When it comes to recruitment, there are hundreds of options to choose from so which recruitment solution is right for you?
For starters, you need to decide if you’re looking for someone that specialises in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) or a traditional recruitment agency. Both options are capable of finding you candidates for a position, but their methods of doing so, the level of detail they can provide and the scalability and flexibility differ.
Here are some of the key differences between RPO companies and recruitment agencies to help you decide which is most suitable for your business and people strategy.
Although RPO recruitment can offer an end-to-end solution, in which your entire recruitment process would be taken care of, it also offers flexible and scalable recruitment solutions that can be tailored to your organisation’s specific needs. Operating under your brand, they integrate seamlessly with your existing processes and can scale their involvement up or down as your hiring demands evolve. Their services cover a wide range of recruitment activities — from advising on job descriptions and providing feedback to hiring managers, to guiding interview processes and offering strategic recommendations. Depending on your requirements, RPO recruiters can take a more consultative or hands-on role, leveraging data-driven assessments and in-depth candidate evaluations to ensure the right fit for your organisation.
In contrast, recruiters at recruitment agencies will be assigned multiple roles from multiple companies at the same time to source suitable candidates for, often within tight timelines. As a result of this, they will expect the company itself to have a greater level of input in the recruitment process, allowing them to solely focus on finding the talent. For example, it is not unusual for a recruitment agency to request pre-written job descriptions from a company. Traditional recruitment agencies also promote the roles behind their own brand and not that of the employer of they’re recruiting for.
If your company is hiring multiple roles RPO recruitment will likely be the cost efficient option, with fees for RPO coming in lower than that of a traditional recruitment agency. Omni offers a range of RPO solutions, whether you need support that can be scaled up or down based on hiring needs, a number of roles filling for a project, support for your existing team, or end-to-end support, all of our solutions are designed to be flexible and give you control.
RPO Recruiters Consider The-Long Term Goals of the Organisation
RPO recruiters like to develop long-term partnerships with their clients to ensure that there are no ‘emergency talent shortages’. Their aim is to build a talent pipeline of both active and passive candidates who they are in regular contact with, constantly reassessing their suitability for your organisation.
At a traditional recruitment agency, the focus is on finding a candidate to fill a position as quickly as possible. Their only concern is the position that they are currently being asked to fill without thought to the wider strategy of the organisation. Given that recruiters work on a commission basis, they are constantly looking for ways to improve their number of hires by speeding up the process. Traditional recruiters are brilliant for those one-off ‘emergency cases’ where you to need fill a position quickly. For a more strategic approach, you want a RPO recruiter.
RPO Recruiters Help To Build An Employer Brand
Specialist recruiters in an RPO company will typically handle fewer clients than a traditional recruitment agency. With fewer people competing for their time and attention, an RPO recruiter is able to fully immerse themselves with your brand, becoming intimately familiar with your company culture and values. This is vitally important because they are the ones who make that crucial first impression on candidates and who will answer the bulk of their questions. You need to have confidence that they will represent your brand well and do you justice, projecting the right message. A traditional recruiter simply doesn’t have the time to devote to that level of research and relationship building.
RPO Recruiters Measure And Report
The long-term partnership approach that RPO recruiters take allows them to provide you with ongoing analysis of your recruitment strategy. Over time, they can build up a picture of where the inefficiencies are within the process and where the sticking points lie for company and client alike. Using advanced applicant tracking systems, they can report back on time to hire, cost to hire, candidate satisfaction and retention rates. Traditional recruiters aren’t with you long enough in order to gather any truly meaningful data.
To learn more about RPO recruiters like Omni and how we offer a new, often more successful approach to recruitment, get in touch today.
Use our calculator below to find out how much you could save by switching from using a recruitment agency to an RPO solution.
RPO, or Recruitment Process Outsourcing, is a strategic approach to talent acquisition where organisations outsource some or all of their recruitment processes to an external provider.
In traditional hiring, organisations typically manage recruitment processes in-house, from sourcing candidates to onboarding. This often requires significant time, resources, and expertise from internal HR teams or hiring managers. However, traditional hiring methods can sometimes struggle to keep pace with changing talent demands, especially in industries facing skill shortages or rapid growth.
RPO offers a holistic and strategic approach to talent acquisition. RPO providers like Omni act as an extension of an organisations brand, assuming responsibility for recruitment activities such as candidate attraction, sourcing, screening, assessment, and even onboarding. By outsourcing these functions to specialised experts, organisations can benefit from industry knowledge, resources, and technology to give access to the best talent at pace.
One of the key differences between RPO and traditional hiring lies in the level of specialisation and scalability offered by recruitment RPO providers. RPO partners often have dedicated teams of recruiters who specialise in specific industries or skill sets, allowing them to access niche talent pools and identify high-quality candidates more efficiently. Additionally, RPO solutions are highly scalable, meaning they can quickly adapt to fluctuating hiring needs, whether it’s scaling up recruitment efforts during peak periods or adjusting to changing market conditions.
Absolutely. We work as an extension of your HR and talent teams, providing support where and when you need it.
Our flexible models mean you can increase or reduce support at any time – you’re never locked into unnecessary costs.
No. Our solutions are designed for organisations of all sizes that need a more agile approach to hiring.
