How to pick your RPO Employer
Posted on Fri, Jan 27, 2012
With the exponential growth of Recruitment Process Outsourcing, recruiters should be enjoying lots of potential RPO job opportunities. And since the average recruiter spends more than 40 hours a week on the job, selecting the right RPO provider is very important to your career and life.
So how do you decide the right RPO career move? What are your criteria? How can you differentiate one RPO employer from another?
The following are five (5) crucial items you need to know about your next RPO employer:
1) What is the company's short and long-term plan?
With my extensive exposure to RPO service providers, I’ve learned that most RPO companies have a short term revenues goals, but lack a long-term strategic vision and plan. The majority of firms find it acceptable to be almost exclusively driven by the market versus trying to influence and shape the industry. One of the things I appreciate about Pinstripe is our clearly defined long-term business strategy and how our executive team readily and frequently shares the information with all our team members.
2) Are you and the company a culture match?
Almost all recruiters I know believe that recruiting is a valued profession and talent acquisition is a critical, strategic business function. However, some RPO firms have commoditized their services so much that any opportunity for recruiters to think “outside the box” and find creative solutions is frowned upon. In the world of RPO, there are providers who give their recruiters the freedom to add additional value and there are other RPO companies just looking for a “small cog in their large wheel.” In my opinion, culture often trumps strategy. Decide who you are, figure out the RPO Service Provider’s culture and choose wisely.
3) What is the company doing about training and development?
Smart RPO companies invest in their employees (both onsite and virtual) and offer a number of ways to continuously learn and develop—not just for your current role but for the role you’d like to have in the future. In my position, I interview lots of recruiters from our competition and have learned that many RPO providers are rushing so quickly to keep up with new accounts or expanding accounts that recruiters are just thrown into the “lion’s den” with little to no initial orientation and virtually zero on-going training. Over the past several years, Anne Bucher, my colleague, as built out a comprehensive “certification” program that every recruiter receives as part of their Pinstripe and client on-boarding process. Sometimes this impacts the implementation and transition timeline; however, long-term it improves recruiter success, job satisfaction and employee engagement (and ultimately clients get better results).
4) What are the opportunities for career growth?
Growth doesn't always mean a new position, it could mean a developmental assignment, a mentoring relationship, joining company employee resource groups or volunteering in the community. However, in regards to internal mobility, Sue Marks, our CEO, shares all promotions and internal moves on a monthly basis. She does to help our employees understand potential career paths, improve retention but most of all to recognize and celebrate employee achievements
5) What are the people who already work there saying?
Nothing is better than hearing first-hand how an employee already with the company has grown throughout his/her career. And since recruiters like to network and talk, it shouldn’t be hard to gather information. . This type of “unofficial” endorsement should be an essential part of any RPO career move.
The key to selecting your RPO employer is simple. Don't just take any job; be discriminating.
Post contributed by Barry Diamond. Follow me on Twitter @bddiamond
