With employment numbers rising and unemployment claims declining, U.S. businesses are preparing for a large-scale hiring initiative in the months ahead. But as recruiting demands continue to grow and the “great rehire” takes off, is your internal talent acquisition team prepared for what’s to come? Do you have the resources on hand to support your organization’s talent needs?
If your organization is seeking to accelerate your recruiting efforts and expedite your hiring timeline, consider a recruiting partner that offers recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). A popular staffing method, RPO is “a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) where an employer transfers all or part of its recruitment processes to an external service provider” who assumes ownership of the design, management of the recruiting process and responsibility for the results.
Leveraging RPO services can bring value and generate proven results for your organization in these five ways:
1. Scalability
Rapid expansion is usually a good problem to have for almost any organization. But when business needs are growing, you will need ample staff on hand to support these demands. RPO can help your organization meet hiring deadlines without sacrificing productivity, as most RPO services can be scaled up or pared down. The ebbs and flows of business should dictate how often — and for which services — you engage your partner, whether you are looking to fill several niche roles or need robust recruiting resources for a considerable ramp-up.
2. Customizability
Let’s say that your organization is faced with an unexpected hiring spike to fill over 100 customer service specialist roles within a 10-week timeframe. Is your TA team equipped to handle this large-scale recruitment initiative? Do they understand the market for this type of talent? RPO allows you to customize the hiring process to align the most effective recruiting tools for the specific skill sets you need while meeting that tight deadline.
3. Cost-Effectiveness
Companies that choose to streamline their recruiting processes with help from RPO providers often benefit from increased cost savings. Not only can the hiring lifecycle be made more efficient, but metrics like time-to-hire and cost-per-hire ultimately decrease. A targeted recruiting process should generate higher quality hires who will have a more positive impact on your organization and reduce turnover rates. Cost-effective pricing models for volume placements can often be tailored to decrease your company’s overall hiring costs.
4. Technology
Recruiting methods today utilize a myriad of sophisticated tools that can enhance candidate quality, from integrated applicant tracking systems to AI-based recruiting platforms. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t have the ongoing volume of open jobs to justify the expense of some of these technologies on their own. These platforms will typically be included in your RPO recruitment package, significantly increasing the quality, alignment and size of your potential candidate pool.
5. Support
The chances are high that your internal recruitment teams are stretched pretty thin at the moment and would welcome additional support to help with hiring searches. Partnering with an RPO provider allows your TA team to redirect its recruiting strategy, perhaps to focus on fewer hard-to-fill or strategic searches while the RPO concentrates more on high volume repetitive openings.
Maximize Your RPO Investment
If you’re interested in deploying an RPO solution to address your organization’s talent needs, here are some best practices to maximize your investment.
1. Fully integrate RPO with your talent acquisition department.
The RPO provider must be viewed as a strategic partner. This means setting up RPO recruiters with a company email address and granting them the authority to act as a representative of your TA team. Candidates should not know that they’re dealing with an RPO recruiter. This differentiates the RPO from staffing companies and search firms, who may be contacting the same candidates for positions.
2. Divide and conquer.
Your TA team and your RPO provider should not be fishing in the same pond. It doesn’t make sense to compete with each other and duplicate efforts. At the outset of a project, determine the specific positions that the RPO provider will be recruiting for. These should be totally separate from what your TA team is working on. Otherwise, you will get in each other’s way and be far less productive. Your RPO provider acts as an extension of your TA department, so a collaborative approach that leverages all resources most efficiently will yield the best hiring results.
3. Agree on the rules of engagement.
It’s important to have full executive-level support from the company, with appropriate resources allocated to the project. Any concerns from resisters should be addressed at the outset. Also, the RPO provider must commit sufficient staff and recruiting tools to the program while adhering to agreed-upon metrics to measure performance.
RPO providers should have some skin in the game. It’s common to establish a pricing model with an open req fee and close or fulfillment fee, rather than one based on time and materials. Both parties should set realistic expectations and manage them appropriately. Occasional level-setting can take place as needed.
4. View your RPO provider as a subject matter expert.
Your RPO provider should be engaged for their recruiting expertise, so take full advantage of this. Let them examine your current processes and determine how you can acquire talent better, faster and cheaper. Maximize the experience by being open to receiving feedback on your recruiting processes without being defensive. In this way, your company will reap the benefits of RPO long after the project has ended.
Summary
As organizations continue to face an onslaught of internal hiring needs throughout the spring and summer, partnering with a dedicated RPO provider could be the difference between staying on top of potential business opportunities and letting them slip through your grasp.
