Using a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) firm to outsource your hiring is something to be seriously considered when stepping up your recruitment efforts. However, it is important to choose the right RPO or the results may not be what was expected going into the deal. RPO companies have strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats like every other aspect of business.
In choosing the right RPO, you will have some major strengths to consider. RPO firms typically lead to large cost savings; for example, Hire Velocity can drive down your recruiting costs by as much as 50%. Not only that, but outsourcing recruitment - whether it's all or some - allows your recruiters and hiring managers more time to focus on other important business functions. It also provides your business the ability to scale up or down as needed gaining a flexible recruiting advantage. Another strength of using an RPO firm is the speed and quality of recruiting. An effective RPO strategy can reduce your time-to-hire and fill those open positions faster. But filling open positions faster should not affect the quality of the candidates. Reputable RPO firms will be able to deliver qualified, available, and interested candidates for your open positions. RPO companies are process driven and leverage Service Level Agreements (SLA) for RPO services to measure, reward and sometimes penalize based on attainment of results. The SLA is such an important part of the recruitment process because it details the expectations, objectives, needs, numbers, procedures, and quality of the candidates.
While there are numerous strengths for using an RPO firm, there can also be weaknesses if the right firm is not chosen. It is important to meet with the RPO partner and ensure that the partnership is a good fit since it will become an extension of your team. Choosing an RPO firm that cannot deliver on what you expect can cause it to have a negative impact on your business. It is important to look at the experience that the RPO firm has. For example, Hire Velocity has over 70 years of recruiting leadership on our team and the client list includes Fortune 500 retailers, private to public healthcare companies, Fortune 1000 telecom companies, and Fortune 100 technology companies.
Using RPO can also have its opportunities. In general, RPO firms have a proven record for high hiring numbers across the industry. Organizations that have previously used a reputable RPO firm can attest to the positive results achieved during the partnership. The partnership created during the RPO experience is another opportunity for an organization. When requiring fast and cost-efficient hiring in the future, the partnership that was created with the RPO in the past will allow for a quick start to the recruiting requirements and ensure successful results based on previous experience with the organization.
As with any other business task, there are threats involved. One of the initial threats is finding that the organization and the RPO do not have a partner relationship. Again, this goes back to meeting with the RPO firm and making sure there is compatibility before choosing it. Additionally, a well thought-out SLA will provide guidance and avoid one party being unhappy with the partnership.
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