What Is RPO Recruitment and How Can It Elevate Your Hiring Strategy?

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About two-thirds  of all companies will outsource some part of their recruiting process.

There are all kinds of reasons that these companies might outsource the recruitment process, but there’s no wrong answer. RPO recruitment providers are here to help you focus on other aspects of growing your business while hiring top talent. 

RPO could be the one strategy you need to elevate your hiring strategy. Keep reading to learn about how this recruiting solution can benefit your business. 

What Is RPO in Recruitment?

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is a process that allows companies to outsource different areas of the recruitment process. 

It’s a popular talent acquisition strategy that will let employees and businesses focus on other important tasks of growing a successful business. This is an excellent solution for companies with internal or external teams. 

For example, your HR manager may need more time or financial resources to discover new talent. These companies will call RPO recruiting providers to have them handle aspects of the recruiting process that they don’t have time to.

A company might traditionally hire a recruiting agency to find and hire candidates for open roles. Once the agency finds candidates for your positions, then the relationship will end. However, you can use the RPO as long as you want, and they can help you with your long-term hiring strategies. 

RPO companies can help you with almost every aspect of your recruiting process. For example, if you want to handle interviewing candidates but need help sourcing candidates, an RPO can help you do this. In addition, they could help you with your hiring strategy with insights and analytics and also help you access advanced hiring tools. 

What Are the Different Types of RPO?

If RPO sounds like the right solution for your business, you’ll need to decide what type of RPO you want to work with. 

You must evaluate your needs to build a long-term relationship with the right RPO partner. Remember that your hiring needs will change, so you should choose an RPO that offers multiple solutions when your needs change. 

Fully Outsourced

A fully outsourced RPO solution is best for larger, established companies. These companies typically have an ongoing hiring need for a dynamic recruiting team. 

This recruiting team will be entirely external and collaborate with management for each stage of their business growth. 

A business will create a partnership with this company. Because of this collaborative relationship, you’ll be able to hire more qualified candidates great contributions, and a higher retention rate. 

Project-Based

If you’re a company that wants help with one hiring project but doesn’t want to work with a traditional recruiting agency, this flexible RPO solution is probably best for you.

For example, if you are opening a new branch of your company in a new area and need to find employees quickly, then you can work with an RPO on this project. You won’t have to worry about the stress of hiring new staff and finding help.

An RPO is also great for this because, typically, you’ll pay per assignment, not per hired employee, which can also help lower your costs. 

On-Demand

An on-demand recruiting solution is best for companies that only sometimes have high hiring needs. It’s also great for businesses that want to avoid making long commitments or paying hefty headhunter fees typically associated with recruiting agencies. 

An on-demand solution lets companies work with a recruiting outsourcing company whenever needed. For example, whether a startup is trying to grow its business rapidly or whether a Fortune 500 company needs to fill one role, an RPO can help. 

Typically with on-demand solutions, businesses can pick and choose the solutions they need. So, for example, if they need sourcing rather than recruiting services, they can pick and choose what they need. 

Recruiter.com operates on an on-demand model, and many companies have succeeded with this model. 

For example, FIRST agency hired Recruiter.com  to help them fill 114 challenging job openings. After using our OnDemand recruiters, we had a 70% fill rate, and we were able to do it 55% cheaper than a traditional recruitment agency would be able to. 

“We can confidently say that the OnDemand Recruiting program has been a game-changer for our company, and we are excited to continue this upward momentum,” said Maureen Ryan Fable, CEO of FIRST. 

“The number of OnDemand Recruiters flexed between one and five throughout the year to meet demand, and the OnDemand Sourcing program generated an invaluable pool of 1,200 interested candidates for us to choose from.”

How Does It Work?

An RPO will be an extension of your internal HR department. However, they can act like an internal recruiting team on your company’s behalf if you still need one. 

They’ll work closely with your company to assess your hiring needs and create a strategy to help you hire suitable candidates. Then, after they understand more about your company and what tasks you need help with, they’ll start locating the right candidates. 

The great thing about the RPO is the flexibility. Depending on your needs, the work they can do for your company can adapt and change. 

What Are the Benefits?

There are many benefits to working with an RPO company, but it’ll also depend on what task you’re assigning them. 

Cost Effective

One of the best benefits is that they’re cost-effective. Because of their scalability, you will save money compared to if you worked with a recruitment agency. 

For example, when FIRST agency worked with Recruiter.com’s flexible on-demand model, they saved 55% in recruitment fees. For startups who don’t have a large budget, this can help you get an advantage over your competitors. 

Even if you have an established Fortune 500 enterprise, it costs an average of $4,700 to hire a new employee. These costs can quickly add up, and when companies are having hiring freezes and layoffs, you need to find ways to maximize your recruiting budget. 

Access to New Technology

It’s no secret that many recruiters and HR professionals have used new recruiting technology to help them with their hiring strategy. However, you may need more money to invest in every new recruiting technology.

Thankfully, RPO companies have access to great recruiting technology and tools they can leverage for your business. 

For example, Recruiter.com uses patented AI sourcing software that they can use to identify top talent for your business. Once this talent has been recognized, they can send optimized and automated emails to convert these passive candidates into active ones that could become great hires. 

With this technology, they can also provide a greater candidate experience, which can boost your employer branding as well. 

Hire Candidates Faster

Finding the right candidates in a competitive job market where top talent has options to go to top-tier companies can be challenging. 

An RPO provider will evaluate your current hiring strategy and make recommendations to help you fill your positions more quickly. They’ll also have the right networks and connections to know where to reach the most qualified candidates. 

Efficient Recruiting Process

In a large organization, recruiting can be lengthy and challenging when it doesn’t need to be. Using a recruiting agency can help, but the communication between your business and the agency can slow down the process and make it inefficient. 

If you’re hiring an RPO that will cover the end-to-end process, your hiring process will be more streamlined. RPOs work with all kinds of businesses, so they also have the experience and knowledge to know what hiring strategies are effective. Because of this, they can make sure that they give you the best results for your client. 

Rather than wasting time trying to figure out an efficient recruiting process for your business, you can hire an RPO to handle the strategy for you and iron out your recruiting process so that you can hire top talent. 

How Do You Know If Your Business Would Benefit?

While these benefits sound great, how do you know if RPO recruitment can elevate your hiring strategy? 

Business owners must objectively view their current recruiting strategy and determine if they would benefit from using an RPO provider. Some things that you should consider when evaluating your business are things like: 

  • Not having any specialized recruiting experience 
  • A small internal recruiting team (or no team at all)
  • Changes in hiring demand that you can’t keep up with 
  • Inefficient hiring processes
  • Higher recruitment costs
  • Lack of qualified candidates 
  • A recent acquisition, expansion, or merger
  • No data or analytics 
  • Limited ATS functionality

If you’re struggling with any of these areas, consider working with an RPO. 

Start Using RPO Recruitment to Elevate Your Hiring Strategy

If you want to enjoy the benefits of working with RPO recruitment providers, you’ll need to find the right one. 

You can select the right RPO provider by evaluating your business’s hiring needs. You also want to find a provider that will be able to coordinate with you so that you can set your hiring strategy up for success. 

Recruiter.com is a flexible recruiting outsourcing provider that offers affordable solutions. We’ve worked with all kinds of companies, ranging from startups to enterprises, and as experts in the recruiting space, we know how to help you find the candidates you need. 

If you’re interested in learning more about our OnDemand recruiting solutions, contact us today !

By Alyssa Harmon