Is Recruitment Outsourcing Still Relevant?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing, more commonly referred to as ‘RPO’, is outsourcing one or more recruitment-related services by a vendor to a third party. The recruitment sector is still feeling the impact of COVID-19 and the associated redundancy, resignation and attrition rates that have all increased as a result. All these factors are leading organisations to challenge how, where, and why they recruit. With continual challenges on cost and return on investment, is recruitment outsourcing still viable in today’s market?   

We engaged a wide portfolio of our current clients and asked them this very question. The below is a summary of what they said. 

Flexibility

When having an internal team, there is a fixed cost and resource. The nature of early talent dictates that there are typically 6 months of peak demand and 6 months where demand is less. By working with an outsource provider allows companies to turn this tap on and off based on requirements. 

Market expertise

Very often internal teams are a hybrid of both experienced and emerging talent roles. Working with a an outsource provider such as Cohesion allows years (often decades) of market experience to shape, inform and dictate the course and strategy when looking to attract, engage, profile and onboard talent in an increasingly competitive market. 

Efficiency

Developments in technology are arguably linked to efficiencies, however from a recruiter’s mindset, it also allows candidates to apply to increased number of roles and then demand faster cycle times, feedback, and increased engagement. By working with a single provider that links, attraction methodology, candidate engagement and registration, profiling, testing, and onboarding all under one umbrella, this leads to increased candidate experience, faster cycle times and increased levels of data and intelligence. 

Cost

Relative to starting salary, recruitment budgets per vacancy have been eroded year on year over the last decade. Hiring firms want more for their money invested but typically reduce recruitment budgets, with the efficiencies as described above, Cohesion can clearly evidence the savings achieved in both cost and time by working in an outsourced manner.  

If you would like to understand more about Cohesion’s outsourced services, and how we can support you in building an innovative and results-orientated solution (or even hear first-hand from our clients as to why they selected Cohesion as their preferred partner), please don’t hesitate to get in touch. James.austen@cohesionrecruitment.com