Remember when candidates applied for a job by dropping off their resume, in person, to a company representative? Believe it or not, this was standard practice for candidates and employers just a few years ago. While this may still be common for some industries, it is standard practice for the hiring process to begin in a virtual environment. With the advent, social media, and the ability for employees to work virtually, employers need their recruitment efforts to align to applicants’ needs. But how do you do that when you have only a few people on staff to do the candidate vetting? The answer is in a strategic partnership with a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider.
Here are ten reasons why an RPO is a good solution for your business and its bottom line:
With an RPO provider, Many Hands Make Light Work
You have a dedicated recruitment team that not only focuses on getting the best person possible for a position but are also experts in your industry and the recruitment landscape as a whole. This team embodies your brand and breathes your culture. Acting as an extension of your HR department, these experts’ sole focus is finding you the talent you need to sustain growth. The recruiters are just that-RECRUITERS. No HR compliance, payroll, onboarding, benefit enrollment, training, development, etc. They are simply there to sell your opportunity to the absolute best candidates they can find.
Greater Outreach
When you have recruiters who are only focused on talent acquisition, you have time to connect with resources that otherwise wouldn’t be tapped. Colleges, workforce centers, community organizations, and networking groups can all prove to be fruitful pools from which to pull qualified talent. This creates a search that is more passive than reactive for candidates. The old adage is true: “the best time to look for a job is when you have a job”. Recruiters are skilled at finding passive talent, and the best candidates might not even know that they are looking until the recruiter puts the opportunity in front of them in a skilled way.
A Better Fit
As true experts, selection teams from a recruitment process outsourcing provider have more time to interview and ask probing questions that ensure a candidate is the best fit for the position and the organization. Hustling candidates through the hiring process without analysis, transparency, and engagement causes negative effects for both the employer and candidate. When operating on a reduced workforce to start with, time is precious.
Attrition Costs are Astronomical
With the tools, expertise, and seamless vetting process RPO solutions can offer, the right candidates are placed to save money and build a proactive pipeline for future workforce needs. “Bad hires” are few and far between; therefore, attrition cost is significantly reduced.
Scalability
The ability to scale based on varying hiring requirements is key when an organization must hire a large amount of talent — and they need to hire fast. RPOs have the staff to support the needs and then can move back to a typical recruiter/vacancy ratio when things return to normal. With the help of talent communities and pipelining, RPOs are able to ramp up hiring much faster than a typical in-house team. They can also “turn off” when hiring is complete, and work in a project-based environment.
An Extension of Your Brand
When you have an RPO working for you, you don’t have to give up your identity. RPO recruiters work as an extension of your company, using your logo and branding. This gives candidates a more fluid and less confusing experience.
A Better Candidate Experience
Candidate experience is one of the most crucial aspects of the recruitment process today. Positive candidate experience can ensure future success for an organization’s bottom line, provide candidate referrals, and improve employee engagement. Negative candidate experience can be detrimental to your company’s success. An RPO partner can provide candidates with experience, best practices, insight, and expertise. This leads to better online reviews, which leads to more applicants who want to work for you after doing research.
Branding
Sixty-nine percent of people surveyed by Glassdoor said that they would not take a position with a company that has a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed. Opposed to the 84 percent who would leave their current position if they were offered another role with a company that had an excellent reputation. And, it would only take a raise of 5 percent or less to entice them to do so.
A proactive employer brand is necessary for today’s competitive environment for talent. Working with a partner who can provide key insight, brand as your company, and market this brand/culture to candidates is now critical.
Partnership
Many RPOs have the capability of hiring recruitment consultants anywhere in the world. You have the very best recruiters supporting your company because they aren’t limited to your geographic region. You can depend on talent acquisition specialists who know their industry and can apply knowledge and experience to your recruitment efforts. And if you need on-site recruiters, RPOs can do that too!
RPO Provides Customized Solutions
RPOs have the capability to make your company better and provide the services that will make recruitment operations run more smoothly. RPOs don’t just handle the hiring process. They have experience working with a variety of companies and solving a number of challenges. RPOs can bring best practices back to you and show the ROI of your investment.
They also have Talent Acquisition Consultants that can specialize in your specific field. Recruiting an Engineer is not the same is recruiting a VP of Marketing. They have recruiters who have years of experience finding these types of talent-and that’s ALL they have worked on. Their networks are robust, wide, and deep, and they can tap into them within seconds.
In the “war for talent,” we have to get smart about our strategy. We have to look at acquiring the brightest candidates as a sales endeavor. RPO Recruiters are just that-your best salespeople for your brand, selling candidates on why they should want to continue their career trajectory with your company.