What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing?
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is when a business asks a third-party provider like Omni to manage its recruitment activity either in full or in part.
Some businesses prefer to outsource in full as it is more cost-effective and efficient to have an expert recruitment partner in place, reducing the need for fixed headcount and any off-the-shelf recruitment technology. However, even when outsourced entirely, the organisation retains full control over hiring decisions with the provider doing all the leg work; from attraction planning and candidate assessment through to offer management and even employee onboarding.
In a full outsourced partnership, the provider's team can be located either on-site with the client or off-site within their own premises – it’s up to you and designed to meet your business needs.
Does outsourcing work when you have an internal recruitment team already in place?
Most organisations that outsource recruitment have internal teams in place and may look to outsource parts of the recruitment process or function. For example, if an internal team struggles to scale up to support a short-term recruitment campaign (e.g. 10 Commercial Managers required in 6-weeks, 30+ Maintenance Operatives required in 3 months) it often makes sense to outsource this activity rather than over-stretch or increase your internal resource for what is a temporary period.
Similarly, if time-consuming tasks e.g. telephone screening prove challenging for internal teams in terms of capacity, it may make sense to outsource this so that your internal team can remain focussed on higher-value activities. In these scenarios, outsourcing complements internal activity by providing flexibility and scalability.
Is an RPO provider like a recruitment agency?
The answer to this is NO!
An independent RPO provider like Omni works entirely behind your brand, representing your organisation in the talent market. From a candidate’s perspective, we contact them as if we are you and not as an agency just working on one of your jobs. We represent your brand and are responsible for ensuring a highly positive candidate experience at every touch-point in the process. Indeed, the ability to attract, engage and nurture candidates separates RPO from traditional recruitment agency supply.
At Omni, we frequently work with organisations to help them develop their employer brand to appeal to as diverse a range of candidates as possible. This includes working with them to develop career microsites and branded job advertising across multiple channels.
What’s the business case for RPO?
There are many reasons to consider outsourcing and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Whilst, not an exclusive list, it may be worth thinking about if:
- You have a high level of open vacancies at any one time and an average time to hire more than 35 days, which suggests that your processes are inefficient
- You spend a lot of money on recruitment agencies and you need to improve your direct hiring capability whilst reducing costs
- You lack visibility of recruitment activity and need a technology platform to increase your control and understanding of what does/doesn’t work well
- You need to scale quickly and don’t have the internal resource to support the business
If any of the above sounds familiar and you want to explore outsourcing further then contact our HR Service Team for more information or to discuss your requirements. You can also keep up to date on our latest recruitment blogs and guidance by visiting our blog page!
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