Scaling your Permanent Headcount: A Helping Hand with Project RPO

So, you’re looking to grow your headcount?

Maybe you’re looking to hire a team of specialist job roles? For example, your company is being impacted by new regulatory changes, and you’re in need of an expert team of finance and actuarial experts, but nailing down these niche skill set is starting to feel like searching for a needle in a haystack?

Perhaps you’re going through a huge transformation programme, and you need to scale your project and change teams pretty quickly?

Or maybe you’ve recently seen a rapid spike in the growth of your business or have undergone a merger or acquisition and need to rapidly integrate new teams into your existing business structure?

Whatever your challenge, if your People team are stretched already with BAU and need a helping hand or an extension of their team that comes with a large network of resources that’s yours to use flexibly, then a Project RPO could be the key you’re looking for to unlock the start of a more streamlined recruitment process.

In this blog we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of a Project RPO. We’ll get stuck into what it is, the main benefits, how this solution can help get you set up for the future and how you can get started.

Let’s go!

What is a Project RPO?

First things first, what exactly is a Project RPO?

Well, a Project RPO is a flexible recruitment solution that offers many of the benefits of outsourcing all your recruitment to a resourcing partner, but without the long-term commitment.

This is a solution that can take the form of a “one off” engagement, working as an extension of your in-house talent acquisition team to source, screen and deliver the right candidates or teams as and when you need them. Basically, acting as a helping hand, saving time for you to navigate your people strategies and day to day BAU.

Benefits of a Project RPO

It’s sounding pretty good right? Let’s dive into exactly what some of the benefits are that you get when working with a recruitment partner via a Project RPO:

Flexibility & Scalability

With this model you can deploy talent quickly and scale rapidly to meet peaks in hiring demand or as your services evolve in line with your strategic goals. You’ll also get a dedicated team always at the end of the phone if you’ve got any questions or ever want to make any changes.

Improved Quality of Hire

By using the services of a recruitment partner via a Project RPO, you’re getting access to an incredible network of talent. Using the RPOs candidate attraction process and assessment tools, you’ll have access to the best active and passive talent available. We’re talking psychometric testing and technical assessments – really getting into the details to ensure the perfect candidate fit.

Employer Brand Amplification

With a Project RPO your employer brand will be actively promoted to help you stand out in a competitive market. Your Project RPO partner will amplify your company values and brand and use marketing expertise to put together a proposition that ensures candidates see you as a desirable place to work.

Enhanced Candidate Experience

Your delivery team will take the reins to provide an enhanced candidate experience. When you’re up to your ears in admin, sometimes those key candidate touch points can slip through the cracks but with a Project RPO solution, you’ll get a personalised experience for each candidate throughout the entire recruitment process – ultimately helping to keep them engaged.

Reporting & Talent Intelligence

You’ll have access to enhanced reporting capabilities and talent intelligence platforms, empowering you to make data-drive recruitment decisions. This could be for anything from the best location to open a new office, what salaries competitors are offering to where your chosen talent demographic is based.

Reduce Costs

By streamlining the recruitment process, a Project RPO will provide you with huge cost savings. Thanks to direct sourcing and a more targeted approach to your recruitment, you’ll have more control over your budget than you would with a traditional recruitment model.

Time Saving

As well as the rapid deployment of talent, don’t forget that one of the main benefits of this model is the huge savings in time your talent acquisition team will receive. With a Project RPO you’ll be getting an extension to your team to help share the load and take some admin tasks off your desk. Imagine having someone else to sift through applications and find candidates for you PLUS getting into the nitty gritty like dealing with video interviews and all that logistical admin you’d rather not do.

Support Future Workforce Planning

A Project RPO can help enhance and shape the future of your talent acquisition strategy. Taking what you’ve learnt at the start of the project, you can use this knowledge to facilitate future workforce planning and even support your planned DE&I initiatives, remote working strategies or career pathways.

What can a Project RPO be used for?

So, there’s obviously lots of benefits. But are you wondering whether it’s the right solution for you? Here’s just a few examples of how you could use a Project RPO to smash your business goals:

Deliver project-based recruitment campaigns

Maybe you’re launching a new product or service or going through transformation and need a project team to get this off the ground? Enter: The Project RPO.

Support spikes in recruitment activity or the needs of a specific department

Do you experience seasonal fluxes of business activity and need some extra hands-on deck? Whatever reason you have a spike in hiring for, a Project RPO can help.

Support diversity and inclusion programmes

A Project RPO can be used in a variety of ways to support your DE&I initiatives. Maybe you’re pushing your early careers programme or want to make sure you’re attracting the next generation of talent? This solution can really help you break through the noise.

How to get started with a Project RPO

If you’ve got to the end of this blog and a Project RPO is sounding like the answer to your prayers and you just want to get started, we’d recommend thinking about 3 key things:

1. Determine your hiring needs and goals. Have a think about how quickly you need this talent hired. Do you want to outsource everything or just need a few extra hands on deck? Laying out your requirements early on will help you make informed decisions when it comes to selecting a partner.
2. Decide which metrics you want to track. Are you wanting to dramatically reduce time to hire? More focused on the quality of the candidates? Or maybe you’re keen to tap into the market intelligence extras you’ll get from a Project RPO partner.
3. Choose your provider. Do your research into the providers out there, making sure they have experience in your field and industry, and can even offer the sort of technology you’re looking to take advantage of.

Are you ready to get started?

If you’d like to get the ball rolling with a Project RPO solution of your own, get in touch with our team today and let’s have a chat about your requirements and how we can help you reach your goals.