What’s Good for Your Company Is Good For Your Career
Jane Clarke, the Talent Acquisition leader of a 5,000 employee business, contends with a lot of “noise” in her job. Hiring managers are constantly changing course to revise talent requirements. Her overworked team complains about antiquated recruitment technology. Contract recruiters she hired to deal with the most recent hiring spike quit for full-time positions at a competitor. Her mentor and former boss, recently promoted to lead HR at an admired company, is encouraging Jane to consider RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing), but Jane worries that doing so will somehow acknowledge defeat, marginalize her managerial skills and ultimately damage her career.
In our view, Jane’s got it all wrong. Her fears are unwarranted. In fact, she should embrace RPO and promote the value it can bring to the business. Not only can a well-architected outsourcing engagement address her greatest challenges, being proactive and spearheading the process can make her a star at her current employer… and highly marketable to others.
While there are many compelling reasons to outsource all or some of your recruitment process, below we outline the seven top career-building considerations:
You can’t predict the future
Just like “jumbo shrimp,” the concept of “workforce planning” is an oxymoron rather than a reflection of reality. In today’s fast paced marketplace, most organizations have difficulty anticipating hiring needs further than six months out with any degree of accuracy. In fact, according to Mercer, 62% of organizations rate themselves as ineffective at workforce planning. There are simply too many variables that impact the diversity of talent needs – by business unit, by role, by geography and even by season – to make most workforce planning little more than an educated guess. Strategically aligning recruiters to business units can help overcome workforce planning gaps but, in reality, continually rightsizing the recruiting team to meet the hiring demands of the business is really difficult even with decent workforce planning processes.
In contrast, an RPO solution scales, allowing your business to deal with ebbs and flows in talent needs, whether across your entire business or only within those units where unpredictably is the most extreme.
You want more, not less, control
Yes, you did just read that correctly! A well-structured RPO arrangement can actually give you, as the talent acquisition leader, more control than using an in-house team. Contrary to popular belief, a properly structured and executed RPO engagement can provide a talent acquisition leader with greater visibility and oversight into the entire hiring process, especially related to what’s most important. As a client, you should actually receive a higher level of service from the team handling your recruitment. Additionally, you won’t need to deal with distractions related to the hiring, training and general management of direct hires. As opposed to micro-managing details, you can focus on the big picture.
Many worry that outsourcing will weaken their employment brand because their frontline “Brand Ambassadors” aren’t on the payroll. Those concerns are quickly alleviated through orientations and cultural immersion with the RPO team, equipping them with the insights they need to represent your company and culture.
You want to build new personal skillsets
Negotiating and managing a partnership with an RPO provider will help you build a new, and different, skillset. In order to succeed, the relationship requires deep collaboration and great project management skills, not to mention the ability to champion the concept and business case internally. These competencies will deepen your skillset and provide immeasurable value to you as you further your career.
You don’t have the resources to innovate
Dealing with the everyday tasks inherent in running a talent acquisition function doesn’t leave most leaders with time to spare to develop and institute new ideas. Entrusting the day-to-day recruitment tasks to an RPO partner will free you up to focus on what really counts in the long run, whether that means providing more training to hiring managers on interviewing protocols or investing resources in better social media outreach. The best RPO partners also make it a practice to share insights among clients facing similar recruitment challenges, thereby providing you with ideas to help you innovate.
You’re determined to up the ante on best practices
Related to the point made above, it’s in the RPO vendor’s best interest to use the latest tools and technologies available because the more effective they are, the more economies of scale they – and by extension YOU – will achieve. Because efficiency is a mutually shared objective, RPO vendors will offer your organization access to the latest and greatest suite of tools in the market.
You want to take costs out of your business
Comparing the true labor costs (hiring, training, payroll, benefits, etc.) of employing a full-time recruitment team along with recruitment advertising, search agencies, real estate and IT costs to RPO vendor fees usually seals the deal on which is more economical and scalable. Perhaps that’s why, according to Everest, RPO has grown by such leaps and bounds across multiple industries while improving quality of hire with potential cost savings of 10-30% depending on search agency usage.
Finally, you want to accelerate business outcomes
If, like in most businesses, your ability to scale recruitment to hire the right people at the right time is critical to your growth, then an RPO solution will help you achieve that goal.
In summary…
Simply put, RPO is good for your career because it’s good for your company. As we like to say, “it’s not ‘if,’ it’s when.” For many business leaders, RPO is a core component of their overall talent acquisition strategy. If you are serious about getting that coveted “seat at the table,” why not be proactive and instigate a serious conversation about RPO with your business leaders? The career-building benefits of outsourcing recruitment on behalf of your current employer will translate into measurable accomplishments on your resume for future employers. RPO can help you climb the next rung on your career ladder as a business partner, strategic thinker and decision-maker.
About the Author
Jason brings twenty years of leadership, business development, consulting and management experience in Talent Acquisition and Human Capital services.