A Guide to Recruitment Process Outsourcing Services

We all know that hiring practices can impact productivity. To attract candidates, businesses must offer competitive pay, benefits, and flexible working arrangements, often requiring research into the wider market, which can take time away from other critical duties. This is where recruitment process outsourcing comes in. These consultants help streamline the hiring exercise, enabling talent to start quickly. 

A dedicated RPO provider can assist organisations struggling with securing candidates in the current talent landscape, especially within the IT industry, where niche technical skills may be difficult to source. But how can you know whether an outsourced service suits your organisational needs?

This guide discusses what recruitment process outsourcing is before listing some advantages and disadvantages of these services. We’ll also explore some of the considerations business leaders should make before connecting with an RPO provider. 

If you’re interested in learning more about recruitment project outsourcing following this piece, read our guide on how to use RPO to discover IT contractors for an in-depth exploration of how the process can streamline your talent acquisition strategies.

What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing?

The cost of hiring is always increasing. Talent Insight has detailed the expense of recruiting for a single mid-level position, which is around £6,125 per hire—but this figure can increase significantly for senior and executive appointments, with researchers identifying that recruitment for C-suite roles can cost up to three or four times the salary for that position.

Recruitment process outsourcing emerged as a hiring model driven by demand from large corporations for reductions in time-to-hire, and has since gone on to be a talent solution that can provide the ability for organisations to hire entire teams and scale up existing workforces quickly, as well as minimising the associated costs of recruiting contractors for large business change projects. 

As the industry has evolved, consultancies began to offer more comprehensive solutions to address broader business needs, from employer branding to long-term talent acquisition and candidate engagement strategies.

How Does a Recruitment Project Outsourcing Provider Work? 

Dedicated RPO providers operate as a third-party extension of their client’s internal recruitment function. Their business model sees them working exclusively for this organisation, managing the high-volume aspects of the hiring process from start to finish: 

• Job profiling. A recruitment project outsourcing provider will work closely with their client to analyse the role's duties, utilising competency modelling to identify the required skills. They will develop a detailed job description and candidate profile that ensures the entire hiring practice is focused on discovering the right talent for the role.

• Candidate sourcing. From directly sourcing candidates to drawing from their network of passive talent, an RPO provider will proactively attract potential hires that match the required competencies for the role, creating bespoke marketing materials and recruitment events aimed at attracting the best-of-the-best from local talent pools.

• Screening. The provider will screen candidates using automated tools and manual processes to ensure that the requirements for minimum qualifications, core competencies and cultural fit are met.

• Interviewing and assessment. Depending on the nature of the role, an RPO provider will carry out first-stage interviews, often utilising video recordings, to create a short-list of candidates who the organisation can then take to final interviews, saving the hiring managers time screening CVs and holding initial interviews.

• Offer management. Your talent provider will work with their client to prepare job offers, ensuring they comply with legislation and provide the successful candidate with all the required information. They will assist with any negotiations over the terms of employment and manage the process of accepting the job offer.

Recruitment is an increasingly data-driven industry, providing analytics their clients can use to improve employee retention, highlighting long-term trends in candidates’ skills, which can help to guide learning and development programmes and career progression opportunities.

Why Do Companies Outsource Recruitment Projects?

Recruitment outsourcing providers often offer bespoke solutions to their client's most challenging talent needs, providing them with the ability to rapidly connect with contractors and permanent staff to support business change and large projects. 

With the sector expected to grow exponentially between now and 2031, and the market for RPO set to expand from its 2023 valuation of £6bn to over £19bn, it’s clear that this flexible and responsive approach to talent acquisition is working well for many organisations.

Recruitment project providers are particularly useful for companies with high-volume recruitment needs—or those lacking the internal resources to manage their hiring processes effectively.

Dedicated outsourcing consultants can help organisations reduce the risk of a bad fit with a new employee. However, business leaders should consider the advantages and disadvantages of using these services before utilising them.

Advantages of Recruitment Project Services

1. Improves the quality of new hires. By bringing specialised expertise in recruitment, RPO providers can attract the best talent in a given industry.

2. RPO providers can help businesses to save money. By reducing the time to hire and removing the need to maintain an in-house recruitment team, RPO providers can reduce the hiring cost.

3. Efficiency. Agencies have spent their careers building recruitment expertise, meaning they can streamline the hiring process—even for niche or complex roles.

4. The ability to adjust processes. Recruitment project providers can quickly scale their strategies to accommodate changes in demand for higher or lower-volume staffing on projects.

5. Brand recognition. Providers champion their clients’ values and culture, helping to spread the word about their organisation amongst potential candidates and attract candidates who might not have previously considered a role with the business.

6. RPO providers have geographic reach. This can benefit businesses looking to expand into new markets, set up new offices, or shift towards hybrid or fully-remote work.

7. Recruitment professionals will handle all communication. With the pace of business, organisations can find it hard to maintain timely communication with candidates, damaging their reputation. A recruitment project provider will handle all communication with interviewees. 

8. Compliance with employment laws. RPO providers are well-versed in regulations, helping to ensure that their clients are not exposed to risk during the hiring process.

9. Reduced workload for companies’ internal HR teams. By focusing on recruitment needs, agencies allow HR teams to focus on other important tasks, such as training.

10. Improved candidate experience. An RPO provider should ensure that all candidates have positive encounters with their clients’ businesses throughout the hiring process, helping to improve business reputation and support future recruitment efforts.

Disadvantages of Outsourcing Recruitment Projects 

1. Communication delays. Delays in communication between the provider and their client can cause misunderstandings and slow the hiring process.

2. Lack of cultural understanding. If an agency doesn’t completely understand its clients’ workplace culture, this can lead to poor quality hires or an inability to discover the right talent.

3. Cost. Organisations must invest in the technology, training and resources to enable their internal teams to work efficiently with the provider. Whilst this can be recouped from the savings made by a good hire who can get up to speed quickly, it’s imperative that business leaders ensure the consultant works well with their organisation.

4. Confidentiality concerns. Those organisations that need to ensure their hiring practices are discreet should communicate this with the RPO provider early in the process, ensuring they aren’t exposed to risk from competitors.

5. A disconnect with company culture. Outsourcing some aspects of the recruitment process to an agency can result in candidates feeling disconnected from a company’s culture and values, which in turn impacts retention, so you need to make sure that whichever recruitment project provider you work with is able to understand and champion your internal culture through marketing efforts and events. 

It’s clear that working with a recruitment projects outsourcing provider can have a significant impact on your ability to acquire and retain large, talented teams of IT professionals and contractors, but it’s crucial to ensure that you work well with your provider. In our next section, we’ll cover some of the considerations you should have in mind when you’re looking to outsource your recruitment projects.

Some Considerations When Choosing a Dedicated RPO Provider

An outsourced recruitment project can help organisations achieve cost savings of 50% and time savings of 40% over the hiring process—but it’s crucial for business leaders to connect with the right recruitment process outsourcing firm for their specific needs.

If an organisation is considering utilising the services of a dedicated recruitment process outsourcing provider, they must understand their long-term goals and how their expectations for a new hire work towards achieving that vision. This will help them recognise whether an RPO provider’s services will effectively solve their talent problems. 

Recruitment consultants are focused on hiring for specific industries, possessing a sector-specific understanding of the skills, qualifications, and experience required for their roles. By ensuring that the provider they choose has experience in recruiting for their industry, business leaders can gain access to a network of active and passive candidates, reducing the length of the hiring exercise.

An RPO provider's sourcing and screening methods should be evaluated to ensure a robust recruitment process. This avoids damage to a company’s reputation from an inefficient hiring process and helps to attract high-quality candidates. 

Expert Recruitment Services for IT Infrastructure Needs

At Fruition, our consultants are passionate about assisting organisations with their IT recruitment needs, no matter how complex the requirements of the role are. Whether you’re searching for a tailored solution to your high-volume hiring needs or an executive search partner to discover your next leader, we can support you. Our recruitment project outsourcing service, Orbit, has seen success with a wide range of our clients, from Axa Insurance and cap hpi to Sky Betting & Gaming. Get in touch to learn about our dedicated recruitment project services.