How RPO is Changing Talent Acquisition Strategies for Large Corporations

Finding exceptional talent can be like navigating a maze that keeps changing. Time pressures and evolving skill sets only make the journey more challenging. Fortunately, there is a solution—Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)—to guide companies through the ever-evolving maze of the talent market.

This blog explores how RPO can enhance talent acquisition strategies for organizations, making the process more efficient and effective.

What is Recruitment Processing Outsourcing?

RPO refers to outsourcing a company's recruitment process to an external agency. Depending on a company's requirements, an RPO provider can offer a range of services catering to the specific recruitment needs of small businesses and large organizations.

Although often used interchangeably, RPOs and staffing agencies are very different. While staffing agencies certainly involve finding the best candidates for a role through sourcing and screening, it's not as nuanced a process as recruitment process outsourcing. RPOs act as an extension of a company's HR department, taking responsibility for the entire recruitment process and providing tailored staffing solutions.

RPO as Your Strategic Recruitment Partner

In recent years, RPO has emerged as a strategic solution for organizations to improve their employer branding, enhance the candidate and hiring manager experience, create a centralized talent pipeline, and recruit for cultural fit.

RPO provides a holistic and proactive approach to managing the full lifecycle of the recruitment process – from sourcing and screening candidates to ensuring the smooth onboarding of new hires. This also entails identifying the most effective sourcing channels, implementing automated applicant tracking systems, and developing customized assessment tools.

Unlike traditional recruitment and staffing, recruitment process outsourcing is a strategic partnership that helps its partners assess their recruitment process, identify and address existing issues, and make the process more efficient.

Is the Partnership Worth the Investment?

Here are five ways in which using RPO services can add value and deliver proven results for your organization:

1.     Cost Efficiency

Companies that choose to streamline their recruitment processes with the help of RPO providers often benefit from increased cost savings.

A report examining the recruitment landscape found that the global recruitment process outsourcing market, valued at $7.33 billion in 2022, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.1% from 2023 to 2030. One of the key factors driving this market growth is the reduction of overhead costs. Not only does RPO improve the efficiency of the hiring lifecycle, but metrics such as time-to-hire and cost-per-hire are also significantly reduced due to quality hires and reduced turnover.

2.     Scalability

The workforce requirements of a large enterprise can vary significantly according to specific projects and their deadlines. RPO allows you to meet your staffing needs (whether temporary or permanent) while meeting recruitment deadlines and without sacrificing productivity. One of the benefits of RPO is the ability to scale up and down so that your fluctuating recruitment needs are met.

3.     Technology

A good RPO provider will have access to the latest recruitment technology to make the hiring process more efficient and cost-effective. From applicant tracking systems (ATS) to candidate sourcing and intuitive onboarding software, most RPO providers are using technology and automation to improve candidate quality and experience while managing costs. Leading RPO firms have already embraced big data, cloud, SaaS, and mobile technologies to streamline and accelerate the recruitment process.

4.     Support

Today, HR continues to grapple with labor laws and ever-changing employment regulations post-COVID-19 and trends such as 'The Great Resignation' and 'The Great Reshuffle'. Therefore, ensuring compliance with superannuation, employee overtime, and union requirements has become even more important. If careful attention isn't paid to these areas, the consequences can be severe.

With the support of an RPO, the organization's HR department can have extra hands to help the onshore team monitor these changes and rewrite policies and procedures accordingly. This additional support can work under the direction of your HR leaders to keep your business compliant with state and federal laws as required.

5.     Strategy

RPO providers offer their clients not only market intelligence but also the analytical tools and expertise to make sense of that data – resources that provide the strategic guidance needed to forecast future talent needs. Cielo, for example, is a global strategic RPO partner that has worked with companies such as Sanofi, Kleinwort Hambros, and Societe Generale to help them create a standardized RPO solution and strengthen their talent acquisition strategies across the globe.

How to Make the Most of Your RPO Investment?

If you are considering using an RPO solution to meet your organization's talent needs, here are some best practices for maximizing the partnership's ROI.

1.     View the RPO provider as a strategic partner

This means setting up RPO recruiters with a company email address and giving them the authority to act as representatives of your talent acquisition (TA) team. Fully integrate RPO into your TA function to the extent that candidates shouldn't know they're dealing with an RPO recruiter.

2.     Adopt a collaborative approach

Apply the rule of 'divide and conquer' to the RPO integration. At the outset of a project, identify the specific roles that the RPO provider will be recruiting for. These should be separate from what your in-house TA team is working on to avoid duplication and getting in each other's way.

3.     Keep everyone on the same page

Senior management must extend full support to the partnership, with appropriate resources allocated to the project. The RPO provider must also commit sufficient staff and recruiting tools to the program while adhering to agreed metrics to measure performance.

Establish a pricing model with an open request fee and a close or fulfillment fee rather than one based on time and materials. Both parties should set and manage realistic expectations.

4.     Be open to feedback

Maximize the experience by being open to feedback on your internal recruitment processes without being defensive. Let the external team examine your existing processes and assess how you can acquire talent better, faster, and more cost-effectively. This way, your organization will continue to reap the benefits of RPO long after the project has ended.

Let Your Talent Acquisition Strategy Soar with Success

The last few years have been a testament to the resilience and adaptability of recruitment practices. These challenges have forced recruiters to think outside the box, resulting in new strategies to attract and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive market. One recruitment strategy that's emerged out of necessity is the use of RPO.

As organizations grapple with the onslaught of unforeseeable 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 missing out. Companies battling talent drought and tight deadlines to fill open positions, especially when hiring on a large scale, are bound to see the value of integrating RPO into their recruitment processes.