5 Types of Recruitment Process Outsourcing

The search for talent can be daunting, be it for your emerging business or large corporation. The market is constantly evolving, so is the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous)business world, where new skills take precedence over others and automation is catching up. 

Added to this maze, expectations of the workforce keep altering with time and socio-economic changes, which makes it all the more mind-boggling to find, attract and retain top talent. As a recruiter or HR manager, you would have spent countless days building your candidate pool, carefully curating your shortlist and taken top talent to the final rounds, only to find that the candidate has received a better offer and has chosen to jump ship. 

You’re back to square one, and you would have to start with recruitment all over again. When you’re knee deep in refilling the position, what happens to other crucial positions that need to be filled? They take a backseat, often hampering business productivity. 

In those stressful times, do you ever wish you had a wall of support to lean on? Do you wish if there were a support system to assist you and your team during the hard times, until your business reaches its equilibrium? Trust us, we have all been there and felt that. 

That’s where RPO can help you out. But, before you fret about leaving your business in the hands of complete strangers, walk with us, as we take you through the entirety and types of recruitment process outsourcing. 

What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing Anyway?

It’s a system where you delegate/decentralize a part or your complete recruitment function to a recruitment firm who utilizes their expertise to find exceptional talent, regardless of grade or caliber and ensures unhindered business productivity. An RPO firm with seasoned recruiters who have witnessed and mastered talent behavior, industry trends and contingencies makes an ideal partner for your business, to meet any talent shortage or spike.

Debunking Common Myths About RPO

Since talent acquisition is a crucial function of the human resources function, outsourcing the gatekeepers of talent of often viewed as questionable. There are a few myths surrounding the system of RPO and we, as a pioneer in disruptive hiring, are hire to debunk some of them for you.

RPO is Expensive

Truth: RPO is cost-effective

Recruitment Process Outsourcing brings in experts to accelerate your hiring process and get you results faster. With RPO, you increase your chances of hiring the best fit and substantially save the substantial cost of mis-hires. Since the RPO arrangement work on contracts for a set period of time, your outlay is determined well ahead of time. RPO is not only a cost-effective way of boosting your hiring spree, it also saves a lot of money in many different ways. 

You Will Lose A Grip of The Hiring Process

Truth: You’ll feel more in charge of your hiring process

Not at all. The main aim of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing arrangement is to ensure your job positions are duly filled with the best candidates, within the shortest turnaround time. To achieve this objective, RPO firms work hand in hand with your company, solicit your feedback on candidates, set workflows that suit your hiring process, and handhold you as you make the choice. 

RPO specialists such as Hire Quotient have expert recruiters dedicated to your company’s hiring, where every activity, progress, and result is monitored, managed, and improved to be in sync with your hiring process. 

Employer Branding and Quality of Hires Might Get Diluted

Truth: Employer branding quality of hires is enhanced significantly.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Versatile recruiters of top-notch RPO service providers such as HireQuotient have sharp skill sets to find, attract, and onboard the best talent in any industry. Cross-industry connections, strategic alliances, vast global network, paired with years of proven experience and time-tested techniques are sure to fetch you top talent in record time. 

Moreover, given their experience of working with several companies in the same or different domain as yours, they would have screened thousands of candidates, whose database is retained for a long time. Such a rich candidate pool is a goldmine of talent. You can find any combination of skill, knowledge, and expertise to suit your business needs. 

RPOs leverage their strengths to their advantage and bring onboard competitive people who start performing from day one. 

RPO Will Replace In-House Recruiters

Truth: RPO complements your in-house teams

RPO firms operate with the sole purpose of reducing hiring cycles by identifying the best people for your business. Be it a one-off project RPO or a long-standing agreement, RPO functions in tandem with your in-house talent team. Different types of hiring or roles can be taken up by in-house and outsourced firms and can operate seamlessly as a team. 

Wherever the in-house talent team requires assistance, the RPO firm will step in; wherever the RPO firm needs business approval or employee liaising, the in-house team will assist. 

Regardless of your company size, if you choose to have an RPO and retain your in-house team you can have a harmonious working environment, given that you set expectations, draw up an accurate scope of work, and clarify any ambiguities in the very beginning. 

Types of RPO

Expert support in recruitment can be sought by different companies in different capacities. Based on your business need, industry, budget, skill requirement, and strength of the in-house talent team, you can choose the right type of recruitment process outsourcing for you. Here are the most common types of RPOs: 

Project-Based RPO

If you are launching a new campaign, product, or service, or have signed several new contracts for a particular vertical, you may have to hire a specific skill set on short notice. If you have set a start date and end-date for a project and need competent people to run the show, you may want to consider a project-based RPO, where the RPO firm assists your in-house team in:

Active sourcing

Sourcing + Basic screening

Complete the hiring cycle, from advertising to onboarding

Based on your business need, team’s bandwidth, and budget you may decide to go for this type of RPO, where the recruitment process of talent for a particular special project is outsourced. 

On-Demand RPO

One of the most common types of RPO, you may choose this type if you have to replace a recently vacated job position in the shortest time, more so in case of a critical role. For positions that are integral to the business, but need not be in-house, you may choose this model. 

If your in-house team is struggling to find talent in a particular niche, especially in a time crunch, or a need for high volume hiring spree to be done in the least possible time, or if you’re witnessing massive attrition and replacements need to resume working ASAP, on-demand RPO is ideal for you. In this model, the RPO firms enter to solve any hiccup the in-house recruitment team may have and provide worthy replacements to further business profits. 

Hybrid RPO

How about we blend the best of both worlds? That’s a hybrid RPO for you. Most companies hire RPO firms in a hybrid format to:

Assist in sourcing candidates and filling positions the in-house team finds difficult

Streamline recruitment workflow, set metrics, and enhance efficiency

Significantly reduce time to hire and quality of hires

Adhere to global labor laws and ensure 100% compliance

Bring in expertise and invigorate the hiring system

Introduce, implement, and manage technology-powered hiring

Manage one-off requirements and regular hiring concurrently, by partnering with your in-house team. 

The hybrid model of RPO reduces the risk you run with a handful of recruiters managing all portfolios of job positions, and missing out on any essential aspect of candidate experience, or hiring. In this model, the expertise of the RPO combined with the people pulse insights of the in-house team can bring in good candidates for the business in the shortest possible time. 

Enterprise RPO

If you wish to entrust the crucial task of talent identification in the hands of an RPO firm, you may choose the end-to-end outsourcing model. In this type of recruitment process outsourcing the RPO firm picks up right after the business arrives at the manpower planning. Starting from seeking approval for requisitions, to placing the candidate, the entire spectrum of hiring activities is undertaken by the RPO firm. In the case of high-volume hiring, or for small businesses building their talent team, enterprise RPO bears a lot of meaning. The firm is entirely accountable to design processes to deliver top candidates to the business on time. 

The enterprise RPO model can either be applied for your entire business, or for a particular vertical. RPO leaders such as Hire Quotient have you covered in all stages of the hiring cycle, thus completely hand-holding your hiring team. 

Right from generating job descriptions, to a massive outreach to a rich and diverse candidate pool, to conducting automated interviews , a wide range of skill, or domain-based assessments, AI assisted screening , apt  personality assessments, a ROI calculator to measure hiring efforts and strategies and expert consultants who nurture and grow an international candidate pool, HireQuotient encompasses the best features in the industry to serve as your one stop destination for a holistic hiring experience. 

Complete Talent Solution

While most of the types of recruitment process outsourcing focus on hiring permanent workforce to the company, this model of RPO comprises both permanent and temporary workforce, such as contractors, freelancers, consultants etc. Taking the enterprise to the next level, this type of RPO offers the complete gamut of hiring services, right job posting, to screening, interviewing, candidate engagement and onboarding. In some cases, the payment of temporary workforce is also handled by the RPO. 

What Should You Do Before Deciding on RPO?

Before you make the big decision, you need to consider what your business truly needs, how can those needs be met by your prospective RPO partner and the plausible impact of collaboration on quality of hires. The following pointers can help you decide if you must go in for one of the different types of recruitment process outsourcing. 

Hiring Manager’s Inputs:

 Ultimately, the person who is going to deal with new recruits is the hiring manager. Hence, they need to be familiarized with the RPO firm’s plan of action, sourcing strategies, screening hygiene and quality of candidates, compare with your current state and determine if there will be an up and up. 

Is outsourcing suitable for your business?:

Can you trust your business in the hands of experienced professionals, or are you fidgety with third party handling important functions? If so, you might want to have a trial before going in head-on. 

Possibility of scaling:

If your business is just about to take a big leap and is possibly in the way to a huge scale up, you definitely need to hire a RPO team to support you. If not, your recruitment team will bear the brunt of spike in demand and crumble under pressure. Balance their workload by hiring a versatile RPO company like Hire Quotient

Recent change in skills or roles:

If the market has just witnessed a surge in new skillsets, or your business needs to hire a whole new range of skill sets, it’s safe to team up with a RPO firm, in order to use their industry knowledge and connections to your advantage.

Process Improvement:

Is your talent acquisition function having a hard time finding people in a short time? There must be scope for process improvement. Who better to address gaps than the experts themselves? Hire an RPO firm like Hire Quotient to bring your recruitment function up to speed.

Finding the right talent is a long game. You need the right preparation, resources, team, coach, and technique to ace it. By having a recruitment pioneer like Hire Quotient by your side, you can masterfully craft your recruitment strategy, hand it over to the experts, and forget about it. Check out our range of talent acquisition services at Hire Quotient and team up with us to nail the talent hunt.