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The Truth About Project RPO, Recruitment Process Outsourcing



Over 4 million Americans quit their jobs in December 2021.


According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings remains at an abnormally high 10.9 million, a record-breaking figure. This Great Resignation, spawned by the pandemic, is creating a never-before-seen urgency that is further “heating” up the “talent war.”


Hiring managers and their recruiting teams need new strategies and recruitment technology to reach wider talent pools, engage candidates, and hire the best talent. For many HR professionals, RPO services have become a sort of lifeline. In this article, we discuss in detail the most in-demand RPO service model, project RPO, the future of outsourced hiring.


What Is Project RPO?


Imagine your company had just won one of the biggest contracts in its history.


Now imagine you have been lobbying for months and now you finally get that big break.


The only problem now is that you need to hire twenty (20) new people to fill some roles with regards to the project; you have less than a month to do this or you risk losing funding for the new project. In this case, what you need is the right RPO solution known as project RPO.


Project RPO is a type of recruitment process outsourcing, rpo service that helps HR managers, recruiting teams, and their businesses meet their human resources and hiring needs to meet changing business demands.

Businesses are constantly going through changes, which is why project RPO outsourcing provides strategic project RPO resources and outsourcing recruitment workforce solutions that can help clients with meeting their workforce planning initiatives by attracting permanent staff and contingent workers in order to improve their hiring quality.


RPO providers can provide recruitment thought leadership in addition to the recruiting resources such as access to the latest technologies including artificial intelligence, enhanced employer branding and access to their talent communities. Project rpo offers clients strategic partnerships to help attract quality applicants in order to improve their hiring quality.


However, companies investing in project RPO services enjoy a competitive edge and are

better positioned to deliver high-value results when faced with short-term or immediate challenges.


So, when sudden changes occur like seasonal hiring surges or tech hiring and you need qualified candidates to fill hard-to-fill jobs or need high volume hiring in a scarce talent market, you can always turn to recruitment agencies with project RPO capabilities to meet these changing hiring needs.


How Does Project RPO Work?


Project RPO is a lot like regular recruitment process outsourcing services. While you can also outsource all or part of the recruitment process to your RPO provider, this workforce solution is structured on a project-by-project basis.


This RPO engagement is perfect when you don’t need a long-term contract or are just looking to enhance the capability of your internal team to meet the organization’s hiring needs.


A Project RPO solution can be leveraged for on demand rpo or end-to-end RPO solutions from sourcing and scheduling interviews to conducting candidate background checks, creating and presenting offer letters, and onboarding new employees, as may be required.

Why Are Businesses Investing In Project RPO?


While outsourcing already accounts for over 33% of external talent acquisition expenditure, the global recruitment process outsourcing market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 18.5% from 2020 through 2027.


For this industry, the major driver of growth includes the need to save recruiting costs and improve efficiency in the hiring process. But then, below are a few of the many reasons why hiring managers are turning to project RPO solutions for talent acquisition and meeting workforce planning challenges.

  • Speed, scalability, and flexibility to meet specific hiring needs in changing business conditions timely and efficiently.

  • Process efficiencies and profitability, thanks to the ability to attract more quality hires with reduced hiring costs.

  • Access to the latest recruitment technology for a more effective hiring process.

  • Real-time insights and talent analytics to help recruiting teams make more informed decisions towards achieving their core business objectives.

  • Maintaining competitiveness, thanks to its suitability for short-term and immediate recruiting challenges.

  • Suitability for specialized team growth when the need arises to fill specialized job roles or attract the right talent without the need for permanent hiring.

Difference Between Project RPO And Traditional RPO


A project RPO vendor offers its services on a project-by-project basis unlike the other models of RPO services that may include longer contractual agreements.


While project RPO can be leveraged for almost every function you would expect with a regular recruitment process outsourcing services, the main difference is in the structure of the service rendered. This structure is perhaps responsible for its popularity among hiring managers and recruiting teams. It guarantees scalability and agility for business regardless of the prevailing business conditions.


Getting Started With Project RPO


Project RPO is super helpful for organizations yearning to future-proof their talent pipeline for long-term success. As the talent acquisition transformation continues to play out, hiring managers and recruiters will turn to Project RPO solutions for the capability, scalability, and innovation they need to effectively execute strategic and timely talent acquisition plans.


Whether you need full-service expertise for newly opened roles or want to support your internal recruitment team to meet its immediate challenges, project RPO can serve you effectively. However, as Roy Maurer wrote in a piece for SHRM, RPO partnership can only thrive in an environment of mutual trust and flexibility. Both the RPO vendor and client company should align expectations from the project RPO engagement from the onset.


There is also a need to set a strong governance model in place along with enough room for flexibility to help the RPO partner deliver effectively.

If your organization is considering a Project recruitment process outsourcing solution for outsourcing some or part of your hiring process and recruiting responsibilities, a good RPO vendor can help you meet your expectations, timely and efficiently.


You can check out our recently published piece on the Important Questions To Ask Before Hiring An RPO Vendor to help you make the best decision when recruiting a recruitment process RPO provider.


Here at Accendi, we also help organizations build agility with strategic RPO services tailored to meet their unique hiring challenges. You can visit our recruitment process outsourcing page to learn more about how we bring value to your talent acquisition achieve their business goals.


This article was written by Consultant, Crystal Mano.

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