What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing?

When I tell people about Cohesion and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), they sometimes become confused and, even after I’ve explained exactly what we do, I’m still greeted with the same response:

“Oh, so Cohesion is a recruitment agency then?”

I’ve got my response of “no, we’re very different to an agency…” down to a fine art now. But why do people have such a hard time differentiating between RPO and traditional recruitment agencies?

We talk about some of the fundamental differences here.

But what is RPO? Why choose an RPO solution? And how do you choose an RPO provider?

In this 3 part blog series we aim to tackle the what, why and how of RPO.

So, what is RPO?

Put simply, an RPO solution is used when a company outsources all or part of its recruitment functions.

We are committed to working in partnership with our clients and like to think of ourselves as an extension of their in-house recruitment team.

How much a company outsources to an RPO provider depends on the requirements of the company and this is reflected in the programme that is run by the RPO provider (a programme that is usually bespoke and tailored to the client’s specific needs.)

Typically this includes talent acquisition services, advertising, sourcing, screening, interview scheduling, management of the offer process and more. Whilst many companies use an RPO provider to deliver the end-to-end recruitment process, others will work in partnership with a provider for a smaller recruitment campaigns or elements of a recruitment campaign that are too time-consuming for their in-house recruitment team.

Working with an RPO provider takes the pressures off your in-house recruitment team.

In the words of Amanda Marques, Operations Director at Cohesion: “RPO is the strategic delivery of a robust recruitment process that drives results. It is two businesses coming together to think tactically about how to attract and retain top talent. It’s all about a recruitment experience that not only takes the pressure off HR or the current in-house recruitment team, but gives an excellent service to internal customers and candidates alike.”