Explore the different recruitment options available to companies looking outside of their internal or in-house team. There are two main recruitment models we will look into – the recruitment agency model and the embedded or recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) model.
Companies deal with continous ups and downs, meaning recruiting often follows the same pattern. When you have a position to fill, do you turn to your internal team or look to outsource the roles to external teams?
While some organisations conduct regular hiring, others don’t need a dedicated in-house team and therefore look to recruitment agencies. Another option worth exploring is embedded recruitment or recruitment process outsourcing (RPO).
It’s important to remember the best option for you will depend on your hiring requirements, budget, and longterm recruitment plan.
What is internal or in-house recruitment?
Internal or in-house recruitment is when organisations have their own dedicated internal recruiters or functions that deal with hiring internally. It could be just one or two people; it could be a full team. They will usually sit within a HR deparment and manage the full recruitment process from job descriptions and sourcing candidates to interviewing and onboarding.
In-house recruitment is perfect for a steady stream of hires in similar or standard roles. Internal recruiters understand the company as they are part of it and can use that to their advantage.
It can be difficult for an internal hiring team to manage specialist roles or larger recruitment projects in new markets or locations. Teams often have limited bandwidth and resources, which makes balancing the company’s recruitment needs challenging and risks impacting quality.
What is agency recruitment?
Agency recruitment is the process of outsourcing roles to recruitment agencies. Using a recruitment agency is the traditional way of outsourcing the talent search for companies that don’t have their own in-house talent team. They act as a middleman between candidates and the ocmpany, mostly focus on sourcing and pre-screening candidates for interviews.
There are different methods of recruitment even within agencies. Two of the most popular methods are contingecy and retained recruitment. Contingency or non-retained recruitment means you only pay for the successful place of a candidate and could have multiple agencies working to fill the role. Retained recruitment means you pay a fee for a dedicated agency to find the right candidate for your role.
For this reason, recruitment agencies are often sales focused as they are paid for the successful placement of candidates compared with internal or embedded which work on fixed fees.
What is RPO in recruitment?
RPO in recruitment stands for recruitment process outsourcing. The RPO model of recruitment involves an employer using a third-party service provider to find potential job candidates. An RPO recruitment provider connects with your team and takes ownership of the multiple stages of the recruitment process. They cover all steps in the recruitment lifecycle, including:
- Talent sourcing
- Screening support
- Recruitment administrations
- Interviewing
- Workforce planning
- Offer management
- Onboarding
By covering the end-to-end process, an RPO removes the stress and headache out of recruitment for busy employers. It’s an efficient way of quickly adding expertise and experience to enable your company to scale quickly when you don’t have the resources in-house.
The RPO recruitment model is newer and a more flexible solution to hiring. It’s a complementary additional service to support your internal recruitment. Unlike traditional recruitment agencies, an RPO is agile and can move quickly to fill sudden talent shortages or urgent scaling needs.
When your company engages an RPO, you join a partnership. Your company transfers all or part of its recruitment to the external provider and the RPO acts as an extension of your company’s existing HR or Resourcing team, saving the cost of acquiring or expanding an expensive internal team.
Discussing RPO and its offshoots, recruitment entrepreneur John O’Sullivan told Recruiter that: “I think this is the first big sensible challenge to the crazy business model that contingent recruitment is. And I think it’s here to stay.”
What does RPO in recruitment mean for Troi?
The embedded recruitment model of Troi has many of the same features of an RPO. Troi offers a supercharged embedded RPO model that takes the shape of a living, breathing ecosystem offering a ton of value-added solutions, not just hiring. We do everything that your standard RPO does but embedded within your company rather than staying external.
You might be wondering what the difference between internal and external recruitment is. Internal recruitment is in-house recruitment, and, by nature, internal recruitment teams tend to have a better understanding of your business and culture as well as your brand and ethos than a third party, external provider. Often, external recruiters can benefit a company by bringing specialised, outside expertise and flexibility compared with that of an in-house team, but with our Embedded Recruitment model you get the best of both.
Most RPO solutions still operate outside of your business, an embedded recruitment solution gives you a team of recruitment experts who essentially act as your own in-house team. We take the time to learn about your business and culture, using our expertise as previous in-house recruiters to harness the benefits of in-house for you at a fraction of the cost. We build strong relationships with your team to make the hiring process efficient and to ensure you get the right people who are the right fit for your company.
How is Troi’s embedded recruitment similar to RPO?
We do similar work to that of an RPO, but we work internally with your company instead of externally. Our new Embedded Recruitment model takes the best bits of the RPO model and embeds them fully into your team. By embedding into your company, we get to know your specific hiring challenges and needs, allowing us to develop a tailored strategy just for you.
Unlike the RPO model, as an embedded recruiter, we charge a monthly flat fee on subscription. We charge no hidden fees or commissions to pay on individual hires and no hidden costs for our recruitment tools, which are included. The cost of RPO services differs depending on how involved the provider is with your business and how much work they do in your company (and they often require payment upfront). We have a predictable monthly fee, which helps your company plan for the future and save. Just like an RPO, we can add to or replace your existing talent acquisition team, but our solution is also fully scalable and flexible. We have a range of packages on offer, and you can change packages as your hiring needs change.
While RPOs are much more involved in your organisation than recruitment agencies, with Embedded Recruitment you get even more hands-on involvement. At Troi, we spend time understanding your workplace culture and your business strategy in order to integrate with your business. We use this knowledge to form a bespoke recruitment plan to ensure we better integrate with your business. We take your long-term goals into consideration and build a hiring strategy which works for you, with you. If you’d like to learn more about Troi’s Embedded Recruitment model, click here or book a chat with us here.
How is your plug-and-play talent acquisition model revitalising the RPO model?
Hear from our founder, Johnny Coulter, in a recent event taking all things talent in the current hiring landscape:
Leaders in Talent & People Innovation in Talent Strategy: Highlights from Johnny Coulter – YouTube
What is project RPO?
Project Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a strategic solution that organisations turn to when they require specialised assistance in managing their recruitment initiatives for specific projects. It involves collaborating with an external RPO provider, such as Troi, that becomes an integral part of the project team, working alongside internal talent acquisition members to ensure the successful acquisition of skilled professionals within defined timeframes.
In the context of team dynamics, Project RPO acts as an extension of the internal talent acquisition team, providing additional resources and expertise to tackle the project’s unique hiring needs. The RPO provider collaborates closely with team members, engaging in regular communication and aligning recruitment strategies with the project’s objectives. This close partnership allows for seamless coordination, effective knowledge sharing, and efficient decision-making throughout the recruitment process.
Furthermore, it’s important to differentiate between RPO and RTO (Recruitment Technology Outsourcing). While RPO focuses on the end-to-end management of the recruitment process for specific projects, RTO refers to outsourcing the technological aspects of recruitment, such as applicant tracking systems (ATS), candidate sourcing tools, and recruitment marketing platforms. Both RPO and RTO can work in tandem to optimise the recruitment function, with RPO addressing the strategic and operational aspects while RTO supports the technological infrastructure needed for efficient and effective talent acquisition.
By leveraging Project RPO and, if needed, integrating RTO solutions, organisations can create a comprehensive approach to project-based talent acquisition. This approach combines the expertise of the internal team, the specialised knowledge of the RPO provider, and the efficiency of recruitment technology. Together, they form a powerful alliance that ensures successful project outcomes through streamlined processes, access to top talent, and optimal use of resources.
