Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): 10 Challenges It Can Solve
Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is a strategic solution that allows organisations to outsource all or part of their recruitment activities to an external provider. By partnering with an RPO provider, companies can overcome various challenges associated with talent acquisition. Here are 10 common challenges that RPO can effectively address:
Lack of time for Effective Recruitment
We’re increasingly being asked to deliver “more for less” at work,- not least HR departments. Balancing the demands of day-to-day business operations and focusing on important HR projects whilst simultaneously managing a proactive resourcing strategy can lead to HR leaders really feeling the squeeze, and inevitably, some projects take a backseat. By moving to an RPO model, you can outsource all or part of your recruitment process, freeing you and your team up to focus on the rest of your workload and HR strategy.
An RPO partnership is an extension of your business, bringing together all stakeholders and driving collaboration between candidates, recruiters, hiring managers, and your preferred suppliers, providing your business with dedicated, agile resources and the latest in hiring technology that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive.
Concerns About Quality of Hires and Retention Rates
Hiring quickly in a competitive market means that all too often, quality is compromised. Sourcing and onboarding quality talent aligned to your EVP is central to an RPO model. Through targeted attraction of both passive and active candidates coupled with rigorous screening and tailored selection processes, you can be sure that an RPO partnership has a positive impact on the quality of hire and retention. Furthermore, RPO is designed to quickly scale at short notice, ensuring that even through the most testing of timescales, quality is never compromised.
Lengthy and Inefficient Recruitment Processes
Time is money! Acting quickly to meet business demands ensures organisations are ahead of the game. The longer a vacancy is open, the higher the cost to your organisation, both in terms of productivity and employer brand. A poorly planned and lengthy candidate experience puts your employer brand at risk. Done properly, your recruitment process ensures that your business becomes a magnet for prospective talent. RPO streamlines the recruitment process with powerful technology that reduces cost, improves efficiency and makes administration tasks easy. Whether it’s a full RPO model or you just need to outsource a single project, RPO can deliver serious time and financial savings, allowing your business to focus on results.
Limited Access to the Latest Recruitment Technology
Recruitment technologies are increasingly sophisticated and can be cost-prohibitive for organisations that don’t continually have large-scale ongoing recruitment campaigns. Costs are usually incremental when it comes to resourcing technology and coupled with the costs of job boards, your recruitment budget quickly becomes wiped out before you’ve even started interviewing. Partnering with an RPO gives you access to the latest technology ensuring that you don’t fall behind when it comes to attracting, engaging and onboarding the best talent.
With extensive attraction, reporting and analytics capability, an RPO solution will provide real-time insight into all your recruitment processes. RPO allows you to build a bespoke solution, only paying for what you need, when you need it, and so significantly reduces recruitment costs.
Difficulty Attracting Top Talent
From the outset, an RPO will invest in researching, identifying, and understanding the key elements of your Employer Value Proposition (EVP). The RPO will commit to engaging with current employees, evaluating the talent market, and redefining your attraction strategy in collaboration with you. Building your EVP with the RPO will ensure that you not only attract the best people- but also retain them. The RPO provider will ensure that your core messages to market are clear, consistent and that they drive high levels of candidate interest and engagement. The EVP underpins the entire recruitment process and beyond, ensuring only the best candidate experience, and therefore enhancing your wider employer brand.
Inadequate Reporting and Diversity Tracking Capabilities
We know that the C-suite is looking to their management team for metrics to demonstrate the effectiveness of their People Strategy. Meaningful MI data is fundamental to any successful RPO partnership, informing decision-making, wider business strategy and future change initiatives. The RPO will work closely with you at the outset of a new partnership to determine what metrics are required by your business leaders, and translate this into valuable and quantifiable reports aligned to yourbusiness goals.
Fluctuating Hiring Demands and Resource Planning Issues
Ongoing economic uncertainty, seasonal peaks, new projects, changes in legislation, and change programmes make it increasingly challenging to effectively plan long and even short-term resources. When recruitment suddenly picks up, organisations often don’t have the internal capacity needed to support and manage effective talent acquisition. A good RPO is agile and provides scalability, giving you access to the best talent when you need it. Moving to an RPO model converts the fixed cost of an in-house model to a variable cost which adjusts with your business.
Need for Process Evaluation and Optimisation
Businesses that don’t have a dedicated internal recruitment function often suffer from “maverick” recruitment processes, resulting in increased costs, increased time to hire, and poor candidate experience; ultimately damaging the employer brand. A strong RPO partnership starts with a full review and evaluation of your existing processes. Your RPO partner will embed into your business, understanding your culture, your people, and what your business leaders are trying to achieve. The RPO will provide a holistic approach to ensure the right solution for your business, is appropriate to your industry, and will design and introduce effective selection processes which meet and align with your corporate goals. Once the new solution has been agreed, tested, and is in place, the RPO will ensure that processes are mandated, and that ongoing internal communication around recruitment is consistent and clear with a positive message- driving morale around the RPO partnership and ensuring buy-in.
Compliance and Data Protection Complexities
Working with an RPO gives you access to experts in recruitment and employment legislation. RPO meets stringent data security and privacy standards to ensure your organisation complies with employment and data protection legislation, as well as your own internal commitments to diversity. By moving to an RPO, you have peace of mind that candidates are effectively screened and compliant in line with legislation, ensuring consistency and uniformity throughout the recruitment process,- ultimately removing the burden from you as the employer. Every element of recruitment is monitored by the RPO – allowing comprehensive tracking, reporting, and auditing of the recruitment function.
Lack of Strategic Market Insight
An RPO solution gives you access to a team of highly experienced recruitment experts who have in-depth and current insight into best practice, market data, latest innovations and thought leadership across your industry sector and the wider business landscape. Partnering with an RPO means you can leverage their market expertise, ensuring your business maintains a competitive advantage and staying ahead of the game with your resourcing strategy.
Additional Points to Consider:
The scalability and flexibility of RPO solutions, allowing organisations to rapidly adjust to changing hiring needs.
The potential cost savings of RPO compared to maintaining an in-house recruitment function, especially for companies with high-volume or specialised hiring requirements.
The expertise and industry knowledge that RPO providers can offer, ensure best practices and compliance with employment regulations.
The ability of RPO providers to enhance the candidate experience and employer brand through streamlined processes and effective marketing strategies.
The potential for RPO to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by implementing fair and unbiased hiring practices.
The importance of carefully selecting the right RPO partner and establishing clear performance metrics and service level agreements.
By addressing these challenges and leveraging the expertise of an RPO provider, organisations can improve their talent acquisition strategies, enhance their employer brand, and ultimately gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
