Outsourcing Recruitment —Advantages and Disadvantages

54% of organisations say recruitment is the greatest challenge they are currently facing. 

Access to skilled talent is limited and recruitment is a highly specialised skill. Potential job candidates may look good on paper, however, a big part of the recruitment process involves interviewing, selecting, and onboarding not only the best person for the job but for the company culture too. This is where recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) can come in handy.

Recruitment outsourcing can be an ideal solution to your business expansion needs. However, it’s important to note that there are outsourcing recruitment advantages and disadvantages. It’s essential that you consider both before deciding on whether outsourcing recruitment is the way forward for you.

What Is Recruitment Process Outsourcing?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) refers to using a recruitment company to acquire or hire employees on your company’s behalf. How much of the recruitment process is outsourced is entirely up to the client.  

Essentially, the recruitment process outsourcing company is regarded as an extension of your HR department and the agreement is usually based on a regular management or placement basis.

Let’s look at typical types of RPO!

Types of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)

Recruitment outsourcing can be tailored to a business or client’s needs. Below are some examples of typical RPO categories or models:

• Full RPO: this includes all recruitment processes — from creating and advertising job listings, screening, and interviewing to selection management and onboarding.
• Modular RPO: this includes talent acquisition and administration.
• Project RPO: this includes talent acquisition on a project basis or over a short period of time — generally 6-8 weeks.
• RPO On-demand: this would be on a subscription basis. This is perfect for startups or smaller businesses that require sporadic recruitment.

Outsourcing Recruitment Advantages and Disadvantages

As with any recruitment outsourcing service, there are various outsourcing recruitment advantages and disadvantages that you should take into consideration before looking at recruitment process outsourcing companies.

Outsourcing Recruitment Pros

1. Improve Efficiency

A lot of time and effort goes into each hire. It’s not just about reviewing resumes, interviews, and contracts. Before the hiring process can begin, the best talent needs to be selected for the interview process. 

Your HR department will likely receive hundreds of applications for one job listing which, realistically, could take hours to sift through to find eligible candidates. This is where outsourcing recruitment process tasks can really save your business time and money. 

The recruitment process involves drafting job descriptions, posting them on job boards, screening potential interview candidates, negotiating remuneration and benefits, interviewing candidates, and finalizing contracts.

2. Talent Pool

Using recruitment process outsourcing services will almost guarantee you receive the best candidate for the job in the shortest possible turnaround time. You could end up trying to fill a position for months by simply posting job openings on job boards, hoping that suitable applicants will apply. 

Using recruitment process outsourcing services means you’ll have access to a high-quality talent pool. These candidates will have been pre-screened and will be of a high caliber. What’s more, this aids in not only reducing the turnaround time for filling a position but also increasing the likelihood of retaining them.

3. Flexible Expansion

Whether you’re an innovative startup or a flourishing enterprise, the time will come when you may decide to expand your operations. Either way, using recruitment process outsourcing services is a great solution as it will allow your core employees to focus on core tasks.

RPO companies are experienced in scaling and what scaling means for recruitment. RPO can be adjusted to the client’s needs and can also help drive growth by finding the best professionals for the role in the quickest possible time. This ensures that you can keep up with your business development requirements in the most efficient way. 

Outsourcing Recruitment Cons

1. Risk

Any operation that involves sharing personal or confidential information with a third party involves some risk. This is not only because you will need to trust your services provider to ensure data privacy solutions are in place to avoid potential data breaches. 

Additionally, there is also the risk that RPO companies may be tempted to simply fill the position with lower-quality candidates. Before deciding between your top RPO companies, do a bit of a background check — how long have they been in operation, what is their success rate in terms of acquisition and retention, and what do their clients have to say? Be sure to check both negative and positive reviews.

2. Less Control

Using recruitment process outsourcing companies for new hires means handing over some measure of control to an external party. This may be daunting, but it is a normal part of the outsourcing recruitment process. 

When it comes down to it, security risks are a threat posed to anyone that has a digital or online presence or utilises technology. The most important thing to ensure before signing up with an RPO company is to enquire about what precautions are in place for potential data breaches, as well as what their confidentiality policies are.

3. Long-term Commitment

Most recruitment process outsourcing companies offer services on a long-term basis, especially if they will be offering onboarding as part of their services. This can be for anywhere from a year to 10 years — it depends on the service provider and may be negotiable. Because this will be a long-term agreement, it’s vital you choose the best outsourcing recruitment agency for your business.

Although under the cons sections, it could actually be viewed as a pro. The longer you work with a particular recruitment process outsourcing company, the quicker they’ll be able to deliver results. They will become familiar with your brand and business needs, allowing them to select better candidates, which ultimately reduces your turnover rate.