RPO Performance: How to Measure and Better Your Business Tactics

RPO performance and metrics

RPO Performance: How to Measure and Better Your Business Tactics

RPO performance and metrics

“It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance” – Harold S. Geneen, American Businessman

With the growth of every company, there comes a time when you have to stop and reassess before you can make your next move. Part of the growth process, especially for large multinational companies and corporations is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). These days, RPO has become an integral part of corporate growth given the significant role the services play in hiring, recruitment, onboarding and talent acquisition. Hence, it becomes vital for companies to be able to measure their RPO performance or rather the service offering of their RPO partners.

Like everything else in the business world, there have to be measures and metrics to help guide the next step. Goals and expectations should therefore be set in place before one outsources work to an external third-party agency like an RPO provider. In this blog, we cover ways in which a business or company might be able to measure the RPO performance of their service provider.

The Role of RPO Providers in the Modern Landscape

RPO services can be short-term or long-term in nature, depending on the needs of the business. When you consider long-term RPO services, they are highly involved in the overall talent acquisition and hiring operations. These kinds of galvanized initiatives are highly essential for major business ventures. However, at the same time, you need to be able to measure your return on investment.

It should be noted that RPO service providers have already taken steps to measure their RPO performance. They have large volumes of data that allows them to assess what works and what doesn’t. Based on the extrapolated information, they take action to implement the best strategies for their clients. On the other end of things, when it comes to businesses measuring their RPO partner’s performance, it can vary. Each business has different requirements at the end of the day. Having said that, here are some ideal ways in which you can measure the performance.

Before you can measure your RPO performance, you need to have the right metrics on hand that are relevant to your business.

Measuring RPO performance

Establishing the RPO Performance Metrics

Before you go ahead and take on the services of an RPO provider, you might want to check your metrics. These metrics should give you a basis to measure the RPO provider’s performance against. Keep this in mind as a rule of thumb. The metrics should supplement the in-house talent acquisition team and human resources department in the following tasks:

  • Creating recruitment strategies
  • Handling important technologies
  • Consulting candidates and recruiters
  • Shortlisting for interviews
  • Screening and assessing candidates, as well as, onboarding new joinees

“The goal of measurement is to not only do things right but do the right things and continuously improve doing that – Pearl Zhu, Author

Considering What You Have to Gain from an RPO Partnership

RPO services are a great boon for many different types of companies at various stages in the business life cycle. However, what appears to be a great service, may not always be the right move for your business. It all depends on the needs of the organization. Hence, it is always advisable to consider what your company has to gain from the RPO service provider and if that is what you need.

For instance, generally, some of the benefits are considered to be a huge time saver. They are also cost effective and efficient. RPO providers come up with custom strategies and can take care of their client needs from A to Z. They also ensure the recruitment of high-quality candidates in a streamlined manner. RPO agencies are also industry experts when it comes to sourcing and the associated labour laws that one has to keep in mind.

All these things sound fantastic for an overall optimized process, but ask yourself if your business is in a place where you can afford these services. Do you need these services? And of course, do you have the capacity to cater to the results these services would provide? Only once you analyze these can you even consider taking on an RPO partner and of course, measuring the RPO performance.

Measuring the RPO Performance

Now that we have a foundation set, we can have a look at the metrics against which to measure the RPO performance provided to your company. These metrics will tell you not only where the RPO services need to improve, but also the quality of the RPO provider you partner with.

RPO Performance Metric #1: Time Taken to Fill Job Positions

Efficiency is a very important RPO performance indicator. Candidates and companies alike want a quick and efficient process. Candidates want a fast response on their application and companies need to fill positions to prevent delays in operations. It is therefore crucial for the RPO partner to have a proactive Application Tracking System (ATS) at every stage.

Find the cause of delay, if any, and push for faster targets and better deadlines. You can also check how quickly candidates get their responses for applications. Little things here and there add up to show the overall efficiency of the RPO partner.

RPO performance in the workplace

Workplace synergy and compatibility with company culture is a big indicator for the performance of an RPO partner.

RPO Performance Metric #2: Candidate Source

In recruitment, it is important to know where your candidates come from. This is important so that you know that your recruitment efforts are engaging the right candidates or the right demographic. Check to see if your RPO partner is sourcing the candidates from a source that coincides with what you’re looking for. Depending on where they source candidates, it will determine the quality of the hire.

RPO Performance Metric #3: Quality of Interviews

RPO services are known for their high-quality service offerings. This attracts candidates to accept offers more quickly and is also a good indicator of the RPO’s success rate. Let’s face it, interviews take lots of time and effort. At the same time, companies want candidates who are enthusiastic to work for the vision of the business. If your RPO provider brings you the right candidates, it will make the interview process that much smoother. This will ultimately tell you how well the RPO service strategy is performing.

RPO Performance Metric #4: Offer-to-Acceptance Ratio

The term ‘Offer-to-Acceptance Ratio refers to the percentage of accepted offers from an organization. If there is a high rate of offer rejection, the RPO provider should focus on delivering clear-cut expectations to the short-listed candidates. Another issue this could point to is the quality of screening done for the candidate before offering them the job. Though it’s not an exact science when it comes to predicting what the candidate will do, it is possible to weed out the potential hires.

This ratio tells you how well your RPO handles the screening process and the quality of their final selection of candidates. It also points to their ability to communicate on behalf of the company.

“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year. – John Foster Dulles, Former United States Secretary of State

RPO Performance Metric #5: Company Culture and Workplace Synergy

RPO partners should align themselves with the company culture, values, brand and other initiatives of the business. They should become an extension of your company. This is the only way to have positive workplace synergy. If there are a lot of issues with the overall performance and communication, there might be some level of misalignment with the company culture and the RPO.

To counteract this, consider discussing the working relationship, the image you want to be conveyed as a client, the impact and motivation you are trying to achieve through your mission and so on. You need to see what works and what doesn’t, and then make corrections accordingly.

RPO Performance Metric #6: Accessibility

Now, we come to the last point regarding RPO performance. RPO partners are very capable and have great strategies in place. However, you have to keep in mind that it is not just the RPO service provider that is responsible for the success of our recruitment process, but so is the company. They can only perform well if they have access to the relevant databases and tools within the company. It is therefore crucial that you get the HR or talent acquisition team and the RPO provider on the same page for a seamless process.

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5 Paths to Boosting RPO Success in 2022

RPO Success in 2022

5 Paths to Boosting RPO Success in 2022

RPO Success in 2022

“The key to success is to start before you are ready.” – Marie Forleo, American entrepreneur

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) companies that want to succeed in 2022 need to go the extra mile when they provide their services. Not only will they have to deal with competition in their industry but also tackle the issue of talent shortages. All this needs to be handled while keeping the costs down. To attain RPO success going further into this year, firms will need to innovate. They will need to pivot their plans to work with a more hybrid model of sorts. However, issues like rising levels of inflation, the threat of another pandemic, talent scarcity are all obstacles that will have to be overcome as well.

In this blog, we will talk about a few different solutions that RPO agencies can adopt to overcome the aforementioned challenges. It should be noted that these solutions are geared towards attaining RPO success as we go into this year. Keep in mind that the facts and numbers in this article stem from a research report / webinar done by the Everest Group titled, “5 Success-driving Actions GBS Organizations Need in 2022”.

5 Paths to Attaining RPO Success in 2022

We still have a long way to go with this year. Yet, even now several issues have already begun to plague the recruitment industry. One of the major issues is talent scarcity and the struggles with upskilling. Not to mention rising competition levels which further exacerbate the issues at hand. While RPO companies are well-equipped to deal with a wide variety of situations, even they need to think outside the box. Having said that, here are a few different ways to reach RPO success.

Path #1: Pivot to a Hybrid Work Model

The hybrid work model has rapidly gained popularity over the last couple of years. For one, it is convenient, especially considering the whole situation with the ongoing pandemic. On the other hand, companies and organization leaders are still a little hesitant towards it. This is because the model itself is rather new and that leaves room for uncertainty. However, despite hesitations, the research reported that about 70% of the teams that they included in their servers were more likely to work within the hybrid model.

Global inflation has played a significant role in the rise of labour costs and operational expenses.

Inflation is a major obstacle to RPO success

Path #2: Change Expectations for Cost and Profits

In the last two years, the global inflation levels have drastically changed, with 2022 being no different it would seem. Before the pandemic, the labour costs were on the rise as the overall operational costs were relatively lower. Now, both labour costs and operational expenses are rising. As a result, RPO partners won’t be able to provide their clients with the level of financial benefits that they have come to expect.

Rohitashwa Aggarwal, the Vice President of Global Sourcing at Everest Group, suggested a few key areas to focus on. This is where the upper management can control the costs somewhat. Specifically, he mentioned talent acquisition and retention. While there is a talent shortage in the job market, retention tactics act as a counter-balance to help even things out. 

Another way to go about controlling cost and achieving RPO success is by being more selective of the services provided to clients. When an RPO partner gives a client a more traditional outsourcing service, it can help add value beyond the profit margin.

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston S. Churchill, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Path #3: Create Value Beyond Profit

Sakshi Garg, the Vice President of Global Sourcing, at Everest Group made an interesting observation in the research. It was noted that organizations that focused on creating value above profit attained a significant level of RPO success in the form of client impact. She recommended that companies should start with the use of centers of excellence (COE).

The purpose of COEs is to bolster the client’s agenda, which can sometimes go beyond the aforementioned traditional recruitment process outsourcing services. COEs can be created by doing a few things. For one, the organization could speed up the client’s digital presence and operations, give them better talent management solutions and even upskill their existing talent.

Revitalize your talent strategy for RPO success

Changing your overall talent strategy or just a core aspect of it can have amazing ripple effects on the rest of your RPO efforts.

Path #4: Renovate the Talent Strategy

Improving the company’s overall talent strategy would be a huge move, but at the same time, it brings a lot of benefits to the table. The first thing that could be done is that the leadership could look internally to evaluate where their existing talent might fit into different roles.

Another thing that could be done is to ramp up recruitment on college campuses. The key is to realize the massive potential that universities have to offer in terms of their student talent pool. Tap into that by partnering with other companies in your industry, come up with strategies that can work at the university level to leverage efficient recruitment of these recent grads into your ranks.

Path #5: Give Importance to Employee Experience

To achieve RPO success, RPO providers should seriously consider giving importance to their employees’ experience. For one, it was noted in the Everest Group’s research that the COEs that were created around employee experience significantly saw improvement in the clients’ customer experience.

So, when a recruitment process outsourcing agency does the same, it creates a good experience for their employees, which in turn boosts talent strategies. It also improves the experiences of the talent they recruit, the suppliers and even customers. Think of it as a ripple effect with the employee experience at the core of it all.

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RPO Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2022

RPO Trends in 2022

RPO Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2022

RPO Trends in 2022

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it.” – Jim Moran, Former United States Representative

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) trends often dictate how the job market is performing and how it might change down the road. There are a multitude of factors to consider at any point in time, both internal and external. However, that is part of what makes an RPO agency so necessary as a concept. As market experts, they are ready for these sudden changes and have the capabilities to combat challenges. In recent years, the pandemic has been one of the biggest influencers of such trends in the job markets around the world.

Businesses were forced to enforce survival plans with the shutdowns affecting nearly every industry across the world. With the arrival of vaccines and the mass movements towards more adaptive work modes, the world is somewhat back on track. This has many economic experts thinking that we are indeed on our way to recovery. Having said all that, let’s have a look at some of these RPO trends that might likely take place as we go further into 2022.

RPO Trends in 2022

It is important to know the RPO trends for both the RPO agency as well as the client. Both sides need to be reasonably aware of the ongoing phenomenon in their respective industry’s job markets to make the most informed decision. This list should help you gain insight into what you might face later on this year and maybe even give you an upper hand thanks to your foresight.

1) The Prominence of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

(DEI) Recruiters who work under RPO companies know the importance of DEI in the workplace. The pandemic had a unique way of highlighting several underlying issues in business processes and company cultures. It was a time when many employees and employers alike began to realize the importance of a healthy workplace. This may be considered as beyond just an RPO trend and you know what? It is more than that.  As we go forward into this year, DEI will play an ever-increasing role in company cultures. More and more companies will need to build their employment policies and workplace standards around these expectations to survive and thrive.

Finding top talent is becoming increasingly difficult due to rising competition in the job markets.

Rising competition is one of the prevalent RPO trends of 2022

2) Targeted Upskilling is Necessary

It would be a fair assessment to say that the market is getting more competitive in terms of skilled individuals. It is becoming harder to find the right people with the right skills. Even if you do, there is a high level of competition for these individuals. RPO companies should be able to identify the skill gaps that need to be addressed to strengthen a company’s workforce. This trend indicates that companies will have to turn to RPO agencies and their data to develop targeted upskilling strategies going forward.

3) Next-Gen Technology

Another one of the interesting RPO trends that have emerged recently is the prominence of recruitment technologies in the industry. With the arrival of SaaS companies all over the place, RPO companies have been taking advantage of emerging technologies as well as some of the classics. This includes technologies such as applicant tracking systems (ATS), job boards, social media platforms, automated reference checking and so on. Remember the previous point about the targeted upskilling strategies and the race to find the top talent? Well, this is a core factor in companies winning said race.

“It’s better to be prepared than to get ready. – Will Smith, American Actor

4) Remote Hiring/Onboarding

Ever since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2019, nothing has been the same. One of the things that changed and remains so is online hiring and onboarding. It has been the norm in many companies for a few years now and doesn’t look like this is about to change any time soon. With many recruiters, RPO or otherwise, jumping on this bandwagon to cater to the demand for more employees ensures the longevity of this trend. Online hiring and onboarding is an RPO trend that is here to stay. Especially with so many companies adapting the hybrid work model for their day-to-day business operations.

5) Remote-Work Candidates Only

If you are a hiring manager or a recruiter with an RPO firm, you might have noticed the large volume of candidates in recent days that have been on the lookout for remote working opportunities. This trend started just as the lockdowns happened. People realized the convenience of working remotely. With so many companies adopting the hybrid work model and remote work models to accommodate these candidates, this is a trend that will stay for a long time.

RPO trends indicate having an RPO partner is beneficial

In the long run having an RPO agency on your side is one of the best things for your business.

6) Candidate Care

Candidate care is one of the more significant RPO trends to have emerged in recent times. Basically what this refers to is how recruiters work with candidates and past hires. While most recruiters, be it in-house hiring managers or RPO recruiters, work very closely with candidates. However, not all do. This is slowly changing given the importance of having a positive employer image in the eyes of the candidate. The more the candidate feels cared for during the recruitment process, the better your employer branding. Ultimately this means your path to securing top talent is that much easier.

7) Global Recruiting Experience

As far as RPO trends go, the RPO agencies that operate on a global scale or handle global recruitment have a growing edge over the domestic recruiters. Operating on such a large scale means that they not only have access to a wide variety of talent and diversity, but they also need to be well-versed in labour laws and hiring practices of different countries. This gives them an edge over local head-hunters. Therefore, companies that hire RPO companies with global recruitment experience will also have that edge on their side.

8) RPO as a Long-Term Recruitment Solution

Regardless of the scale of the business, a good RPO solution is good for almost every company’s growth and hiring needs. Look, technology is showing no signs of slowing down and policies change every day. This makes RPO agencies the ideal solution to lead the charge to help companies remain relevant in the long run.

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Talent Solutions: A Paradigm Shift in the Industry

Talent Solutions has seen a massive paradigm shift in the industry

Talent Solutions: A Paradigm Shift in the Industry

Talent Solutions has seen a massive paradigm shift in the industry

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin, Naturalist

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution states that evolution in itself happens through natural selection. Changes happen over a period of time to help the subject adapt to the environment or extinguish it completely for the sake of the environment. If there is one thing that we can say for certain, especially over the past 3 years, it is that the job market has seen massive changes, regardless of geography. With the onslaught of wave after wave of Covid-19 across the globe, the world essentially got frozen into place economically speaking. 

Here’s the thing with evolution though, if you don’t keep moving forward, you begin to regress, and isn’t that exactly what happened with our economies? If we take Canada for instance, in recent times the country has seen a huge demand for skilled workers since things started opening up again. This presented an issue though. Although there was a demand for roles to be filled and even though there were candidates to fill said roles, the two did not always meet in the middle. It isn’t necessarily the best fit, not until you consider RPO agencies and the talent solutions that come with it.

Time Has Changed the Way Talent Solutions Work

If you speak to a hiring manager that has worked in the same company for the past 20 years, chances are that they will recommend outdated methods of hiring. They might suggest job boards, newspaper advertisements, and so on. The thing we often tend to forget as recruitment experts is that there is a whole sphere of people who do not know that there are better ways to hire. As experts we take for granted the high-flying, fast-paced, streamlined operations that we have going on these days. We only know about the latest trends because we are recruitment natives.

Having said that, the challenge nowadays has become one of adaptation. Each year there are more and more conditions, expectations, and measures tagged onto talent acquisition. This leaves the process far less transactional than it once was. It is not all about quality control, while still adhering to the standards of globalisation.

Technology and Globalisation played an important role in how far talent solutions have come as a concept.

Globalisation affects how talent solutions have evolved

Talent Solutions in the Face of Globalisation

Speaking of globalisation, you have to consider how much harder the recruitment process has become for companies that have their businesses rooted in one location. Let’s say you’re a company based in North America for instance. You would have to deal with the complexity of hiring in smaller volumes across different countries.

Other factors include the growth of AI-automation processes in recruitment operations and gig-economy for example. They drive how organisations have to engage with talent. They also determine how they manage the process and still run the business. In a way, recruitment is a business in itself. This brings us to the core of this article- the seeking out of talent solution partnerships.

“Evolution is the secret for the next step – Karl Lagerfeld, German Director

Talent Solutions is more holistic these days

Talent solutions have become a more holistic approach to managing the recruitment process beyond just hiring.

Talent Solutions Today: The Modern Conundrum

All the previously discussed points bring us to one final thing and that is, how much recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) has changed over the years. This is especially true for those ‘pure’ RPO service providers who don’t conform to legacy recruitment agency values. RPO and talent solutions as a whole are no longer just a way to manage recruitment but rather a means by which clients can leverage services that go beyond hiring.

While the total talent solutions options are the goal for many organisations, more often than not, we see that there is a need for customised solutions. Organisations are choosing to hire fewer people of specialised backgrounds or just short-term hires. In such scenarios, RPO providers need to be able to scale up and scale down the operations of their teams at a moment’s notice.

In Conclusion

Hiring will always be a part of the talent solution process. However, these days there is more to it. Different factors like client needs, employee needs, globalization, the rise in recruitment technology, and so on, come together to make for a complex situation. Modern talent solutions require that the internal teams have a highly sophisticated recruitment process. At the same time companies should outsource scalability, market expertise, and employer branding to the RPOs.

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How RPO Service Partners Can Help You Gear up for the Great Rehiring

RPO service partners

How RPO Service Partners Can Help You Gear up for the Great Rehiring

RPO service partners

“Hiring the best is your most important task.”Steve Jobs, Apple Co-Founder

In every business and every industry, there is bound to be a period that brings with it a huge wave of demand. This high level of demand needs to be met if a company wants to stay in business. However, meeting these demands, especially on short notice can be a difficult task. Keep in mind that this is just one scenario where large-scale rehiring initiatives are important. It also applies if you’re looking to expand your business, refresh your company’s skill base, or several other factors. In today’s article, we won’t be talking about the ‘why’ of it all. Rather, we will be talking about how RPO service partners can help you during the great rehiring.

To start things off, let’s quickly take a look at what an RPO is. An RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) service is essentially a staffing service where an employer transfers a part or all of its recruitment needs to a third-party service provider, as the name suggests. Leveraging such services can bring your organization many benefits, which is what we will have a look at next!

#1 Scalability

Scalability is by far the most obvious point on this list. It is also the end goal of organizations that are looking to grow. Now, scalability is a rather good problem to have- it means business is good. However, you do need ample staff to tackle the rise in business demand if you want the business to keep afloat. This is where RPO service partners come in. 

RPO service partners can help companies meet their hiring deadlines without giving up quality in terms of productivity. The flow of your business would be the best indicator as to when and how you engage with your service provider. Having said that, whether it is filling a few specific niche roles or large-scale general hiring, the RPO is the way to go!

#2 Customizable

If you are looking to hire another 200 employees of a specialized skill set, you need to ask yourself a few important questions. Is your internal talent acquisition team equipped to handle this large-scale initiative? Do they have the market knowledge to understand what is required for a person of this speciality to work effectively? You need to have a fair idea of if the internal recruitment team is capable and if they know what to look for. More often than not, you will have to train them up, invest in technology, and so on. With RPO service partners, you get to customize the hiring process to align with your needs.

The RPO route is a relatively cost-effective one when you think of the big picture.

RPO service partners

#3 Highly Cost-Effective

You may think that services this good might be just that- too good to be true. On the contrary, businesses that have RPO service partners on their side save a lot of money. Things like the hiring lifecycle, time-to-hire, and even the cost-per-hire go down over time. The reason that this is the case is because of the streamlined nature of RPO services.

The recruitment efforts become more targeted, which generates a higher quality of hires, which ultimately drives up the positive impact of the operations. At the same time, it drives down the turnover rate. It should also be noted that RPOs offer employers cost-effective hiring models, for high-volume placements. These models can be tailored to decrease the overall hiring cost of your company.

#4 Latest in Technology

Recruiting methods today are not what they used to be 20 years ago. These days the industry professionals use advanced tools and technology to ensure quality candidates. Examples of such technology can range from highly-integrated applicant tracking systems to AI-based recruiting platforms. While these technologies are available, most organizations don’t have the ongoing volume of job openings to justify having said tech on hand. Hence, these platforms and methods are usually employed by RPO service partners when they offer you their recruitment packages. Fair to say that you will benefit from them.

“The secret to successful hiring is this: look for people who want to change the world. – Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com

RPO service partners

RPO service partners act as extensions of your internal recruitment team.

#5 Good Support

Now we come to the last point on the list. If you are reading this article, chances are you are already considering the move to loop in an RPO service provider. It might also stand to reason that you find your internal recruitment team is stretched pretty thin. Well not to worry, this is one of the main reasons that RPO service partners exist in the first place.

The whole premise of outsourcing your recruitment is to ensure that the internal team has the breathing room to redirect and focus on their work. At the same time, the RPO steps in to take care of the bulk of the work. In essence, RPO partners act as an extension of your company and even your brand. You can have them focus on the niche hires, while the internal talent acquisition team works on the bulk hires, or vice versa. It all depends on your business’s needs.

So, there you have it. These are some of the main ways in which RPOs can help you maximize your efforts during the great rehiring. They carry everything from the latest in recruitment methods to the best tech to execute the said initiative. All you need to do is make sure that the approach suits your current business needs and proceed accordingly.

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How an E-Commerce Business Can Benefit from RPO Services

E-Commerce Business

How an E-Commerce Business Can Benefit from RPO Services

E-Commerce Business

“Every moment is a fresh beginning. ” – T.S. Elliot, Poet

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the most unfortunate misfortunes to befall planet Earth in recent times. The globally active virus forces billions of people all over the world to retreat indoors and with that turn to the virtual world to cope. Over the course of the last two years, the e-commerce industry saw a massive influx of demand. Companies like Amazon especially saw masses of customers filling up their delivery network orders. This high demand forced the company to significantly ramp up its operations. Amazon did so by hiring more workers, filling positions, and bolstering its network.

Now, you may be wondering what any of this has to do with RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing). The answer to that is quite simple. In the wake of such extreme cases, RPO solutions offer e-commerce companies a strategic and consultative advantage. Given how things are shaping up with wave after wave of the virus making it to shore every year, one has to assume that the demand for stay-in-place orders will grow. At the same time the demand for businesses that operate in the e-commerce industry also grows. In this article, we explore a few key ways in which e-commerce businesses can benefit from RPO services. We will also look at how that can lead to potential growth.

RPO Enables E-Commerce Businesses to Adapt Fast

As mentioned before, in this current scenario, there is a sense of urgency that has taken over the world of e-commerce. Having said that, one of the biggest boons of an RPO, is the ability to address said urgent hiring situations.

Even in the face of a global pandemic, RPO providers have the ability to ramp up hiring initiatives at a moment’s notice! They do this by consulting with the company’s in-house talent acquisition leadership. This gives them a sense of the direction in which the team is heading. Once basic parameters are established, the RPO provider quickly pulls together an effective hiring strategy. Regardless of the methodology that RPOs employ in their quest, the key takeaway here is that they are able to scale up the hiring function while keeping your day-to-day business operations intact.

RPOs make use of a proper line of communication to ensure that both employer and employee are a good fit for eachother.

Communication is Key in Building an E-Commerce Business

Better Communication = Better Hiring Strategy

Communication is another vehicle that RPOs can use to fill a large volume of positions in an e-commerce business. They make sure that there is good communication at all stages of the process. This ensures that the candidate experience is a positive one. This automatically boosts your brand value as an employer.

At the end of the day, candidates will have concerns about their own safety, as they should. It is your responsibility to help them navigate these troubling times. It is also the RPOs job to help you help them. They can do this by possibly elaborating the safety measures your e-commerce business takes, like regular testing, workplace safety precautions, and other preventative steps.

Parallelly, the recruiter will ask the candidate if they have been travelling anywhere in recent months, ask them to provide test results to ensure everyone else’s safety, and so on. This will ensure that both parties are a good fit for each other. In essence, the RPO partner acts as a bridge between the two.

“The only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risk. – Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO

Parallelly Tackling Short-Term and Long-Term Needs of the Business

When you bring in an RPO partner to help with the hiring of new talent, they become an extension of your current talent acquisition team. This allows them to tap into existing strategies and customize them in a way that will immediately meet your short-term goals. On the other hand, like an e-commerce business, or any business really, you need to think of your long-term goals as well.

Well not to worry, RPOs can help with that too. An RPO account manager will continuously be in talks with the leadership, review the information and data every other day and make adjustments to suit your e-commerce business needs accordingly. This wide margin of dexterity and flexibility that RPOs provide is invaluable as an e-commerce company trying to keep up with the demand that just seems to be growing day by day.

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7 Red Flags to Keep an Eye on Before Signing the Employment Contract

Employment Contract

7 Red Flags to Keep an Eye on Before Signing the Employment Contract

Employment Contract

“The first thing anyone can do, about any issue, is get informed.”Adora Svitak, American Writer

When companies recruit applicants, it’s only natural that they do a thorough background check on their future employees. So, when that is the case, why shouldn’t you also do that? Why should you not be sure that this is the workplace and company for you? For anyone sitting on the other side of the table, this article is for you! In this blog, we will be going over some of the major things you should have on a checklist before signing an employment contract. Our years of experience as an RPO agency in Canada have taught us exactly what to look for.

In the following list, we talk about things that you want to go through relatively well before signing the next few years away through the employment contract. However, most of these steps or points should and could be covered well before you even have the first interview. As they say, you can never be too prepared, especially when it comes to your career.

#1 Look Through the Company Website

While this may sound like an obvious point, you may be surprised how rarely candidates go through the company websites. Looking through their website gives you an immediate idea of what they do, who they are, and everything in between. It also helps you analyze if the company follows the current trends in the market. You need to make sure you are joining a company that knows what the people want, how to reach them, and ultimately puts value on innovation, customers, and employees. 

If you find gaps in what you are looking for, these would be great points to bring up during the interview! Employers will be impressed as they want employees who can think for themselves, recognize the market trends and ultimately help the company get there.

#2 Have a Look at the Company’s Social Media Platforms

Social media – a great boon or bane, especially when it comes to business. Nowadays, there is virtually almost no company that does not have at least some presence on social media platforms. For one, it is a great place to get the attention of the public eye. Doing a deep dive into their social platforms will give you an idea of where their strengths are. It will tell you how they, as a business, navigate this increasingly digitized world we live in. 

If they are absent from the online space or have a sparse following across their platforms, this could be a major red flag. This is something you might want to bring up during the interview- the answer to which will help you figure out if you should sign that employment contract.

Before singing away your future with an employment contract, make sure that the company itself has a future.

Before singing your employment contract, check the future of the company

#3 Look into Their Products and Services

Regardless of your position in the company, it always helps to have a holistic understanding of the company. Do a deep dive into the company’s business model. Have a look at their products and/or services and see if there is an actual demand for them in the market. Now, this may sound like a complex undertaking at first, but once you fully understand the company and what they do, then it does get a little easier.

#4 What Does the Future of the Company Look Like?

Carrying on from the previous point, you need to figure out what the future of the company looks like. Their products and/or services are deeply rooted in their vision for the future, which should be there on the company website. Look into the competition that they face in the sector, do a SWOT analysis, and see where the company shines and where there is doubt. Knowing the future of the company is important when you are signing away your future with an employment contract.

“I try to be well informed. I don’t know how well I do all the time, but I try nonetheless. – Henry Rollins, American Singer.

The company's financial history is a great indicator of if you should sign that employment contract

The company's financial history is a good indicator of whether or not you should sign that employment contract.

#5 What Story do the Company Financials Tell?

At the end of the day, there is no point in joining a company that can’t afford to pay you what you deserve. You need to make sure that before you bind yourself to the business with an employment contract, that they can afford to pay you. Look at their turnover, profits, balance sheets and so on. Depending on the country you are in, these things should be rather easy to find online. It sounds like a lot of work, but this is much more preferable than being stuck in a job that doesn’t pay your bills.

#6 Get in Touch with Employees

People will say what they have to do during the job interview if they want the job or the candidate bad enough. That is why it is always important to find out the information from the inside. The best source is employees of the company. Try to find people who work or have worked for this employer in the past. LinkedIn or Glassdoor are great venues to read reviews, get in touch with people and get down to the truth of what it was like to work for a particular company.

“A well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President

#7 Find out Who Your Future Boss Might Be

This is probably the most important aspect of your checklist. Your future boss or supervisor is someone who you will work with for the duration of your employment contract. They will set the tone and the pace for you in the workspace. So, it’s important to know their professional background. What has their career path been like? Do they have any ringing endorsements? These things are best found out from people who have worked with him or her in the past.

All of this may seem like a lot of work, but the result will be worth it. Ask yourself this: Would you rather put in some extra effort now or be stuck in an employment contract for the foreseeable future, in a job you don’t like?

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How Company Restructuring Can be Made Easier with the Help of RPOs

Company Restructuring

How Company Restructuring Can be Made Easier with the Help of RPOs

Company Restructuring

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”Winston Churchill

The business world is continuously changing. This aspect of it is critical to the survival of businesses. It’s like a law of nature in a way, you cannot grow without change. The kicker here is that companies that do effectively change with the times, carry a competitive edge. This is a major contributor to why so many businesses opt for company restructuring. The company could be restructuring for many reasons. For one, it could be that there is a merger or acquisition in play. On the other hand, it could be a corporate spin-off being undertaken to help the business adapt to changing market conditions.

At the end of the day, the name of the game is survival, and the only business that will survive is the business that changes. While the exact meaning or parameters of restructuring could vary, the end goal is the same across the board. All businesses do it to boost performance, bolster their bottom line and expand their reach. In this blog, we will take a look at some of the important questions to see if you are ready for a restructure, how to get started, how an RPO helps you, and how to lower the risk of a high turnover during this period.

Are You Ready for Company Restructuring? Important Questions to Ask Yourself

Restructuring is no walk in the park. If done well, it can make a huge difference in locking down the future of your company, its employees, and the business processes therein. However, before you can even think of implementing a change, you need to ask yourself a few important questions. Do you have the talent you need to successfully execute this? If not, have you and how do you plan on sourcing this?

If there is no more room for growth in your current situation or if you feel like the business desperately needs a change of pace, then you need to get started on this path. So, then the question becomes: How do I begin? Simple, you hire a professional agency such as an RPO firm to help you! This would be especially helpful if this is the first company restructuring that you are doing. This brings us to the last question, which is: Why an RPO agency?

RPO partners can help you easily integrate the talent acquisition technology that you gain from mergers.

RPOs can help you streamline the tech you acquire via company restructuring

Why Hire an RPO Agency During Company Restructuring?

Well for starters, most businesses these days have a hard enough time holding onto their current employees. Now add to this a stressful workplace as a result of restructuring and you have a recipe for high turnover. You need to be able to have a strong grasp of your employees’ and candidates’ expectations and several cultural nuances. This is something that RPO agencies are experts at. Through market research and experience recruiting the region, they know the ins and outs of candidate expectations and what platforms they’re most likely to be active on.

RPO providers don’t need us to vouch for them though, they do it themselves through their actions. They don’t just fill roles. They reduce the time taken to fill the spot, RPO agencies focus on quality over quantity, and also decrease cost per hire. All this, plus their ability to scale up or down, access a diverse pool of top-tier talent, and the ability to understand and track the latest market trends makes them an invaluable asset to have!

Another major green flag is that they can help you streamline the talent acquisition technology that you get from consolidation or mergers. If you are doing a corporate spin-off, on the other hand, they can give great advice on which technologies can contribute to your growth!

“When in doubt, choose change. – Lily Leung, Hong Kong Actress

Communication and Company Restructuring go hand-in-hand

By establishing communication plans, RPO partners are able to help you get everyone on the same page for the restructuring.

How Exactly Do RPOs Help with Company Restructuring?

RPO providers help with company restructuring by aiding you in building change management protocols and communication plans. They also keep in touch with key stakeholders so everyone is aware of what will change and when. All this is based on a foundation of careful analysis and execution.

RPO agencies tend to often develop training materials such as email templates, sample communication material, reference guides, and so on, to make it easier for their clients to manage the transition. As the process continues, RPOs will usually consult and have regular feedback sessions with stakeholders to determine what needs to be adjusted as per the needs of the business and the scenario.

Conclusion

Realistically, there are a million ways you could go about your company restructuring. There are so many options that it can be overwhelming, especially if it is your first transition. Ask any HR or recruiter out there and they will tell you what a stressful time it is for the employees. Bringing in a trained professional who knows what to look out for can be a huge asset. An RPO partner will help you define your key talent requirements; help you source them from its massive network and all the while analyzing the process each step of the way.

With all these resources and data you will know exactly what to do and when to do it, to get the best possible results from your company restructuring.

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