Top Ten Myths Around RPO (cont.) #9

#9) You’ll lose control

This should probably be ranked number #1 or #2, but since we’re not going in any particular order here on the myths that surround recruitment process outsourcing, let’s get this one taken care of right from the start.

Part of the advantage of using RPO to drive your talent acquisition processes is the ability to allow you to focus on what is central and core to the business. Far from losing control, an RPO engagement finally allows you to TAKE control of these processes, and scale the acquisition process so that for perhaps the first time ever, you can be proactive in these areas, rather than reactive.

Ok, that’s sounds like a consultant wrote it.

In English, it’s simple. When it’s you and six other recruiters, and 200 plus angry or eager hiring managers, all complaining that you aren’t sending the right candidates, or aren’t sending enough candidates, and everyone has as many reqs as they can handle, and your budget’s been held flat or even cut, what do you do?

Seriously, think about it.

You can’t hire more recruiters. There’s no money. Replace recruiters with better recruiters? You could, but then you’d lose 3 - 6 months of productivity from the new hire as they ramped up and built the internal relationships necessary to really be successful - assuming you made the right hire. Hiring more support staff is also out. And no money for better technology.

Your system’s not exactly broken, but it’s not exactly running as well as it could, and God forbid someone should come to you and say “we just opened a new facility in _____ and we need a 100 extra _____”. Been there. Done that. Got the gray hairs to prove it.

In other words, the entire process is running at maximum, it is entirely reactive, and there is zero bandwidth to go out and do all the things these experts tell you you should be doing (see “Can’t Sleep? Here might be a reason“) to be a great recruiting organization. To compound things, the company in the midst of all this potentially sees you not as a strategic partner, but an organization that is maxed out, barely able to keep its head above water, and a cost center that needs close monitoring.

But what if your recruiters finally had the time to recruit? What if the technology component, the sourcing component, the administration component, the reporting component, and the background assessments were off your plate? What if the employer branding and internal and external communications pieces, including all the Web 2.0 social marketing and networking, and the scheduling components were gone? What if the only thing left for you to do was related to:

1. fully vetting a candidate and building a relationship with them so that you could “sell” them on the opportunity of working for your organization; and
2. working closely with hiring managers to understand their expectations and industry and helping them to “close” candidates so that their customer satisfaction rates soared
3. networking with potential future candidates and passive candidates so that when the time comes for them to make a switch, your recruiters have already established those relationships and these candidates have already been “sold” on your company?

And what if you could do all those things within your existing budget?

Does it sound like you’re losing control of the process? Or does it sound like you’re gaining control of your process for the first time?

RPO also offers the ability to scale that most existing processes do not. So if someone does, in fact, come to you for an extra 100 hires for a new facility or plant or division or whatever, you can say “Yes, no problem.”

That’s why companies outsource payroll, benefits administration, sales force automation, customer relationship management systems, enterprise resource planning, human resource information systems, and a whole host of other activities that if retained in-house, in order to “retain control”, prevent them from focusing on the business. That’s why I call it right-sourcing.

And it’s why you should look at making that analysis for yourself - what can I get off my plate so that I can be more focused, more effective, more strategic, and more successful in my organization. For many, that means taking BACK control and looking at RPO.

Just something to think about on this rainy Wednesday afternoon in D.C…

Next up #8) It costs too much

Cheers,

Michael