Evolution of RPOs in Australia

RPO or Recruitment Process Outsourcing, a form of outsourcing where an employer transfers all or part of its recruitment functions to an external service provider, has been around for some time in Australia.

But very little data is available to gauge the size, prevalence, types and extent of  RPO adoption by companies in Australia. Anecdotal evidences seem to suggest that adoption is increasing, driven in large part by the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all RPO model. In fact the type of RPO models differ across industry sectors and locations, influenced greatly by size of organisation, culture, volume of jobs and the expertise of suppliers.

The fact that many recruitment firms now have an RPO division is a sign that the RPO market is growing in number, size and complexity. Market growth is not surprising because the benefits of RPO, at least in theory, are many – cost savings, quicker time to fill, process efficiency, better service, candidate pool development, compliance efficiency and the availability of metrics.

But how successful are RPO implementations in Australia?  Why and what types of employers use RPOs? What actually happens when an RPO is in place? Is the RPO provider able to fill most of the roles, if not how significant are the leakages? Are unique skills required to deliver RPO successfully? Questions abound.

At the RHUB conference a whole session will be dedicated to explore the emergence, growth and trends in the RPO marketplace. Four companies, each with very different RPO journeys, will talk about their experiences.

– Kristen Graham, Telstra (RPO service provider: Talent2)
– Ronan Carolan, Sanofi (RPO provider: HUDSON)
– Chris Lamb, Lend Lease (RPO provider: HRX)
– Tanyth Lloyd Brown, Deloitte (RPO service provider: HAYS)

Check out the session at RHUB here.