what RPO models are available?

End-to-end RPO is just what the name implies: a program that spans processes, roles, business units and activities associated with recruitment of permanent hires for a particular organization. This may include: 

• Sourcing, screening, assessment and selection
• Scheduling and process management
• Guidance on and support for a comprehensive workforce equity strategy
• Technology deployment and management
• Employer branding and talent marketing
• Agency management
• Internal mobility
• Early careers hiring
• Talent intelligence
• Onboarding, training and coaching support

This type of RPO is the most complex model and typically requires more time to implement than other models; however, employers gain greater benefits when they implement an end-to-end program. 

When organizations need to quickly scale up their recruitment efforts to support a business initiative, project RPO is often the best solution. Project RPO has clearly defined timelines and end goals but offers similar benefits as end-to-end RPO, such as talent marketing expertise and talent intelligence. Project RPO is ideal for addressing short-term, immediate hiring projects, such as:

• Life sciences and pharma organizations that are bringing new biotech or treatments to production and market
• Banking and financial services organizations that are taking on complete digital transformation projects or developing a new digital customer experience
• High-value manufacturing operations that need to quickly hire engineers, technicians, safety leads, machinists and more to ramp up production new products or staff new plants
• Technology companies that need to attract A-players to establish data centers in both remote and urban locations to meet growing customer demand and expectations

Project RPO often leads to a longer engagement because it confirms the validity of an outsourced approach.

Some organizations may prefer to outsource the recruitment of high-volume roles but retain other levels for internal recruiters. They may also implement RPO for some business units but not others, or need support on part or parts of the recruitment process, such as candidate management. The right solution may be talent BPO, which can provide:

• Targeted resources to business units with a specific talent need
• Greater flexibility in what is outsourced and insourced
• Recruitment expertise or efficiency for specific grades of workers
• The means to free up internal recruiters to focus on specific strategic roles
• Support for growth initiatives in new markets and geographies

This model may be ideal for organizations that have trouble filling certain roles with specific skill sets or in select locations, or for those who want to internally own more parts of recruitment — like internal mobility, onboarding and early careers hiring.

When an employer simply needs additional recruiters to fortify its internal capabilities, an ROD solution is the most immediate way to meet this requirement. This model provides:

• Instant access to recruitment resources
• Flexibility of on-site or virtual resources
• Complete scalability to any employer's talent needs
• No lengthy contracts requirements
• Significant cost advantage over third-party agency hiring
• Highly experienced specialists backed by deep experience and methodology

An ROD is effective for the short term, but has minimal effect on transforming an organization’s overall recruitment processes. It can easily be transitioned, however, to one of the other more comprehensive delivery models.

Focusing on internal mobility is crucial to building a more agile workforce, while fostering engagement and retention. The RPO Mobility+ model optimizes external talent acquisition and internal talent mobility simultaneously. The benefits of this dual approach allow you to:

• Boost talent attraction and retention at the same time
• Move toward a sustainable skills-based hiring strategy
• Harness data to build a more agile workforce
• Create a work culture of growth and opportunity

This deeply talent-centric solution, which combines external talent acquisition with internal skills development, coaching and learning, is ideal for companies looking to better understand when to look inward for talent and when to seek skills externally.

The integrated, or total talent acquisition solution, is the most transformative model. It extends the talent expertise and management of RPO to the employer’s contingent workforce program for a comprehensive approach. Dramatic enhancements include:

• Management of all types of talent
• Optimization of talent utilization
• Transparency of resource spending
• The creation of a more agile workforce
• Faster and deeper access to talent
• Greater accuracy around workforce planning
• Centralized cost controls to optimize savings
• Enhanced compliance 

The total talent approach is the most transformative model in talent acquisition. While implementation takes more time, it also produces benefits beyond those provided by RPO or a managed services program (MSP) alone.

1. Can you acquire critical skills quickly and cost-effectively when your business needs them?
2. How scalable is your current talent acquisition function?
3. Are you effectively using the power of AI and talent intelligence to attract and engage with the right talent?
4. Are there areas of the recruitment life cycle where your internal team lacks expertise or current perspective?
5. How robust are your internal mobility and redeployment initiatives?