RPO Scores

The fans are cheering. It’s not exactly a touchdown, but there’s cause for cheer:  recruitment process outsourcing has gone global. For years, the RPO buyer has searched for the mythical one-stop global answer. Today, customers can actually get a global solution.

“We’ve already started to connect the dots on several customers to offer (RPO) services under one umbrella globally,” says Rebecca Callahan, president of SourceRight Solutions,a Randstad company.  In the past, there really hasn’t been much activity globally because most of the providers have been North America-centric, she says. Others say global RPO took a while to get traction. Staffing Industry Analysts’ own buyer survey  indicates that 30 percent of respondents already engage an RPO in some way, while another 23 percent are seriously considering it within two years.

The 2011 acquisitions have helped change the vendor landscape. “Now many of the service providers are forming strategic alliances with RPO service providers on other continents. The goal: to provide buyers with better candidates faster because of their deep contacts in and vast knowledge of specific local markets,” claims Callahan.

Customers want local expertise. A local recruiter hiring candidates is part of a local infrastructure with a global contract. The model is globally managed with an escalation process, account management and reporting structures all in place.

Global activities aside, do your homework.  “There are a lot of different models out there.  And my advice to the buyer is to get educated and to review the variety of RPO models that are emerging in the market place because this is not a one size fits all,” says Callahan.