The RPO Voice: Insights for the RPO Marketplace

What Does Recruitment Process Outsourcing Mean to You?

Written by Lamees Abourahma | Tue, Jun 05,2012 @ AM

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is relatively a new industry but a very lucrative one at a billion dollar valuation by Staffing Industry Report. But, what is RPO anyway? According to this article by Bryan White with Novotus, “RPO means different things to different people”. Different companies hire RPO providers to solve different kind of problems. What RPO means to a company depends on their unique needs and requirements.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing Defined

The Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association defines RPO as a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) where an employer transfers all or part of its recruitment processes to an external service provider. An RPO provider can provide its own or may assume the company’s staff, technology, methodologies and reporting. In all cases, RPO differs greatly from providers such as staffing companies and contingent/ retained search providers in that it assumes ownership of the design and management of the recruitment process and the responsibility of results.

More Information on RPO

For a historical perspective and an overview of RPO, you can watch industry leaders describe RPO at our RPO Leadership Forum webinar with industry leaders or read this comprehensive overview of RPO. You can also view the RPOA Resource Center for more resources.

Have you had any experience with RPO? Please share what RPO means to you in the comment section below.