Is your company preparing for a phase of growth or change? At times like these, your HR team can feel overworked. Recruitment takes time!
Recruitment Process Outsourcing could be just the solution you’re looking for! Behind this barbaric name lies a flexible solution that can be adapted to any type of structure.
In this article, read what our RPO clients – John Cockerill, Safran Aero Boosters, Knauf Insulation, and Sprimoglass – have to say about Recruitment Process Outsourcing and its key benefits.
What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?
Recruitment Process Outsourcing involves outsourcing part or all your recruitment process to a specialized external partner on site.
In short, recruitment experts are seconded to reinforce your recruitment capabilities.
It’s important to distinguish this solution from freelance recruiters. Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a long-term solution, providing tailored expertise and tools to impact the overall recruitment process. The RPO service is delivered by a recruitment office, which seconds its own consultants but can also call on freelance recruiters to ensure total flexibility of the solution.
For smaller companies, Recruitment Process Outsourcing enables them to respond to a growth phase with security and prudence. For larger companies, it’s a flexible way of coping with fluctuating recruitment volumes.
What challenges does RPO address?
A high recruitment volume
At the time, we had a single colleague who worked for the entire headquarters, as well as certain functions for the plant. And this colleague sometimes had to manage up to 30 open positions at the same time. Just when we thought we were making efficiency and cost savings, we realized that we couldn’t handle all these recruitments in parallel.
Safran was starting to grow again and we felt that recruitment requests were going to increase. So we were thinking about solutions and Mélanie told us about this RPO system. At the same time, we had decided to take on a payroll recruiter. We started by looking at the volume of recruitment and very quickly came to the conclusion that RPO could be a good solution.
A variable recruitment volume
We are a company where the volume of recruitment is variable, with hiring freezes.
HR projects put on hold
Our objective was also to provide managers with more support in integrating new employees, but the recruitment workload didn’t allow us to provide tactical and strategic support. We didn’t have time to think about our recruitment channels, for example. Strategic thinking often took a back seat to the urgency of recruitment.
An absence in the HR team
Our team was not complete and it was therefore not possible for us to manage recruitments solely internally.
A need for recruitment expertise
An RPO also brings us expertise and professionalism in selection tools and processes. RPO consultants are experts, they have a global view of the state of the market and a better visibility of the candidate market.
We wanted to become more professional in our recruitment techniques. We are a generalist HR department and we didn’t know all the recruitment methods in depth. So it was also an opportunity to receive expertise.
High recruitment costs
Sometimes, we would look for a candidate for four or five weeks, and then realize that it wasn’t possible. So we’d call in an external agency, but on a “one shot” basis, which meant fairly high billing rates. We realized that we’d lost everything: time, because we’d delayed the launch with the agency, but also money, because we were paying full price.
Our third challenge was to optimize our costs in the face of this recruitment peak. Rather than going through different offices, we wanted to work with one contact person, who would know Sprimoglass in depth, who would take ownership of our culture.
What are the key benefits of RPO?
External recruiters integrated into your company
A deep understanding of your needs
When the RPO was presented to us, some elements were not understood from the start. Some adjustments were therefore necessary to ensure that the pricing was in line with our budget. Profile Group defined a billing solution that was adapted to our structure and resulted in a win-win situation. They really listened to our needs and were extremely flexible. We really felt supported.
Direct exchanges with your HR team and line managers
As the RPO was implemented at our company, Camille, Olivier and Jean-Clair really got to grips with the culture and the way we operate, always with a view to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.
Over and above the figures, there has also been an improvement in manager satisfaction. In the past, due to various factors, they felt a little discouraged about having to recruit. But now, overall, they feel well supported by the Profile Group team. Because the team is on site, there’s greater proximity and better contact with all the managers. It’s easy to see each other. This feeling of being supported is a big advantage. Although external agencies do it well too, the fact that we’re in-house makes it easier to keep in touch.
Integration with your corporate culture
We had to find colleagues at Profile Group who would fit in with our corporate culture. Olivier arrived very quickly and Camille a little later, as well as Jean-Clair.
Ambassador of your company and development of your Employer Brand
With RPO, we can benefit from the best of both worlds. We can rely on recruitment professionals, while at the same time using SAB’s brand image, which is very good.
Optimized candidate and employee experience
We’ve also been able to take our thinking on the candidate experience further, to secure our recruitment, but also on the employee experience and internal mobility.
Relationship of trust
We were able to build up a relationship of trust. It obviously took a little time for everyone to get used to new faces. But we were able to build up a relationship of trust with all the hiring managers, who challenged us more and more, for example with VIE contracts.
Co-construction of a tailor-made solution and management of your recruitment process
Expertise in recruitment techniques
I can see that there has been real reflection on time-to-hire, on how to conduct intakes with the various managers, on how to involve other business leads than just department members in the selection of critical roles or senior leadership roles.
The process begins as soon as the recruitment request has been validated. First there is direct contact with the manager to understand his or her needs. This is followed by sourcing through a targeted approach and in-depth interviews with selected candidates. For each recruitment, a shortlist of candidates matching the expected profile is sent to the manager and interviews are organized. RPO consultants also submit a proposal for collaboration and negotiate with the finalist candidate.
Gwenaëlle professionalized our recruitment process and taught us methods that we didn’t have, whether it was on how to conduct an interview, interview reports, or feedback to candidates. There was a real transfer of skills.
My experience with Profile Group has been extremely positive. The fact that they are external partners allows us to put the right distance and bring in a different perspective. When we benchmark and discuss with Profile Group, there are always ideas that come out. It’s interesting to keep this neutral viewpoint with regard to the organization.
Development of a tailor-made solution
I knew that if I called on Profile Group, together we could design the most appropriate solution for the situation we were facing.
A Safran Aero Boosters method was quickly built up, but taken care of by Profile Group, and that’s what I liked from the start. It’s not an external solution that can be applied as is. It’s a combination of SAB’s culture, our internal operations and Profile Group’s recruitment expertise.
There’s a real common search for solutions. We’re not just their customer. There’s a willingness on their part to get involved in the life of John Cockerill and in talent acquisition. It goes further than just taking care of recruitment. There’s a search for improvement and proposals for solutions.
Taking charge of your recruitment volume
Ability to manage a large volume of recruitment
The most telling result is clearly the 195 new hires. It’s a figure we’ve never achieved before. Especially as these 195 new recruits include a large proportion of engineers and technicians, who are often harder to find. We’re also in a post-covid period where the market is highly volatile, with candidates increasingly mobile.
The key figure is the number of people hired. We have hired 250 people in 2022 and between 130 and 150 in 2023.
In 7 months, 17 recruitments were made by our Profile Group consultant, a high figure for the size of our company.
Adjustment of the number of recruiters on site according to needs
This solution was perfect for us, because we could increase capacity when we were recruiting a lot, but also reduce it when we were recruiting less. Being able to modulate the size of the team according to needs was one of the facilities we were looking for.
RPO is a flexible solution. The team has evolved gradually and cautiously. Recruitment predictions at the start of 2023 were around 90, and in the end we completed 195 recruitments in 2023. At the beginning of the year, we couldn’t have anticipated the needs. But Profile Group was very responsive and was able to supply us with new consultants to keep up with the workload.
Cost reduction
The cost went down and it was a neutral equation for the HR department. Although recruitment was still billed internally, the cost was lower than what we were used to, with one-shot outsourced recruitment.
Time freed up for the HR department
The HR department was from an operational workload and therefore having a more standardized approach to recruitment, particularly in terms of processes. We took the time to think about our recruitment channels and job offers.
RPO with the unique touch of Profile Group’s consultants
You’ve come across many names in our customer testimonials. Profile Group is first and foremost a team of recruitment consultants, each with complementary skills and personalities. This is our greatest strength.
People who are approachable, straightforward, easy to communicate with, caring and who give their all to achieve SAB’s recruitment success. You can feel that they have mastered the subject and are professional at every stage.
Personnally, I don’t see Profile Group. I see Olivier, Camille and Jean-Clair. These are the people who make the difference. They try to understand needs and make improvements. They’re people I really want to continue working with in this or any other life. With complete confidence, and my eyes closed, I sign! I don’t see a commercial accent, I just see people who are undoubtedly very well recruited by Profile Group. And the result is there.
Would you like to find out whether RPO is the right solution for you?