Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) And The Benefits For Business

Written by our Recruitment Specialist, Anne Johnson.

Organisations outsource recruitment for many reasons. Some may lack the internal resources to address their talent acquisition needs. Others may want to focus on core competencies, or to look for a competitive advantage in competing for talent. Whatever the reasons, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a growing practice.

So why do organisations use RPO?

It is unlikely that the decision to turn over parts of such a key management process to a third-party service provider is taken lightly. However the main reasons for RPO are found to be:

• The existence of pressing staffing needs that they cannot meet themselves
• The desire to concentrate on their core competencies
• A lack of internal HR resources perhaps due to size of company
• The high cost in terms of time and expenditure of attracting and recruiting new staff  themselves
• Lack of satisfaction in the new staff they recruited themselves

“The desire to concentrate on core competencies,” is one example of a driver that is influenced by an organisation’s long-term business strategy rather than immediate responses to staffing needs. It is certainly likely that many of the organisations that initially choose to use RPO to meet short-term goals will, eventually, embrace it for its ability to solve long-term strategic problems. However, research shows that many organizations are already making business strategy a main reason for using RPO.

Outsourcing is a proven tool that can help companies improve service and better manage their operating costs and cash flow. So it’s no surprise, given the severity of the recent economic situation, that most companies are considering increasing their use of outsourcing to cut costs in all areas.

One of the major advantages to organisations who outsource their recruitment process is that it helps to save up to as much as 40% of their recruitment costs.  By utilising the experience, expertise and the economies of scale of the third party, organisations are able to improve the quality of the recruits and the speed of the whole process.  In addition, outsourcing the recruitment element enables the human resource professionals of organisations to focus on the core and other HR and strategic issues. Outsourcing recruitment also gives a structured approach to the whole process, with the ultimate power of decision making of recruiting still remaining with the organisation itself. The portion of the recruitment cycle that is outsourced range from preparing job descriptions to arranging interviews – activities that consume almost 70% of the time of the whole recruitment process.

For further details on outsourcing your recruitment needs and how we can help, speak to Versatile Assistant’s recruitment specialist Anne Johnson for an informal discussion and no obligation quotation  on Tel 0845 299 0408.