Evaluate RPO suppliers
In this article, you will learn more about what to consider when considering onboarding an RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) provider. Scroll down to continue reading
Considerations regarding RPO providers
Of course, there are several things to consider when contemplating your RPO partner. In this article, we address a few of them:
Experience and expertise
Summarized, recruiting in all its forms revolves around the accumulated experience and expertise of your partner. This is true in almost all cases, but when considering that your RPO partner will be handling one of your company’s most valuable assets – your employees – the experience and expertise of your RPO provider become even more crucial. Ensure that you understand not only the sales team’s experience and expertise but, more importantly, who is actually driving your RPO provider’s operations and who the actual recruiters are that you will be working with on a daily basis. Also, verify if the RPO provider’s Code of Conduct aligns with yours.
The RPO provider's digital advantage
When considering RPO providers, pay attention to their technology offerings. RPO companies specialize in recruitment and often have a significant digital advantage over brand owners. For example, do all the RPO provider’s technical recruiting tools come included in the proposed pricing? If not, what additional costs are involved? Consider how the RPO provider’s digital technology aligns with your internal systems and their ability to handle digital onboarding automatically within your systems – will there be any manual work involved or not? It is almost always advantageous to choose an RPO provider that has the capability to integrate with your existing systems.
Candidate marketing and Employer Branding
In an increasingly competitive market, the old methods of attracting top candidates simply aren’t good enough anymore. Let’s face it, brand owners may excel at marketing their products and services to customers, but how much money and focus does your marketing department dedicate to your recruitment needs? In most cases, the answer is very little. At a time when millennials are entering middle age and Generation Z is storming into the job market, it has never been more important to consider your RPO provider’s skills in candidate marketing and employer branding. When implementing an RPO solution, one of the business goals should be to enhance your candidate marketing and employer branding. In what ways can your RPO provider strengthen your performance in this fast-paced and ever-changing market?
Risk sharing
Is the RPO provider willing to demonstrate their confidence in their capabilities through risk sharing? It’s one thing to recruit candidates based on a job profile, but another to recruit candidates who perform well once they are employed by you. This can be achieved in various ways, of course. One approach that Marketpeople applies is to divide the payments for each recruited candidate based on how long the candidate remains employed in your company.
Internal hiring and pre-identified candidates
Once you have engaged an RPO partner, there may be instances where you decide to fill a vacant position with an internal candidate. Additionally, you may hire new candidates through employee referrals, or perhaps one of your managers identifies a candidate for the vacancy. If you frequently hire through any of these channels, discuss with your RPO partner if and how they can support and facilitate recruitment of this nature. Also, discuss the pricing structure for hiring pre-identified candidates or internal candidates, as well as for employee referrals.
Implementation and Reporting fees
Before signing up with a new RPO partner, make sure you understand any implementation fees, if applicable. If there are any, ensure you receive a detailed overview of the implementation process. Additionally, since you want to have transparent reports and analytics for the RPO solution, inquire whether these are included within the scope of the agreement.
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