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What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?
As companies begin to fill vacancies and launch new initiatives, they face a fiercely competitive landscape for qualified candidates. For organizations looking to activate their recruiting efforts, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) offers a strategic advantage.
Unlike search firms or employment agencies, an RPO provider becomes an integral part of a company’s hiring process. They handle the entire talent acquisition lifecycle, from initial job analysis and candidate screening to selection and onboarding. While once seen as a solution only for the largest corporations, RPO is now an attractive and effective choice for mid-size companies as well.
Key Considerations for Your Hiring Strategy
The modern talent market presents several challenges for internal teams. When evaluating your company's recruitment capabilities, consider the following:
- Intense Competition: The competition for qualified candidates is hotter than ever. Can your in-house personnel compete with the specialized recruiting skills that RPO providers bring to your competitors?
- Required Technical Expertise: Effective recruiting today demands mastery of the internet, social media, and other technologies. Many internal teams may not possess this specialized expertise.
- Strategic Focus: Many forward-thinking companies have transitioned from a traditional "HR" mindset to a strategic "Talent Management" (TM) approach. This shift requires TM executives to focus on high-level strategy, which is difficult when they are consumed by the time-consuming demands of recruiting.
The Core Benefits of RPO
According to Zachary Misko, vice president of workforce strategy at KellyOCG, a global RPO provider, outsourcing your recruitment function offers two significant advantages: global reach and specialized capabilities.
Global Reach
Many businesses operate and seek candidates across the globe. International recruiting introduces obstacles such as distance, cultural differences, and language barriers. RPO providers are equipped to manage these complexities.
For example, when Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, it was the first time a host country outsourced the entire recruitment function for the event. KellyOCG was contracted to hire over a thousand full-time workers in management, communications, and technology, demonstrating the massive scale and complexity an RPO partner can handle.
Specialized Capabilities
Modern recruiting involves a sophisticated mix of social media engagement, blogging, career fairs, and direct candidate communication. The process has become too complex for most in-house personnel to master while also handling their other responsibilities.
As Misko notes, “Posting a position on a job board doesn’t make you a recruiter, any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.” Recruiting is the core business of RPO firms. The critical question for any organization is whether it makes more sense to keep recruiting in-house and compete with experts, or to engage those experts to work for you. '''