Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is on the rise now a days. The recent downturn in the industry led many companies to scale back their workforce, but as things turn around now they are looking to hire new staff.

The current industry scenario demands new talent acquisition model that is more scalable, flexible and cost-effective than the internal recruiting department. RPO is a convincing takeoff from traditional methods, making it a logical choice for growth-oriented businesses large and small.

What Is RPO?

RPO services are different from those offered by staffing companies. The Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing where an employer transfers all or part of its recruitment processes to an external or 3rd party service provider.

RPO firms act as an extension of a company’s HR department and can manage all or specific parts of the recruiting process. Their solutions are customizable depending on need and available resources, and they typically offer services ranging from job profiling to the on-boarding of new hires.

Is RPO Outsourcing Right For You?

In the hands of a skilled and experienced service provider, RPO can offer a lot of benefits to your firm, including improved hiring time, increased quality of candidates and add values. In today’s marketplace, these factors can give your business a large significant competitive edge.

Whether you need a little help with finding new candidates or hiring staff or would prefer to outsource the entire process, there are a few things you should consider when evaluating an RPO solution for your company:

Why Your Company Needs Help With Recruiting?

It is very important to understand why your company needs for hiring assistance before seeking outside service provider help for RPO. Doing so will set the stage for the selection and management of a suitable RPO, as well as expectations for your internal human resource, management, and executive teams. Begin by exploring specific reasons and rank them in order of priority, top to bottom.

Examples include:

• Internal resources are expensive and over-taxed.
• You foresee an increase in hiring activity.
• Your management team wants a more accountable and/or consistent option than traditional internal recruiters, contract recruiters and agencies.
• Metrics related to recruiting quality, speed and costs are unknown.

The Type Of Assistance You Require:

RPO Outsourcing Firm typically provide three levels of service:

1. Project outsourcing

If you need help hiring a few or small group of people, that is project outsourcing.

2. Program outsourcing

If you need 300 or more people immediately, that’s program outsourcing.

3. Total outsourcing

If your entire HR department needs support, that’s total outsourcing.

Identifying the type of required assistance will help you to determine if RPO is right for you, and will go a long way in helping you select a service provider who can fulfill your specific needs.

The specific problems an RPO can and cannot solve.

Although cost savings is an important advantage of outsourcing your recruiting function, it should not be your primary reason for considering this type of arrangement. RPO is a highly consultative function with vast differences in structure, focus, technology, and cost.

Where RPO firms shine is in their ability to improve candidate quality, increase recruitment responsiveness and implement a best-in-class recruitment process to carry your company forward. They cannot, however, be expected to solve your existing problems with fewer resources than you are currently allocating. If your company has inefficient processes and infrastructure in place, focus on the end results you desire, rather than your immediate need to cut costs. In the end, hiring employees who perform at a high level and retaining them will dramatically improve your company’s bottom line.