Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is simply the act of outsourcing your recruitment needs to an external provider on a permanent basis. A provider, such as Omni, immerses themselves within your company and brand, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the existing recruitment process and presenting solutions. Their involvement can be all-encompassing or you could choose to use just one or two of their services. It’s all about deciding how you can be best supported in your recruitment needs. So how does recruitment process outsourcing work?
How does recruitment process outsourcing work?
A recruitment process outsourcing agency’s services can generally be broken down into four distinct stages, outlined below. An end-to-end contract would involve the vast majority of these services but most providers will allow you to cherry-pick which ones you require to support the work of your internal recruitment team. The four stages are:
- Initial Sourcing – Experienced RPO agencies have access to extensive databases of candidate information that they have built up over time. In addition, they know exactly how to unlock the potential of social media, identifying and learning about candidates that you are less likely to come across.
- Thorough Screening – A RPO provider will thoroughly screen each candidate that they put forward, taking care to cover any industry-specific requirements. Legally, you might be required to run background checks, for example, if the job involves working with children. Legality aside, many companies like to introduce their own tests in order to assess an individual’s knowledge and skill level. Of course, we would always recommend that you run checks on any references. It is at this point of the recruitment process that an agency would assess whether or not the candidate is a good fit with the culture of your company and whether they share your ethics and values.
- Recruitment Support – With a series of both passive and active candidates lined up and screened, an RPO provider will then begin to schedule and facilitate interviews. Once you’ve come to a final decision, they will be able to assist in any salary or benefit package negotiations.
- Ongoing Analysis – As your long-term partner, an RPO provider will be able to provide ongoing analysis of your recruitment process. This is likely to include time to hire, cost to hire and retention rates. Such information is vital for assessing the efficiency and success of the entire process and identifying where further improvements could be.
How does the way recruitment process outsourcing works differ from traditional recruiting?
Recruitment process outsourcing is different to traditional recruitment due to the nature of the relationship between provider and company. A traditional recruitment agency will work with you to fill one or two vacant positions. An RPO provider becomes more involved and works with you over the long term, learning as much as possible about your company and what a candidate requires to fit in.
An RPO provider will work with you to add greater definition and structure to your recruitment process. They will bring together the different approaches used by various departments and introduce some centralised consistency. By making the whole process more coherent, they can ensure that every candidate is given the same first impression of the company, irrespective of the position or department for which they are applying. It also helps to boost efficiency by reducing both time to hire and cost. With a final process agreed, the RPO agency can then take control and ensure that is is correctly implemented.
Due to the way in which recruitment process outsourcing works, the payment structure may be slightly different to what you have experienced with a traditional recruiter. Whereas they will typically charge a one-off sum for filling a vacancy, an RPO provider is more likely to charge hourly for consultancy or suggest a monthly retainer.