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The top 7 benefits you maintain after using an RPO 

November 29, 2021

There are many benefits that recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) partnerships bring to in-house talent acquisition teams. From bringing your teams immediate relief while providing sustainable value for future talent operations, a partnership that focuses on Putting Recruitment Back in RPO™ adds immediate value in meaningful and tangible ways. 

We’ve listed the top seven benefits that stand after you’ve leveraged a talent partner: 

#1: Future business needs are considered.  

RPOs accelerate hiring because they integrate strategic workforce planning into the process from the very start. They are aligned to overall business objectives and help to increase the bottom line by providing candidates who are critical for growth. They specialize in building talent pipelines and conducting market mapping to ensure a steady stream of talent for both immediate and future needs. Hiring is not only more efficient, but better quality due to the access to interested and engaged candidates. Once operations are aligned with future business needs, it becomes the driver in the talent function.  

#2: Best-in-class candidate experience becomes standard.  

Today’s candidates (and employees) share experiences – good and bad – with their real-life and social media networks. RPO partners take on the branding of their clients to ensure a seamless candidate experience, focusing heavily on communication, turnaround times and feedback. They aim to provide a flawless candidate experience at every touchpoint through the recruitment cycle and conduct candidate satisfaction surveys to gauge the quality of interactions. The feedback from candidates is then used to make alterations and/or improvements to the candidate experience where necessary. These processes are integrated into everyday operations to ensure continued improvement.  

#3: Varied sourcing channels widen talent pools.  

Talent partners use a wide range of channels when sourcing, many of which understaffed talent acquisition functions may not have capacity to seek out. This ultimately results in a faster time to hire. After analyzing which channels provide the best results for each role or region, it allows TA teams to focus their efforts based on prior success. Especially for niche roles, there may be some sources that provide higher quality candidates (without having to wade through applications that aren’t a fit).  

#4: Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) is integrated in the process.  

RPOs have expertise in building comprehensive diversity programs for clients in different maturity stages. They configure their diversity metrics so they’re meaningful and specific to each individual organization they partner with. After all, metrics aren’t worth much if they don’t align to overarching business objectives. In addition, RPOs don’t just specialize in sourcing and engaging diverse talent – they hold hiring managers accountable for tracking diverse candidates through the funnel. From building diverse interview panels and hosting hiring manager training sessions to reduce unconscious bias, talent partners are well versed in diversity and ensure best practices are passed on to everyone involved in the hiring process. 

#5: Continuous improvement becomes procedural.  

Talent outsourcing partners are continually updating their training programs to ensure their recruiters learn the latest talent acquisition techniques, cutting-edge technology and industry-specific trends. And RPOs will also help you refine your employee value proposition (EVP) – much needed given the current talent landscape – to ensure it aligns with your employment brand and company culture. By integrating hiring manager and candidate satisfaction surveys into regular process and data analysis as on ongoing exercise, the talent team becomes obligated to evolve their strategy based on feedback. 

RPO customers are 17% likelier than non-RPO customers to end up with a top-quality workforce, research from Aberdeen Group revealed. 

#6: Key metrics of success continue to be tracked.   

RPOs help talent leaders truly transform their talent acquisition functions through data and insights. They collate data from all the recruitment technologies being used, alongside any market insights tools, into comprehensive, user-friendly dashboards. The recruitment data is then compared to market trends, demographic data and other sources to create an advanced overview of talent solution performance – as well as any trends in the market that may impact future talent strategies. Once this is set up, it stays. Internal talent teams will know what data trends they should be looking for and how to recalibrate strategy if necessary.  

[Read more] Whitepaper: Connecting your HR metrics to bottom line impact 

#7: Employment branding provides a strong foundation for talent acquisition.  

75% of active job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand, research from Glassdoor found. Fortunately, RPO solutions include robust employment brand strategies that help you to attract passive candidates and improve employee experience. Companies that actively invest in their employer brand can reduce turnover by as much as 28%, according to Glassdoor. Talent outsourcing partners help their clients to understand the value brought by empowering employees to share their experiences in a candid manner. The culture this creates is one that trusts its employees, feels secure in its brand and is receptive to feedback.  

About Carmen Scanlon

As Vice President of Client Solutions, Carmen Scanlon is responsible for consulting with organizations as partnership is being considered to support and optimize their talent strategy. With an extensive background in HR solutions, she combines her experience supporting clients with outsourced HR services and HR technology to deliver a unique perspective when building agile and customized talent solutions for WilsonHCG clients. Top 5 CliftonStrengths: Restorative | Belief | Focus | Futuristic | Relator