Recruitment Process Outsourcing - Risks

Risks

RPO can only succeed together with a well-defined corporate staffing strategy. A company must manage its RPO activities, providing initial direction and continued monitoring to assure good results. An RPO solution may not work if the company's existing recruitment processes are performing poorly, or if the service provider lacks the necessary recruitment processes or procedures to work with the client. In these situations, it is better for the company to undergo a recruitment optimisation programme.

Cost and quality can be issues, The cost of engaging an RPO provider may be more than with internal recruiting staff, as the outside provider is likely to have higher business overhead. Poorly implemented RPO could reduce the effectiveness of recruitment, if the provider does not understand the business situation. Service providers may fail to provide the quality or volume of staff required, especially in industry sectors where there are staff shortages. RPO providers do not necessarily act as custodians of their clients' employer brand in the way that a strongly aligned retained search firm or internal recruiting resource would. Many RPO organisations perform their staffing functions and service offsite or offshore, disconnecting the provider from the client company's growth and recruiting strategy, and some of the momentum and energy associated with the rapid upscaling of a workforce through recruitment may dissipate. Additionally, placing all recruitment in the hands of a single outside provider may discourage the competition that would arise if multiple recruitment providers were used.