With the ever- changing face of human resource management, there has been the need to compartmentalize various human resource functions to streamline the operations of organizations. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) has been vital in addressing the challenges faced by these human resource outfits. RPO is the process by which a company partners with an external agent to recruit employees on their behalf. This process is often necessitated by the lack of expertise in a particular area of talent acquisition by the organization. Recruitment of a certain class of employees that may not be central to the core objectives of the company may also require the RPO. According to John Younger, a talent acquisition expert, one of the principal reasons some companies either fail or succeed in actualizing their organizational goals is a function of who they hire to work for them. Therefore, a business that is desirous of growing exponentially makes a conscious effort to leverage the expertise of RPO agents, to enhance their human resource capacity. These agents have expertise such as talent acquisition and management, payroll management, staff training, and employees background checks.
Benefits of RPO
Today’s recruitment environment is becoming increasingly competitive and complex. In the quest to maximize on performance, companies do not settle when trying to recruit the top talents in the industry. RPO’s have longstanding experience in their industries, and are connected to various industry professionals whom they can easily link to companies to meet their recruitment demands. They know how to navigate the recruiting environment, stay current with the latest recruiting technologies, and have the resources to scale up recruiting capacity. In essence, RPO’s bring people, technology, process, and metrics into a talent acquisition space. Many organizations, at the risk of being distracted from their core business objectives, prefer to outsource certain non- critical roles of their organization to external bodies which enable them to concentrate on their main corporate objective. These are usually general labor positions. Some of these functions include support services, janitorial services, catering, and security. This is very common among financial institutions, where the support services roles such as tillering and customer services, janitorial and security functions are outsourced to external bodies, while the organization itself manages the more critical functions like sales and client relationship management. The company focuses on roles that bring in profit. Depending on what one is looking for, RPO solutions come with an array of benefits. Effective management of staff turn- over, screening of employees, reduction in recruitment cost, enhancement of corporate image, improving the competence of staff members through staff development activities and finally, simplifying and streamlining the recruitment process. This enables companies to save time for other important duties.
Distinguishing factor between RPO and Traditional Recruitment methods
Traditionally many companies recruit through their internal recruiters. Until recently, fewer organizations were aware that RPO was a more viable option available for hiring employees. HR managers in various organizations occupy several roles. These include managing employee relations, training, payroll, compensation, and benefits in addition to hiring and recruiting.
Smaller firms especially have a fluctuating number of hires throughout the year, which makes it challenging to staff an internal recruiting team based on hiring demands. Recruitment Process outsourcing brings some scalability to the Process and variability to the cost. RPO engagements can be structured and priced based on the hiring needs and provide flexible solutions to recruitment requirements. Unlike other traditional recruiting models, recruitment process outsourcing is a strategic partnership that brings value-added benefits, including the following.
Analyzing and planning. RPO providers work with their clients for them to have a better understanding of the business side of the business goals attached to the recruitment process. They assist businesses to forecast their staffing needs and plan the necessary resources to respond to those needs in achieving organizational business goals.
Extensive job marketing. When RPO Providers receive offers from their clients, they engage in extensive herd hunting to get the most suitable candidate for the offer. They market the jobs through social media portals, referrals, and networking, unlike the traditional recruiting model, which is limited only to their immediate available medium.
Candidate assessment. RPO Providers go the extra length to do the necessary due diligence on job seekers before deploying them. They guide them through the recruitment process and ensure that they have the core skills, competencies, and motivation to do the job. This is a far cry from traditional HR recruitment, where applicants are mostly railroaded through the process without recourse to due diligence. They often end up burning their fingers because a lot of these recruits turn out to be square pegs in round holes. Qualified recruits that do not fit well in their job positions.
Author:
Phidelia Johnson is a global Human Resources Practitioner with eighteen years of leadership success. With a focus on streamlining Human Resources administration, she’s well-equipped to find the right solution to a myriad of concerns. Her experience as a commercial business leader gives her a unique ability to advocate for both the employer and the employee.
In her down time, Phidelia is a master of her kitchen, creating wonderful dishes filled with passion and flavor. If she’s not cooking delicious food, she’s stretched out with a good book. She hopes to use her experience to help others, guide company leaders to best practices, and help build better professionals and stronger organizations.