s a brief overview of what an RPO is and, more importantly, why it makes for such a flexible, cost-effective recruiting approach.
What is an RPO?
An RPO is a fully outsourced recruitment function that strategically partners with you to handle your end-to-end recruitment strategy, from initial candidate search through employee onboarding.
By off-loading your recruitment processes—in part or in whole—you get an industry partner, branded as you, that adds the process expertise, technological savvy, talent acquisition strategy, and hiring best practices your current efforts may be lacking.
Why might you choose an RPO?
There are a variety of reasons an organization might choose to pursue an RPO model. The most common include:
- Wanting to create a more efficient, cost-effective process by reducing time to fill and cost per hire
- Struggling to find the best talent for the organization
- A need for upgraded digital solutions to fit current business needs and company objectives
- A lack of resources available to dedicate towards an internal recruiting team
While these represent the top reasons businesses often engage an RPO provider, they certainly are not the only ones. In the end, it’s about having unique resourcing needs or challenges, and partnering with the right RPO provider for a suite of customized recruitment solutions to support your talent acquisition needs.
What is the benefit of an RPO?
An RPO partnership provides a dedicated recruitment strategy (and specialty recruiters!), along with value-added perks you just can’t get working with in-house recruiters or staffing agencies.
These include:
- Ongoing reporting: weekly, monthly, quarterly
- Reduced per-hire fee
- Consistent, compliant hiring process
- Employment brand & recruitment marketing
- Specialized KPI reporting/analytics
- Scalability
In addition, you benefit from comprehensive recruitment services that ensure long-term success:
Workforce planning. An RPO provider is a valuable partner to have when it comes to workforce planning. Leveraging their expertise, they’ll work with you to understand your short-term and long-term objectives, analyze your workforce, and come up with an action plan. They can also implement and monitor the results of that action plan, always focusing on your business’s unique needs.
Strategic sourcing. There are many avenues for finding high-quality talent in today’s digitized world, so you need to know exactly where to look to find top candidates. An RPO provider is able to optimize time and resources to locate and target the individuals that are aligned with your company’s culture, not just the job description.
Best-in-class technology. Depending on what fits your unique circumstances, a strong RPO provider will leverage your current technology and utilize the latest tools to help your company remain competitive in a rapidly changing recruitment landscape. From AI solutions to predictive analytics, an RPO provider uses technology to elevate your recruitment performance and deliver results.
How Does Empower Partnerships Support Your Organization?
Recruitment is complex. Top candidates are scarce. Attracting talent is priority #1. Our RPO offering elevates acquisition of best-fit talent, leveraging best practices born of decades in HR and recruitment.
You need more than to merely fill a seat. You need a targeted, consultative plan that aligns with your talent acquisition and retention goals. That’s why our holistic solutions are designed to ensure you find the best people to empower your business—and improve your internal processes while you’re at it.
Ready for a fresh approach to recruitment? Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you as your RPO partner.
