Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Pros and Cons

 Finding and drawing top talent to your company has never been an easy task. It was hard enough even before the business world was thrown into chaos, and face-to-face communication became so difficult. With all the complications 2020 brought, navigating the job market can be a nightmare for both job seekers and employers alike.

One way for companies to deal with their hiring problems is to develop an in-house recruitment mechanism. This way of doing things has merit, especially for independent-minded businesses and large enterprises.

However, in many instances, it’s not a viable option for SMEs, who don’t have the resources to spare. Recruiting solid employees invariably involves resource-intensive tasks such as DBS checks and interviews.

This is why so many businesses of all sizes have taken up the practice of outsourcing their recruitment process to a third party. But what are the pros and cons of doing so for a company? 

Pro: Cost

Getting an RPO agency to find you a good candidate can be significantly cheaper than organizing and maintaining your own recruitment operation. This is especially true if you don’t already have a system in place to deal with this aspect of the business.

That being said, even some large companies have taken to outsourcing parts of the recruitment process. This allows them to broaden their reach and frees up resources that can be focused on their core business processes.

Con: Dependence on Another Company

Outsourcing any part of your important business process can cause issues. This makes you dependant on a third party – even more so than usual.

The potential vulnerability this arrangement creates is a legitimate concern. The only way to lay that worry to rest is to rely on reputable and dependable recruiter agencies, with proven track records of success.

Pro: Results, Now

Outside recruiters specialize in finding good candidates for employers with speed and efficiency. There are some key differences between them and in-house HR. For one, finding worthwhile applicants is their only job – and they can be very good at it.

Due to their reach and specialization, they can draw upon resources that are inaccessible even for well-organized HR teams. This means they can get the job done surprisingly quickly.

Con: Quality May Vary

As third parties, recruiter agencies are not intimately familiar with your way of doing things. Even if you give a recruiter a comprehensive list of what you want and don’t want in an applicant, they may miss other details you consider important. This may cause recruitment agencies to recommend what seem to be inadequate candidates. 

Working closely with the recruiter can alleviate that issue. However, at the end of the day, it’s a bad idea to completely trust a third party with the entire process. Even if an outside recruiter does most of the work, you still need to double-check the applicant’s background, as well as interview them.

Pro: Analysis

The reach and connections of recruitment agencies are their key strengths, but they have many others. One of the things they cultivate is huge databases full of applicant information that can be examined and analyzed.

In our day and age, access to this type of information is the key to success. It often reveals crucial patterns that company policy needs to be based around. 

Con: Data Security 

If you want to make the most of your collaboration with outside recruiters, you will need to work closely with them. This means sharing your data with them – which is a potential vulnerability. 

Data breaches, leaks, and theft are a real threat nowadays. The more people and agencies have access to your data, the more vulnerable it becomes. This is why you need to only give your data to recruiters that will keep confidential. Take the time to do some due diligence on the agency you want to work with and make sure they’re up to the task of keeping your data safe.

Conclusion

Whether RPO suits your company depends on its structure and business model. If you choose this method, you need to be aware of the intricacies involved. Research on the subject will allow you to do all in your power to assure that you only hire the best candidates. 

It’s important to remember that you can’t outsource the recruitment process completely, even if you trust the agency to do it right. Some aspects of it, such as the DBS checks and final interviews, you will have to double-check as well.