Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): The right talent at the right time

July 10, 2023

With the war for talent heating up, so too is the demand for HR leaders to revolutionise the ways in which they engage, on-board and retain top talent.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) providers help firms stay ahead of their competitors by developing strategic solutions that positively impact cost, time and quality.

What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a service performed by a particular company that aims for the complete evaluation of the recruitment process of another company. After the evaluation, a diagnosis is presented in order to reduce costs and make talent acquisition much more planned and optimized.

The type of workforce hired is not restricted to just one condition. Those organizations can help with hiring permanent staff or temporary workers. More capable RPO companies can take over the entire recruitment process to precisely scale it and integrate it naturally into the dynamics of startups.

How can Recruitment Process Outsourcing benefit your business?

The reasons for outsourcing vary from each organisation. However, the benefits are far-reaching allowing HR to not only attract top talent but the right talent for their business. This can include project-based RPO solutions for one-off, business-critical hiring demands or a longer-term, fully-sourced solution in which the provider becomes part of your internal team and brand.

1. Increased hiring effectiveness

An RPO solution increases an organisation's hiring and operational effectiveness by developing a solution that attracts the best talent available in terms of cultural fit and skill set while reducing the time and cost to hire.

Strategic and proactive talent mapping and pooling can significantly reduce a company’s time to hire, develop future-proof talent and provide a fully scalable solution to cope with spikes in hiring demand.

2. Improved efficiency

The world of talent acquisition has developed rapidly over recent years, with the introduction of new technology, including Artificial intelligence (AI), enabling innovative organisations to attract talent. However, not every company has been able to adapt to the changes quickly enough.

An RPO provider will be able to provide access to the latest tools, technology and expertise for your business.

New tools, including AI, video interviewing, and other online candidate attraction and selection methods, have seen a reduction in time to hire by up to 40%. These advances in process automation and technology are allowing companies to re-engineer a more effective and efficient selection process which enhances the overall brand and experience for candidates as reducing the to hire.

3. Cost savings

For many organisations, the actual cost per hire isn’t accurately quantified. An RPO provider will quickly be able to understand your existing cost base per hire while implementing process automation to reduce the overall cost of hiring.

While the core focus of any RPO provider will be to make sure they are attracting and engaging top talent, there must also be a focus on cost containment. This ensures the appropriate talent is hired without increasing cost and also makes sure that the quality of hire is not neglected at the expense of cost.

An RPO solution will deliver cost savings against your current cost base over sustained periods. These can include but are not limited to:

  • Reducing time to hire (ultimately reducing overall cost)
  • Reducing cost per hire and associated fees
  • Reduction of advertising fees
  • Reduced attrition rates
  • Increasing the quality of hires

Why do startups need workforce solution providers?

A study published in February 2022 by Commit showed that hiring trends for outsourced software developers are expected to grow by 70% come 2023. The same survey also shows that for 68% of startups it takes more than a month to recruit a developer.

Undoubtedly, the need to find the most cost-effective way to compete with tech giant companies is evident. It's the only route to surviving in a business environment that is as fast and aggressive as the one we face today.

Leveling the competition against tech giants is just the tip of the iceberg

The Commit report clarifies that outsourcing has been a reality among startups. We've already talked about how cost reduction and gains with agility in hiring can be fundamental in competing against major technology companies. The truth is that we can’t just rely on a matter of competition, it's a scenario of imminent adaptation that we're witnessing.

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Big companies today, for instance, were developed with outsourced tech talent. Such as the case for GitHub and WhatsApp. And that's because the demand for a multidisciplinary and diverse talent spread is increasing worldwide. We can verify this by how investments in technology have been shaping up in the last fiscal period.

Web3 & DeFi: the digital space is under construction

In their Q4 report on the emerging tech sector, Pitchbook analysts show how the Web3 & DeFi segment was dominant in the tech industry with USD$4.3 billion invested in 2021. This metaverse niche was the leader in investments in Q3, with USD$1.2 billion dollars, and Q4 at $2.4 billion — this is basically a 100% spike.

The metaverse has been a big bet, and it seems that it will continue to present substantial investments in the coming periods. The digital space is being created and, consequently, remote work has all the qualities it needs to be constant and to have its distance diminished with virtual reality and decentralized finance.

Communication and collaboration technologies are disrupting the workspace

Many emerging technologies are changing the way we work. Our communication and collaboration has been facilitated and expanded by new software and systems that can turn the work environment into a more plural one.

Alone, the Communications and eCollaboration sector had USD$472 billion invested in Q4 2021.

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Achieving long term success through Recruitment Process Outsourcing

As the talent landscape continually moves and adapts it is vital that organisations begin to determine the best approach for long term success. Not every organisation will need to reduce cost but every organisation will need to future proof their talent pipeline. Engaging with an RPO provider will provide you with the expertise, innovation, scalability and diversity to fully execute strategic talent acquisition plans

Singular offers organisations access to our global expertise without losing the local touch, ensuring we understand your brand, culture, needs and future strategies.  

If you would like to find out more, please contact us here

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This post was written by: Tomás Battaglia, Content Marketing Coordinator