RPO providers vs.

traditional staffing agencies:

The scope of traditional recruitment firms will be to source and place the
candidate in the required role. By contrast, an RPO provider takes ownership of
the design and execution of the recruitment process, which includes services
such as:
 Talent engagement
 Candidate management
 Hiring manager engagement
 Recruitment analytics support
 Workforce planning
 Pre-employment screening
 Strategic sourcing
 Compliance and risk management
 Employer brand consultation
 Vendor partnering
 Supply chain management
 Early careers/ graduate recruitment

An RPO service provider doesn’t just fill permanent roles on an ad hoc basis, it
embeds itself within an organisation, fundamentally changing the way a business
hires permanent talent.
Though no two solutions are the same:-
 A good RPO solution is strategic.
 It should take ownership of the design and management of the recruitment
process.
 It should embed the latest technology to ensure maximum efficiency.
  It should provide regular data analysis.
 It should provide regular reports on the effectiveness of the solution.

Benefits of RPO:

There are a number of clear benefits for businesses who embed RPO within their
workforce planning strategies. They are as follows:-
1. Higher quality talent:-
An RPO provider’s main purpose is to ensure that your business gets the
best permanent hires. With an RPO, the time, energy and expertise in
sourcing, screening and on boarding new permanent staff ensure that a
business gets the best talent.
2. Cost efficiency:-
RPO providers are most often measured on time-to-hire, cost-of-hire and
quality-of-hire, their role is to ensure that permanent vacancies do not
remain open for months at a time. Every day that a vacancy remains open
leads to increased costs and decreased productivity.
3. Easily scalable permanent recruitment:-
In any business, hiring is rarely consistent. If your business is opening up a
new department, it may need hundreds of permanent staff as quickly as
possible. Likewise, there can also be months that pass without a single hire.
4. Global compliance:-
Employment laws change all of the time, staying on top of what is and isn’t
compliant can be a tough order and an RPO ensures that all hires are
compliant with local laws. A global RPO provider’s expertise ensures that
businesses don’t get their fingers burnt when hiring new talent.
5. Reduction in advertising expenditure:-
Job ads are expensive, especially when trying to attract the most competent
permanent staff. Buying an RPO solution hands the pressure of finding this
talent to the service provider, and spending money on advertising is
eliminated.
6. Reductions in talent acquisition spend:-
Outsourcing recruitment through an RPO solution is one of the most
effective ways for businesses to reduce their talent acquisition spend.
Finding talent is a time-consuming process, even for the best talent
acquisition and HR professionals. This is especially the case when recruiting
for hard-to-fill roles.
7. Benefit from the latest technology:-
Keeping up with industry innovation is difficult for HR professionals.
RPO providers regularly invest in the latest technology to ensure that clients
acquire the talent they need to succeed – from high-tech VMS platforms to
data analysis tools.
8. Enhanced candidate engagement:-
An RPO provider offers the experience and in-house expertise to fully
optimize the candidate experience for a business. Not only does this increase
the chances of attracting top talent, but it also impacts a business’s ability to
grow its market share within its industry.
9. Expert employer branding:-
Employer branding is key to attracting the best talent in the market.
The best RPO providers help businesses really define their value to potential
candidates. The employer brand strategists within their ranks, they are able
to market a business to candidates even in difficult and traditionally
challenging industries.
 10.Better strategic insight:-
For one, technology is expensive, and HR tech often finds itself low down
the priority list. Secondly, HR professionals don’t always have the technical
expertise necessary to adequately analyse data. A recruitment process
outsourcing solution helps in all these respects. With the latest technology
and data analysis expertise, an RPO provider can assess historical industry
and company data to strategically predict future talent needs.
11.Efficient recruitment processes:-
Under a full, end-to-end RPO solution, and hiring processes are more
efficient with all permanent hiring centralized. Because RPO providers work
with businesses across the globe, they also have the knowledge, experience
and best practices required to deliver the best results for a client.
12.HR is freed up to focus on strategic goals:-
As RPO providers take care of all permanent recruitment and provide an
end-to-end service, they take a big chunk of responsibility outside of the HR
sphere. This gives HR professionals the added time and space necessary not
only to keep on top of other parts of their job, but also to develop their skills,
adapt to technological change, and perhaps even get a seat at the top table.

RPO models:

Based on the needs of the company, there are several models that RPO providers
offer:-

1. On-demand model:
In this model, the company has a sudden and immediate hiring need. With
RPO providers already in line with the organization’s processes, they are
 able to fulfill these requirements accurately and in a timely manner, saving
them a lot of time and money.
2. Function-based model:
The company that opts for this model outsources the hiring for a particular
division or a project to an RPO provider. The other hiring needs are taken
care of by the internal recruitment team.
3. Full RPO:
This model is a little different wherein the company outsources all the hiring
strategies, processes and decisions to the RPO provider. Here, the RPO
provider practically serves as an internal recruiting team.

Key stages of RPO:

In implementing any of the above RPO services, there are some aspects that a
provider typically follows:

1. Data collection – The RPO implementation manager obtains information on

the company’s existing recruitment processes (e.g., trackers used, internal

hire v/s external hire and interview formats) and conducts a stakeholder
analysis. This is the most critical milestone in implementing an RPO service
and can take up to even three weeks.
2. Process mapping – Based on all the responses to the above process, the

RPO provider architects an exhaustive process map that identifies all the
actions that will be undertaken by the internal recruitment team, HR
Manager, hiring managers and the RPO team. This document is as good as
the Bible for the hiring teams and can take up to a week to be completed.
3. Change management – As new teams start to expand or focus on their

responsibilities, there needs to be a change management plan in place. This

 will clearly outline how the company should handle the internal messaging
and timelines for the smooth on boarding of the RPO teams.

4. Training – Every stakeholder from the company and the RPO team will

undergo training to ensure the success of the process. The goal of the
training is for everyone to be on the same page with the updated hiring
process, technology and responsibilities.

Importance of RPO:

Following are the reasons why businesses need RPO services for their survival:-

 With clearly mapped strategies, RPO prevents bad hiring decisions, bringing more
stability and effectiveness to the process.
 RPO offloads the hiring responsibility from your HR teams’ shoulders and allows
them to work on vital day-to-day tasks.
 RPO partners with the company and works as an extension of the internal team.
They are just as invested as any other member of the organisation in on boarding
the right people.
 RPO providers come up with talent acquisition strategies that give businesses an
edge over their competitors.

RPO Technology: (Read Only)

Technology is changing our world. It’s also changing RPO. From talent analytics
to machine-learning, candidate screening to automated sourcing, the best RPO
providers harness advanced staffing technology to provide a highly-efficient, cost-
effective hiring process. And as technology advances, genuine RPO service
providers will too.

Typically an RPO would incorporate technology such as:

1. An ATS (Applicant Tracking System)

2. A CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) tool
3. A dedicated careers site
4. An internal talent community platform

Increasingly, businesses within the RPO sector are also seeking to harness the
power of artificial intelligence (AI), optimizing solutions for big, global businesses
in a way previously seen before. Though its implementation is in its infancy, AI is
likely to play a big part in the development of RPO in the next five years.