For many organisations, the prospect of outsourcing talent requirements can be daunting. In a previous post, we discussed how the ‘O’ in RPO can sometimes mislead employers to think they have to hand over all of their recruitment function to an external business.
In reality, RPO is a collective term that’s used for a range of solutions. While it can be utilised as a complete end-to-end, full-scale outsourcing of a recruitment function, it can also provide a flexible solution for specific talent acquisition challenges. In short, the value RPO brings depends on the challenges you’re facing to hire the talent you need.
In this post, we break down the different types of RPO to help you determine which option would most suit your organisation’s needs.
End-to-End RPO
Perhaps the one that most businesses are familiar with, end-to-end RPO typically encompasses the entire recruitment lifecycle, from engagement, sourcing and screening to offer management and even onboarding, leaving internal talent teams to focus on other key initiatives.
End-to-end RPO doesn’t mean a third party picks up your talent function and takes it away to manage themselves. It actually sees the provider become a strategic partner, fully embedded in your culture and values to work as an extension of your organisation .
Who’s it for?
End-to-end RPO is suitable for businesses of all sizes and resourcing maturity. Organisations without the necessary internal recruitment expertise often decide to outsource as opposed to building their own internal TA team as it is more cost effective, scalable and quicker to have in place. Other organisations with internal TA teams may outsource recruitment within specific job families e.g. high volume, which allows their own team to then focus on talent acquisition across more specialist or niche job groups.
Project RPO
Project RPO is used for a specific requirement – usually when a business needs to scale quickly or is undergoing a period of change, but doesn’t want to increase the size of its internal TA team. This could be due to a variety of reasons such as an organisation restructure, launch of a new product or service on the back of a contract win or the opening of a new division.
Project RPO can also be highly effective if you have a short-term or specialist recruitment need outside of the remit of your internal team such as seasonal hiring.
Despite project RPO having a set end date, providers will still integrate themselves into your team and the culture and values of the organisation.. They will take on your employer brand in all communications and ensure that all work complies with your existing processes and ways of working. .
Who’s it for?
Businesses that can struggle to scale internal TA resource quickly and need a partner they can trust to work alongside internal teams and represent them in the talent market.
On-demand RPO
Ideal during peaks in recruitment activity when speed is critical, on-demand RPO provides businesses support with specific components of the recruitment process. This flexible solution allows you to tap into the skills you need quickly, without incurring risk to the business and ensuring a seamless candidate experience.
On-demand RPO can pick up any talent-related demand, whether that’s support with response handling, candidate screening, interviewing or assessment management.. Like all RPO solutions, on-demand RPO is agile and can be flexed up or down in line with your evolving requirements.
Who’s it for?
Businesses with a need for support in specific areas of the recruitment process that don’t want to expand their headcount and need to maintain the focus of internal TA teams on higher value activities
Managed Service Provider (MSP)
An MSP service is designed for businesses looking for support in the sourcing, engagement and administration of temporary, contract and other non-permanent workers. MSPs handle all responsibilities associated with these workers, including monitoring and reporting on spend, managing the supply chain, and ensuring end-to-end compliance across all processes.
Who’s it for?
Businesses looking for complete visibility and control of a contingent workforce and suppliers, including all temporary workers and any resources engaged under a Statement of Work (SOW).
Statement of Work (SOW)
A SOW is an outcome-based contract that defines the scope, objectives, timelines, deliverables and spend of a specific project, with providers helping to agree milestones, onboard the consultancies delivering the project and ensuring all documentation is accurate, compliant and auditable.
Who’s it for?
Businesses embarking on a project outside of day-to-day activities, which requires a team of external experts to deliver it within a set time frame and cost parameter.
Find out more
Register now to receive a copy of our upcoming guide, ‘Talent Acquisition Odyssey: Key challenges in the road ahead’, where we explore the issues facing today’s TA leaders and how external partners can help to overcome them.
