Are you an HR department of one or a small business that doesn’t have the time to source and hire top talent? Have you considered outsourcing this function to help fill vacancies faster? If so, you may be confused by all the options available to you.
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Fortunately, Tara Cassady, Executive Vice President of Americas client services at Cielo, is here to help! Cassady explains the different types of hiring help you can use in the commentary below.
What Are the Key Differences Between RPOs and Staffing Agencies?
For recruitment outsource providers (RPOs), the biggest difference is that the level of engagement and commitment to the client organization is much higher. It starts by partnering with the organization’s talent acquisition (TA) team to identify the need, assess the current situation, and customize a strategy that fits its needs.
An RPO also offers a wider range of capabilities, including technology, employer brand, candidate experience, onboarding, and total talent fulfillment. Recruiters at RPOs are dedicated to hiring for one organization, and in most cases, they recruit as that company. Whereas an agency recruiter can pick which vacancies to fill at which companies, an RPO recruiter is dedicated to filling specific open requisitions for his or her specific client.
Additionally, RPOs also are held accountable to various key metrics, including time to hire, cost per hire, source of hire, customer satisfaction, and retention levels, that they predefined at the beginning of the partnership with their clients. They act as an extension of the HR and/or TA team. Because of this, RPO recruiters are in tune with the ins and outs of each one of their clients to a degree that is not possible for staffing agency recruiters.
This ultimately gives RPO recruiters a stronger ability to have a deep understanding of their client organizations’ needs and culture while promoting the employer brand to candidates with the right message in the marketplace. They often spend a significant amount of time on-site with clients and in internal functional meetings.
What Are Your Top Tips for HR Professionals Looking to Outsource Their Hiring Process to an RPO?
HR professionals who are looking to outsource their hiring process should keep a few things in mind. When looking to partner with a third party like an RPO provider, HR professionals must understand that having trust and flexibility is key; finding a partner to collaborate with and achieve their goals, as well as finding one they are comfortable and transparent with, will ultimately lead to success.
Additionally, once the RPO partnership is formed, it’s important to commit to the change rather than using the same processes that HR teams may have been using in the past. Because recruiters at RPOs have extensive experience hiring in different industries, allowing them to leverage their expertise and make improvements as time moves on is a best practice. Remember that recruiting has many moving parts, and getting an RPO in full swing takes trust and time.
Lastly, viewing your RPO not as a vendor but as a strategic extension of your business that is committed to your success will ultimately lead to goals being accomplished: impactful talent that drives competitive advantage.
When looking to outsource your TA needs, be sure to keep the above information in mind.