Whether you need to fill positions immediately or are looking for long-term solutions to your recruiting efforts, RPO can help you improve your recruiting effectiveness. Additionally, RPO is more aligned with your business than general staffing agencies. RPO providers also often offer greater returns than trying to juggle all your recruiting needs within your in-house HR department. 

How can you be sure that RPO is right for your business? 

10 Ways RPO Can Benefit Your Business 

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) providers help you perform part or all of your recruiting to help you meet ever-changing company hiring needs. Here are specific examples of how RPO can benefit your company and why it differs from traditional staffing agencies. 

1. Fills Open Positions Quickly 

When your business grows or losses employees, you are left with holes in your organization that translate to lost revenue. If you want to reduce your loss, you must fill those gaps quickly. 

Unfortunately, most hiring processes are not fast if you also want to fill those positions with quality hires. In 2021, the average time to hire was 42 days. 

RPO can help you reduce gaps and lost revenue by identifying and recruiting quality talent using industry expertise, advanced data-based technology, and an expansive network. As a result, you will experience fewer holes within your company and see a faster-recruiting process. 

2. Finds Quality Candidates 

RPO providers specialize in finding and recruiting talent. Their expertise helps them know where to find the most qualified candidates and what to look for in new hires that other recruiters might not realize. 

Because of this knowledge, RPO companies can connect you with higher-quality talent than staffing agencies. A staffing agency works with dozens of businesses simultaneously and often has a commission-type pay structure that rewards staff for each candidate they place. 

However, RPO providers have a higher commitment level to each business. They are dedicated to bringing the best talent in and understanding your business deeper, allowing them to find better matches. 

3. Aligns With Your Company Goals 

Finding an employee who fits your company and culture is just as important as finding a talented employee with the right skillset. A third of all job seekers leave new positions within three months, often because they find out the job was not what they expected. 

You can avoid this loss through transparency throughout your recruiting. Take time to match employees to your businesses instead of only matching qualifications to positions. An RPO expert understands this need, and they will work closely with companies to understand each organization’s brand and find talent that meshes with your company culture. 

4. Reduces Hiring Costs 

On average, businesses spend over $4,000 to fill a position. A company often will not see a return on this investment for nearly six months after hiring the employee. 

RPO saves you hiring costs by streamlining the process and eliminating wasted costs. You will also see greater returns sooner because your new hires will have more experience and training. 

5. Offers a Scalable Recruiting Process 

Hiring an RPO partner gives you more flexibility to scale your team as your needs fluctuate because you are not restricted by the size of your recruiting team. Instead of hiring or reducing your current recruiting team, you can scale at will using an RPO partner. As a result, you always have the ideal number of available resources to avoid wasting time and money. 

For example, if you need additional hires over the holidays, you can perform a hiring spree with the help of an RPO partner, then quickly scale back to your regular size after the holidays pass. 

6. Unifies Your Hiring Process 

Most job seekers agree that finding a new position is very stressful. Some contributing factors to their stress include lack of information, inconsistencies, and schedule changes. However, about 83% say a clear hiring timeline would create a more positive experience. 

Your RPO partner can help ease the stress of your recruitment process by unifying your procedure between departments, sharing clear expectations, and offering a hiring timeline based on information from their data library. 

This improved recruitment process, in turn, will help potential candidates feel more positively about your business and increase your chances of retaining quality talent. 

7. Supports Your Recruitment Team 

Does your recruitment team often feel burnt out from juggling dozens of tasks? Usually, your HR department does not exclusively focus on finding new talent. The department will also train new hires and support your current staff. 

With your time and resources being pulled in so many directions, you may struggle to provide recruiting the necessary attention. 

Your RPO provider will take those demanding tasks off your to-do list so that you can focus on other areas of your job. This support will reduce burnout within your department, increase job satisfaction, and increase company productivity because your HR department has more time to invest in your current employees. 

8. Increases the Effectiveness of Your Recruiting Processes 

Do you often feel like you are pouring more money into recruiting than you get back from hires? This can happen when you invest too much time and money in the wrong parts of the recruiting process or do not take advantage of cost-efficient options. 

An RPO company has in-depth knowledge of recruiting and what candidates look for in a company. They can help you improve your company brand and recruiting processes to attract the right talent while using minimal resources. 

9. Involves You in the Recruitment Process 

A staffing agency will perform most of the recruiting work for you, and you will only see the candidates they send your way. However, RPO experts benefit from being your partner in the recruitment process. You are not blindly relying on them to find the best fit. 

Instead, you are working with a team as you pass information back and forth about each stage of the hiring process and work together to develop new strategies in your organization. This way, you can ensure candidates align with your brand and needs. 

10. Improves Future Recruiting Processes 

An RPO provider offers future benefits by helping you improve your recruiting processes. In addition, you can use the data and knowledge you learn from your RPO providers to create more effective strategies that you can use in-house when you decide you no longer want or need to use RPO. 

Top Key Indicators You Need RPO 

How do you know whether RPO is right for your company?    

Look out for the following signs that your business could benefit from having an RPO partner. 

Experiencing High Employee Attrition and Turnover Rates 

Attrition and turnover are part of a healthy business as employees move to new positions and you readjust your jobs to meet the current needs of your business. However, if you lose too many employees, either voluntarily or involuntarily, this might signify a deeper issue within your company. 

You can combat attrition and turnover in two ways, with the help of an RPO partner. First, focus on hiring the candidates that are the best fits for your company so that you will not need to replace them when they cannot perform their jobs properly. Second, offer more transparency about positions to ensure new hires fully understand the job and are less likely to leave when the job is different than they expected. 

You can use RPO to help balance attrition and turnover rates by developing more effective recruiting strategies. With an effective recruiting and hiring process, you can improve your retention rate by 82%. 

Having a Difficult Time Keeping Up With Hiring Needs 

Nearly 65% of recruiters say their top priority is staying on top of quickly changing hiring needs within their company. If your business is growing quickly or has difficulty keeping up with hiring needs, you can use RPO specialists to keep up with your recruiting processes. They have advanced skills and technology to meet more significant hiring needs. 

For example, RPO providers can use data to predict future needs and hire proactively to prevent gaps instead of hiring reactively as the needs arise. 

Seeing Low Productivity in the Workplace 

Low productivity in the workplace indicates a lack of understanding and tools for performing tasks. The average employee is only productive for 60% of their day. In some industries, that statistic is even lower. Many businesses will experience low productivity if managers or employees have little training or are not qualified for their position. 

An RPO partner will match you with talents that will increase productivity and manage your business effectively. The time you save with your RPO associate will also give your HR team more time to invest in employee training to maintain a high level of productivity. 

Expecting Sudden Organizational Growth 

RPO experts can help you proactively manage expected growth within your business. This growth might be a seasonal change or permanent company expansion. When this occurs, you need to hire many qualified employees in a short amount of time. 

Instead of getting overwhelmed with your doubled workload, you can use RPO to help you manage the increase, freeing your department to handle your regular daily tasks. 

Over-Spending on Your Recruiting Budget 

If you consistently spend more on recruiting than you originally budgeted, you might need to look at how you are allocating funds. When you use RPO, you will have access to more significant insights about your recruiting that will help you focus your resources on the most effective strategies and remain within your budget. 

Noticing Weaknesses in Your Recruiting Process 

You may notice inefficiencies in your recruiting processes but do not know how to address them. Nearly 80% of HR professionals do not have an agile strategy or know how to use an agile strategy that takes feedback and new technology into account. 

Your RPO partner does more than connect you to talent. They also help you develop hiring strategies to streamline your recruiting and maximize your resources. They understand emerging technologies and can help you implement them in your HR department to improve your recruiting processes. 

Not Attracting the Right Talent 

If you often choose “close enough” candidates instead of a perfect match, you should consider getting help from an RPO agency. One survey showed that 63% of recruiters said a lack of qualified candidates was their biggest barrier to hiring new talent. 

Your RPO partner will help you attract the best candidates so that sorting through resumes feels more like winning the lottery rather than digging for treasure. 

Is the ROI of RPO Worth the Investment? 

Deciding to use RPO comes down to calculating if your return will be greater than the investment. As the previous points showed, RPO agencies offer more than financial returns. You will also see a return in time, employee satisfaction, and productivity. 

Consider these areas when calculating the return of using an RPO in your business. 

What Revenue Will RPO Increase? 

The most straightforward way to measure your ROI is to examine what revenue you will increase using an RPO provider. For example, you can calculate the added gain from filling positions sooner or increasing productivity from quality hires. 

What Costs Are You Saving? 

RPO will save you from needlessly spending resources. For instance, you might be spending money on channels that are not working or pouring money into hiring new members for the HR department to keep up with your recruiting needs. 

You can also save money because new hires will require less training as RPO will bring in more qualified talent that comes with the necessary knowledge. 

What Indirect Revenue Are You Gaining? 

You might not immediately see the return from RPO in your business because it is a long-term return. For example, your decreased employee attrition and turnover rate is one example of an indirect and long-term return from RPO that you may not realize until years later. 

What Data Will You Use to Calculate Your ROI? 

Calculating your ROI from hiring new employees can be time-consuming. It often involves digging through contracts and data from multiple departments to understand what you spent in recruiting talent versus what they brought to your company. 

However, using an RPO partner will help you understand your projected ROI based on actual data they collect and use in their organization. Therefore, you no longer have to calculate your ROI on guesswork. Instead, you can build strategies on accurate numbers provided by your RPO associate. 

Start Seeing a Greater Return from Your Recruiting 

Maximizing your return on investment will help your business grow this coming year. Do not let any more of your resources go to waste or lose valuable revenue from employment gaps. Instead, consider using RPO to improve your recruiting strategies and watch your business thrive.