What recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is, when it makes sense, how it compares with staffing agencies, what it costs, and how to evaluate and manage an RPO provider.
An RPO provider runs some or all of your recruiting: workforce planning, sourcing, screening, interview scheduling, candidate communication, offers and sometimes onboarding. Unlike a staffing agency, which usually supplies workers who stay on the agency’s payroll, an RPO recruits people who become your own employees. The provider typically works under your brand, using your job descriptions and hiring standards.
To record clock-ins, breaks and overtime automatically, see EZTime time and attendance software.
| Feature | RPO | Staffing agency | In-house recruiting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who employs the hire | You | Usually the agency (temporary) | You |
| Scope | Part or all of the hiring process | Filling specific roles or shifts | Whatever your team covers |
| Typical use | Ongoing or project-based hiring at volume | Short-term or flexible staffing | Steady, predictable hiring |
| Employer brand | Yours | Agency’s | Yours |
See how staffing agencies work for more on the agency model.
RPO is usually less suitable for very small businesses hiring a few people a year, where a good job post and structured interviews may be enough. See hiring your first employee.
| Model | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Full or enterprise RPO | All or most hiring across the business |
| Project RPO | A defined hiring project, such as opening a new site |
| Selective or function-specific | Certain roles, such as drivers or nurses, or certain stages, such as sourcing and screening |
| On-demand | Recruiters added for a set period to boost capacity |
Prices vary widely by volume, role type and scope, so get written proposals from several providers and compare them with your current cost of hiring, including manager time, advertising and the cost of vacancies. Our guide on the cost of hiring an employee helps you work out your baseline.
| Area | Questions |
|---|---|
| Experience | Have you recruited for our roles, industry and locations? At what volume? |
| Process | How do you source, screen and schedule? How quickly do you contact candidates? |
| Quality | How do you measure quality of hire and early turnover? |
| Technology | Which applicant tracking system do you use? Can it connect with ours? |
| Compliance | How do you handle EEO, pay transparency, background check and data privacy rules? |
| Reporting | What reports will we get, and how often? |
| Team | Who will work on our account? What happens if they leave? |
| References | Can we speak to current clients with similar needs? |
| Contract | What are the notice period, exit terms and data ownership rules? |
Agree on measurable service levels in the contract, such as time to present qualified candidates, time to fill, candidate response times, offer acceptance rate, hiring manager satisfaction and retention of hires at 90 days. Review them monthly in the early stages and quarterly afterward. Tie part of the fees to results where possible.
Compare results with your baseline from before the RPO: time to fill, cost per hire, number of open roles, overtime caused by vacancies, and turnover in the first 90 days. Good recruiting that fills seats with people who leave in a month does not help. Track early retention closely and share feedback with the provider. Use our employee turnover calculator to measure it.
An RPO works best as a partnership. Give the provider access to hiring managers, honest feedback on candidates and early warning of upcoming hiring needs. Hold a short weekly call during busy periods to review open roles, pipeline and blockers. Ask hiring managers to respond to candidate submissions within an agreed time, because slow internal decisions waste the provider’s work and lose good candidates. Share data on how hires perform after they start, so the provider can improve targeting.
Once new hires start, EZTime gets them onto the schedule and clocking in from their phones, and gives you hours and attendance data to track early retention and the real cost of vacancies. Learn more about the hiring process.
| Criterion | Questions |
|---|---|
| Industry experience | Have they hired for roles like ours? |
| Speed | What is their typical time to fill? |
| Quality | How do they measure hire quality? |
| Candidate experience | How quickly do candidates hear back? |
| Reporting | What will we see each week? |
| Cost | How is pricing structured? |
See cost of hiring an employee and how to start a staffing agency.
Plan for the end at the start: who owns candidate data, how open searches are handed back and what notice is required. A clean exit clause protects your hiring pipeline if the relationship does not work.
Candidates experience the RPO as your company. Share your values, tone and standard messages with the provider, review their job ads and outreach templates and ask to see candidate survey results. If candidates have a poor experience, it reflects on you, not the provider.
Tick each item already in place.
0 of 6. You may not be ready for RPO yet. Define roles and service levels first.
Recruitment process outsourcing: an outside provider runs all or part of your hiring process, and hires become your employees.
A staffing agency usually supplies temporary workers on its own payroll; an RPO recruits people who become your employees.
It depends on volume, roles and scope. Common pricing models include management fees, cost per hire and hybrids.
When hiring volume is high or unpredictable, managers lack time to recruit, or you are entering new markets.
The employer remains responsible, even when the provider handles parts of the process.
Track time to fill, cost per hire, open roles, hiring manager satisfaction and retention at 90 days.
Run new hires through an onboarding track in EZTime, collect signed forms, and use the offboarding track when someone leaves.