Types of RPO Engagements: Consulting RPO (Part 4 of 5)

In the first three blog posts of this series we covered enterprise RPO, short-term RPO, and point-of-service RPO. This series is meant to illustrate that RPO services aren't a one-size-fits-all engagement, and that you need to know what you need before you can have an RPO provider offer any recruiting help. In the fourth part of our series on recruitment process outsourcing services and engagements, we'll cover an RPO solution, consulting RPO, which is perfect for those who need knowledge and advice with improving their recruiting processes.

What is Consulting RPO?

This service is exactly as the name states: a company simply seeking the knowledge an RPO provider has on recruiting and improving the process. In this case, an RPO provider may offer advice on how to improve their processes, on what tools should be used, on how to do social media recruiting etc.

"When companies need help, the question often is 'what type of help do you need?', and this is where consulting RPO comes in," said Matt Rivera, director of customer services at Yoh. "You're actually getting the benefit of the knowledge that the RPO providers have. RPO providers... literally do thousands of hires every year. They know the processes and they know how to structure them."

Which Clients are Best Suited for Consulting RPO?

Consulting RPO is one of the few RPO services that would work with just about any client. It’s also one of the few services that could also work in conjunction with any of the other services listed previously, or even with an emerging RPO service (which will be covered in the final part of this series). After all, recruitment process outsourcing at any level needs to have some consultation with it so that the provider can meet the needs of the client to the best of their ability. But, if you’re just looking for some knowledge and expertise, this is a perfect service choice for:

• Anyone setting up a recruiting process or an HR department
• Larger companies that are looking to make decisions on their resources i.e. consolidate their processes or to find someone to look at their overall picture
• Those that are going through a merger or an acquisition, where different processes and/or employment brands need to be evaluated
• Startups that are experiencing growth, and would need help with recruiting as well as setting up the process

"A lot happens with mergers and acquisitions, where companies lost a part or a corporate entity they were connected with," Rivera said. "There are a lot of large companies that are... faced with make or buy decision. Do I have a lot of in-house recruiters, or build up a recruiting staff, or outsource it to an RPO provider? [Consulting RPO] can help with a lot of that decision making."

Previously, we covered enterprise RPO, short-term project RPO, and point-of-service RPO, and we'll cover the last type of RPO engagement in the conclusion of this series. To learn more about point-of-service RPO, or the other recruitment process outsourcing engagements that providers offer, then view this hour-long webinar now.