Career-building benefits of recruitment outsourcing

Jane Clarke, an HR leader of a 5,000 employee business, contends with a lot of “noise” in her job. Hiring managers are constantly changing course to revise workforce plans and talent needs. Her overworked team complains about antiquated recruitment technology. Contract recruiters she hired to deal with the most recent hiring spike quit for full-time positions. Her mentor and former boss, recently promoted to run HR at an admired company, is encouraging Jane to consider RPO solutions (Recruitment Process Outsourcing), but Jane worries that doing so will somehow acknowledge defeat, marginalize her managerial skills and ultimately damage her career. #rpo

In my view, Jane needs to pivot off this fear and uncertainty, and consider RPO as a viable option and promote the value it can bring to the business. Not only can a well-architected RPO solution address her greatest talent challenges, being proactive and spearheading the initiative can make her a star at her current employer.

While there are many compelling business reasons to outsource all or portions of your recruitment, below I outline several career-building considerations:

You need to accelerate results

If, like in most businesses, your ability to scale recruitment to hire the right people at the right time is critical to your growth and competitive market position, then an RPO solution will help you achieve that goal without the full-time headcount.

You want to build new skill sets

Negotiating and managing a partnership with an RPO provider will help you build new, and different, skill sets. In order to succeed, the relationship requires deep collaboration and great project management skills, not to mention the ability to champion the concept and business case internally. These competencies will deepen your skill set and provide immeasurable value to you as you further your career. 

You need to quickly and effectively scale hiring

In today’s fast paced marketplace, most organizations have difficulty anticipating hiring needs further than six months out with any degree of accuracy. In fact, according to Mercer, 62% of organizations rate themselves as ineffective at workforce planning. There are simply too many variables that impact the diversity of talent needs – by business unit, by role, by geography and by season – to make most workforce planning little more than an educated guess. Strategically aligning recruiters and contract recruiters to business units can help overcome workforce planning gaps but, in reality, continually rightsizing the recruiting team to meet the hiring demands of the business is really difficult even with decent workforce planning.

You want more, not less, control

Yes, you did just read that correctly! A well-structured RPO arrangement can actually give you, as the HR leader, more control than using an in-house team of contract recruiters. Contrary to popular belief, a properly structured and executed RPO engagement can provide you with greater visibility and oversight into the entire hiring process, especially related to your talent priorities.  As opposed to micro-managing details, you can focus on the big picture.

Innovation: You need to bring new ideas

Dealing with the everyday tasks inherent in running a talent acquisition function doesn’t leave most leaders with time to spare to develop and institute new ideas. Bain & Company’s 15th Management Tools & Trends survey showed 74% of executives believe innovation is more important than cost reduction for long-term success. Entrusting the day-to-day recruitment tasks to an RPO partner will free you up to focus on what really counts in the long run, whether that means providing more training to hiring managers on interviewing protocols or investing resources in better social media outreach.

You need to take costs out of talent acquisition next year

Comparing the true labor costs (hiring, training, payroll, benefits, etc.) of employing a full-time recruitment team along with recruitment advertising, search agencies, real estate and IT costs to RPO vendor fees usually seals the deal on which is more economical and scalable. Perhaps that’s why, according to Everest, RPO has grown by such leaps and bounds across multiple industries while improving quality of hire with potential cost savings of 10-30% depending on search agency usage.

In summary…

Simply put, RPO is good for your career because it’s good for your company. For many HR leaders, RPO is a core component of their overall talent acquisition strategy. If you are serious about making room for that coveted “seat at the table,” why not be proactive and instigate a serious conversation about RPO with your business leaders? The career-building benefits of outsourcing recruitment on behalf of your current employer will translate into measurable accomplishments on your resume. RPO can help you climb the next rung on your career ladder as a business leader, strategic thinker and decision-maker.