RPO: a complete recruitment department on demand!

Finally want to clear that pipeline of applicants? Or has a project started that your current HR staff don't have enough knowledge of? RPO, or Recruitment Process Outsourcing, offers the solution: you can outsource your recruitment to a third party.

This is RPO

Lots of companies have been experimenting with RPO lately. Because of the digital revolution, attracting talent successfully requires more and more skills. The process leading up to a hire has become more complex and extensive. That's why it's almost impossible to leave it entirely to one department.

In fact, a well-executed RPO model involves at least four different professionals: a recruitment consultant who advises on setting up the process, a copywriter who creates engaging content for social media, an advertising specialist who optimises social media and Google for the ultimate inflow of talent and, finally, of course, the recruiter who talks to the incoming candidates. RPO is the perfect solution for companies that want flexible access to all these specialisms.

What does RPO look like in practice?

In consultation with the client, exactly those elements of the recruitment process that the client is missing can be added. You can use RPO permanently or on a project basis, depending on your needs and the way your company is structured. You agree on this together before you start, when you set up the recruitment process. In most cases, the next step is drawing up an EVP (Employee Value Proposition): the way you want to be known as an employer and how you translate that into a story for future employees.

Once your EVP has been defined, you can get started on the employer branding strategy. A well-thought-out employer branding strategy puts you in front of your ideal target group as an employer in an appealing way, making you better known as an employer. The ultimate goal is that when people see one of your vacancies, they're more inclined to apply.

On to the first qualified candidates

Once your employer branding strategy has been rolled out, you move into the more active phase of RPO, because you now start actively spreading vacancies. You often tailor this active talent sourcing to the type of candidate you're looking for. For example, you often find blue-collar profiles on Facebook and Instagram, while people with a university or university of applied sciences degree are more active on LinkedIn. Most RPO providers offer every form of recruitment. Aggregated talent sourcing across different media is often the most efficient. When the active talent sourcing does its job, lots of candidates respond. Where the previous steps mainly consisted of marketing work, it's now time for the real ‘recruiting’.

A new recruitment department, colleagues included

Because in an RPO arrangement the provider acts entirely as the client's recruitment department, the recruitment marketers and recruiters genuinely become part of the organisation. Many providers even go so far as to equip the recruiters with the client's business cards, email addresses and phone numbers. The conventional recruitment process, actually qualifying candidates, can take place by phone, video call or face to face, as desired. RPO: outsourcing recruitment from A to Z.