Remember the days when recruitment process outsourcing was dismissed as vaporware? A decade later, the staffing industry has labeled it as up-and-coming.  It is a growing $4 billion global market according to Staffing Industry Analysts.  But despite its new exalted status, the semantics around RPO are still confusing.  As the market evolves, variations of RPO are emerging. Typically RPO is:

• Used to recruit “permanent” workers, though exceptions exist outside the U.S.
• A third-party specialist recruiter takes on the role of the customer’s recruiting department
• A division or subset of human resources outsourcing
• In some RPO deals, clients may outsource the entire end-to-end recruiting process or they may only outsource specific points of service
• An RPO provider fills all vacancies
• Used to find mainly professional jobs and has exclusivity unlike direct hire, which is paid a finder’s fee for the position(s) filled

Look for more information in the May issue of Staffing Industry Review magazine. We tell you in plain English what RPO — really – means, and how to tell if it is something your firm should pursue offering.