Is your talent acquisition engine scalable?

The economic downturn led companies to downsize their internal recruiting staff. How are leading companies rebuilding their capabilities as volumes start to increase?

Patrick Beharelle. The period immediately following a recession is an opportunity for thoughtful reflection and true innovation. Despite the perception of a jobless recovery, some firms are experiencing heavy demand for replacement hires and growth hires. Others are bracing for an uptick as recovery gains momentum. The fact is, recent studies show over 50 percent of workers are considering an exit from their employer, once hiring conditions are favorable.

In preparation for the hiring uptick, some forward thinking HR execs have built a "hybrid" talent acquisition model, where a slimmed down internal recruiting staff is augmented with support from a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider. The scalability advantages and highly variable cost structure are often the key justifications for a hybrid RPO model.

RPO is not a new concept and is not suitable for every situation. But RPO offerings have significantly matured over the last several years and success stories of lower cost/hire, improved candidate quality, faster hiring cycles, and true scalability are plentiful.

You mentioned leading firms are building "hybrid" talent acquisition models. How does it typically work? 

PB. RPO solutions tend to be customized to the clients specific business challenge and culture, so perhaps the most effective way to answer the question is with an example.

A large telecommunications provider (we'll call TelCo) made a strategic decision to keep a scaled down internal recruitment team to focus on the most complex and hardest to fill positions, while leveraging an RPO provider (PeopleScout in this case) to focus on the higher volume, less complex positions. Specifically, TelCo outsourced most of the recruitment steps (sourcing, screening, scheduling, offer admin, pre-employment verifications, applicant tracking) for 4500 of the company's 6000 annual hires, while the internal team focused on the remaining 1500 positions (director level and above). Overall cost per hire has been cut by 20 percent and time to fill has been trimmed by 15 percent. 

RPO is not suitable for all situations. What are some of the necessary conditions for a successful RPO engagement? 

PB. First, "buy in" from HR leaders and hiring managers is critical. If key constituents are not supportive, it can be difficult to overcome. Often HR is leading the push for RPO - laying ground work to ensure hiring managers are bought in may slow the implementation a bit, but ensuring their support is worth the extra time. Second, a solid business case is important. Business cases vary in sophistication from firm to firm, but ultimately, the fees to the RPO provider need to be justified. Budgets are tight. A clearly articulated business case provides a solid foundation. Third, the scope of the engagement and pace of implementation are crucial decisions that need to align with the buyers culture. Some RPO buyers prefer a pilot phase to start, while others are more comfortable with a large scope - it's a question of culture and comfort level. Fourth, clear expectations and true candor between the buyer and provider are critical. There will be challenges on both sides. It sounds obvious, but providers need to ensure the team is properly structured for rapid flexing up/down.  When an RPO provider struggles, it is usually due to not assigning enough resources. Buyers need to be held accountable too - directionally correct forecasts and internal change management are important to ensure the provider is positioned for success.

Any parting thoughts? 

PB. Tactical layoffs were executed. The questions are now more strategic for HR. How to variabalize cost structure? How to rebuild capability? Engage third party support, and if so, what scope and what firm? Is process/technology meeting business needs? RPO, when structured well, can deliver double digit cost savings, improved candidate quality and achieve substantially more scalability - but the engagement must be structured well from the beginning.

Biography

Patrick Beharelle is the CEO of SeatonCorp, a $350 million best-in-class staffing/recruiting company that operates under the PeopleScout, Staff Management, and StudentScout brands. Beharelle has been a featured speaker at several key RPO industry events, a regular contributor to industry publications, and is a recognized thought leader in the RPO space.