RPO should not = ORR (Outsourced Recruitment Responsibility)

As a client, it is not uncommon to expect a lot from your RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) provider. Value added services such as interview; recruitment process and selection process design should come as part of the parcel when it comes to outsourcing your recruitment process.

Clients should expect a great deal of value if they are to outsource their recruitment process; including excellent customer service, reduced cost per hire, increased quality of hire and decreased time to fill, but is there a point where clients and hiring managers are expecting too much from their RPO provider?

Having a solution in place where your entire recruitment process is outsourced may lead clients into believing that with an outsourced agreement comes full responsibility, but what is your RPO really responsible for and when does the onus of responsibility become the clients or hiring managers?

Clients can often call the RPO provider angered with an outcome from the recruitment process; a candidate resignation, the candidate refusing an offer of employment, the candidate being unsuitable…

Recruitment providers always try their best to mitigate risks within the recruitment process by ensuring the sourcing, screening, profiling and testing processes are all relevant and suitable for the recruitment assignment. Sometimes your recruitment provider will be responsible; they might miss a piece of vital information, a candidate might lie about their skills and experience, a dodgy reference may be provided. Recruitment is not an exact science which is why your provider should have as many risk mitigation strategies in play as possible.

But when does a failed hire or recruitment disaster become the responsibility of the hiring manager?

Arguably the selection and on-boarding processes are the most important part in the forming of the employer - employee relationship. The selection process should be a clearly defined objective process with tools in place to effectively measure candidate suitability.

The on-boarding process should induct a new employee within a short timeframe of the new employee starting, to ensure that expectations for behaviour and performance are set and vital information is shared. A good on-boarding and induction process ensures that the new employee can become productive and start adding value quickly, rather than searching for information and trying to navigate their own way in their new role and new company.

While your RPO provider is responsible for sourcing, screening, testing and profiling suitable candidates and providing qualified shortlists of candidates; they should not be responsible for making hiring decisions or setting KPI’s for new employees.

Hiring Managers must maintain some control of the recruitment process and must ensure that they still maintain responsibility for hiring decisions and new staff induction to ensure that a strong psychological contract can be formed between themselves, the business and their new employee.

RPO is an excellent model for improving your talent pools and sourcing strategy. It is also an effective model for streamlining recruitment processes and increasing quality of hire through the introduction of objective recruitment and selection tools. The RPO model is great for ensuring line managers do not have to liaise with multiple agencies which reduces time spent on recruitment and it is a cost effective model for clients who want to access a team of dedicated, experienced and specialised recruitment professionals without having to directly hire this talent themselves.

However while RPO is an excellent way to ensure that your recruitment process is robust and a strong partnership is built with your exclusive recruitment provider; it is important for hiring managers to avoid thinking of your RPO as ORR (Outsourced Recruitment Responsibility) and instead need to maintain a level of engagement and responsibility for their recruitment process.

So if you have an RPO, think about how much of the RP you are really O-ing!