Recruitment Process Outsourcing Isn't What it Used to Be

The meaning of recruitment process outsourcing has changed. Visit http://www.worldconcertrpo.com to learn more.

There is no doubt that the economic downturn changed the employment landscape and the way employers hire, but as the economy is just beginning to return to normal, the debate is still open as to whether or not the recruiting landscape has been permanently affected.

The biggest challenge seems to be among companies that reduced their recruiting departments during the recession, but are now seeing an increase in hiring, and are in turn must figure out how to keep up with demand by using limited resources.

Many companies that need a little extra help during the hiring process consider RPO providers to be a logical choice. However, there are no across-the-board RPO service standards, which means HR managers have to decide for themselves what the company needs.

What's even more confusing, according to an article by ERE.net, is that many RPO providers now offer task-oriented services to support the individual steps of the recruiting process.

"The RPO industry is evolving driven by client demand," the article notes. "The need for full-scale outsourcing has shifted as hiring activity waned last year. By definition, the PO in RPO means process outsourcing or shifting the burden of day-to-day management of a process to an external supplier. The idea is that the process, albeit important, is not part of the core business offering and can be better managed by a specialized vendor.

"An example would be the outsourcing of call center recruitment or a short-term recruiting project to ramp up a new business unit," the article continues. "The value being that internal recruiting resources would remain focused on critical employment and not be distracted by spikes in demand or less strategic initiatives."

Much of this shift was caused when broader RPO services were not needed during the recession, as many companies worked to cut costs, forcing RPO companies to get away from the idea of outsourcing and move toward supplemental and support services.

In an effort to better respond to customer needs, RPO providers broke down their overall offerings and developed individual services, such as full cycle, co-sourcing, response management, and pipelining.

These focused offerings are attracting more HR managers who are interested in the cost, scale and intelligence of their recruiting process, especially as the economy beings to recover and companies vary on their levels of recruiting investment.

"For example, technology companies are investing heavily in recruiting as product development and marketing initiatives increase demand for talent, whereas healthcare companies are cautious as they interpret the impact of reform but still look to position themselves for growth," the article states. "In both cases, companies are investing at some level and hiring more recruiters is not always the answer. Talent acquisition leaders are looking for ways to maximize their investment."

In terms of cost, selective RPO services typically cost a lot less than an overall package, varying anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000. When it comes to scale, these smaller services can usually be implemented within 24 hours or less. In addition, companies continue to learn about the candidates the RPO company is finding, increasing recruiting intelligence.