We understand where, how, and why traditional hiring fails; but the toughest part of any problem is coming up with a good solution, a better alternative to the way we’ve always done things. Recruitment process outsourcing(RPO) services are a better alternative to traditional hiring because they fill in what’s missing in traditional hiring while being much more flexible when accommodating technology and in choosing the best hires. Here are a couple of key reasons RPO services succeed.
Related: Why traditional hiring fails
RPO Is Better Than Technology
"Technology is good... but it can't imagine all the ways in which someone might be qualified to do a job," said Dr. Peter Cappelli, author of Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It. "As it results [the hiring process] ends up being pretty dumb." Cappelli noted some of the stringent criteria hiring managers have when screening online applications, such as only considering those who had the exact same job title, or an exact grade point average or set of credentials.
"The reason this is nutty is that we don't have any information that suggests that those things predict who's going to be good," he said. "It's going on hunches... and the recruiting process is being driven by the limitations of the software because we don't want to... impose a little human judgment on it."
Cappelli highlights one of the big benefits of outsourcing and RPO services, that human judgment that's able to determine things technology and online applicant tracking systems can't, such as company fit and candidate potential to do the job. RPO is a partnership that does more than find you more great candidates, but helps to improve your hiring process by decreasing your turnover rate and improving the time it takes to find the right fit.
Related: Choosing a recruiting model that's right for you
RPO Ensures More Successful Hires
Another one of the benefits of outsourcing is that RPO does more than finding the best candidate, or even the perfect candidates. John Younger, CEO of RPO provider Accolo, explained an example with Dell where they were tasked with choosing the closest candidate to their needs, and then coming up with a 90-day plan to improve where that person was deficient, and to give that person the tools necessary to be successful.
"When they had that accountability and responsibility, they felt more a part of the team," Younger said. "They made sure that new individual accomplished what they needed in order to execute."
He also said that many companies aren't taking advantage of the talent that's currently out there and/or aren't fully understanding the actual need of the position. The expectation is to find the (almost) perfect candidate without knowing how the position fits into the company, its goals, and how the success of the position/candidate is measured. Outsourcing through RPO ensures that those needs are not only met, but are known so that they can be met.
The benefits of outsourcing some or all of your hiring process to an RPO provider far outweigh traditional hiring. Traditional hiring leaves gaps, while RPO finds those gaps and fills them. Outsourcing can bring fresh eyes to your recruiting process and help you to make the most of the talent that's out there.
Editor's note: This article was written in 2012. RPOA editors revised it in 2023 to improve the reader experience.
Related: Four important benefits of recruitment process outsourcing today
