Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA) Blog

All Work and No Play - Avoiding Employee Burnout

Mike Mayeux — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:12:22 GMT

Multitasking and long hours seem to be trending upward in the business world. Deadlines are closer together, bandwidth stretching thin, and the risk of burnout is sitting eagerly in everyone’s back pocket. Blend has become the new balance between work and life with technology as its catalyst of instant, insistent and sometimes downright intrusive need to be plugged in at all times.

At the end of the day we want to give ourselves a pat on the back for being the biggest, baddest employee out there, boasting our hours of overtime and how slammed we are. Unfortunately, that is not how human capital works. Consider buying a car that needs to be paid in full for one year and that equals your annual salary. Would you buy a car that works like a Lamborghini or is as shiny as the Bat Mobile to only have it putter out around month 6 or 7, maybe rounding out its good qualities around month 12? Probably not. In the same respect, a company isn’t investing its human capital money to watch burnout take its effect over the long haul.

So what can be done to ensure we don’t pitter patter until we are out of juice and need an expensive tune-up? To answer this, it is important to think strategically from the company’s standpoint as well as from the managers’ and employees’.

As a company, encourage monthly or bi-monthly events. Novotus has an event planning committee in full swing to create an enjoyable atmosphere while advocating for team bonding through friendly competition. We average about two events a month ranging from lunchtime yoga to pot-lucks, cook-offs and food drives. Novotus also holds a monthly bell ringing in which we all share in the successes of our other teammates. Taking the time to show that life isn’t all about work will go a long way in the success of your employees (think: affective commitment).

Delving deeper, management can play a crucial role in proactively avoiding burnout and actively seeking ways to hone in on positive employee experiences. In our fast-food world of order and get it in 90 seconds or less, it is a good idea to know which tasks need immediate feedback and which ones may not need your employees to respond to you at all. Second, it may be beneficial to keep an eye on everyone’s plate. During Thanksgiving, it is easy to pile a plate with the surplus of food available, but that doesn’t mean someone can eat everything on their plate nor give each food the time it deserves to really wrap one’s head around the aromas, textures etc. In the same way, I think many employees will load up their plate not realizing what it actually takes to get through everything in a quality driven way. Finally, employees look to you for how to act. You did something great to get to the management level, so mimicking your behaviors is natural for most employees. Try taking those lunch breaks, or walking around the office every once in a while.

As an employee, remember to take “think” breaks during the day even if you have to put them in your calendar. Get up and walk around about every 90 minutes. Also, focus on one thing at a time. You would never drink coffee in the shower, mop the floor while dusting, or feed the baby while mowing the lawn. Give each project its due respect, energy and time and watch as the product-driven quality emerges. Finally, sleep and refuel. Do not hibernate, re-start, or log-off like a computer, actually hit the shut-down button and force close the projects still left open on your mind at night.

Many companies are asking their employees to do more for less and although it may seem like huge challenges are being conquered, the risk of burnout is running right along with those achievements. Set fewer challenges, and expect great qualitative results!

Amanda Marfisi is a Recruitment Operations Administrator for Novotus

Recruiting is Always March Madness

Mike Mayeux — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:02:43 GMT

Although there aren’t as many Cinderella stories this year, most of our offices still love tournament time in college basketball. Do you remember this time last year, when both tiny Butler and VCU were still alive come Final Four time? Wow! Now that demonstrates world class recruiting with the ultimate quality of hire/post hire measurement in place.

Think about it. Imagine Google is hiring for their open position of Men’s College Basketball National Champion. This year, one could argue that any of the Final Four team’s resumes would likely qualify them for the job. After all, they are all from pedigree institutions with proven basketball programs. Louisville might be a little bit of a long shot as a number four seed, but I still think Google would likely interview them for their top basketball job.

Certainly, that wouldn’t have been true last year. Last year, the finalist for that top job included a couple of candidates who just shouldn’t have made the cut. They didn’t come from the right school or have the right experience – but they made it. One of them even made it to the final interview with a shot at getting the offer to cut down the net and walk away with the top job.

How do the under dog’s, “the Cinderella’s”, get there? Basketball fan or not, you may be wondering, what in the world does this have to do with recruiting? Let me explain. They get there by assembling a world class team in their own right, against the odds, with the pieces cast off by the more prestigious institutions. Then they do what great teams are designed to do – they execute. Well. Game after game until finally, they make their way to that “final interview” called the Final Four. And that, my recruiter friends, has everything to do with what we do as recruiters every day.

For every one of us who represent the Google’s or the Microsoft’s of the world – those organizations who have a superhero employment brand and get to hire only the best of the best – there are one hundred of us regular recruiters. We represent hiring managers who need great talent, but their employment brand isn’t Google. Many of them are still “A” companies, maybe some of them are “B” players, but every one of them can do what Butler did two years in a row, and VCU did last year. They can find the talent that Kentucky and Duke and North Carolina left behind. You know who they are, those developers that are brilliant but didn’t quite make the cut at Microsoft. We can interview that talent in such a way that we understand their unique skills and abilities and can recognize that on the right team they will achieve championship results.

Then we can play the role that scouts play in an athletic environment, and explain to the hiring manager why a 5’11” point guard has the intangibles that will win a championship for him when the job description the hiring manager gave you specifically said “no point guards under 6’4” will be interviewed”. Then we turn to that 5’11” point guard, who your competition has also recognized as having the “fire in the belly” that goes with all great athletes and high performing employees, and sell him on why our opportunity is the best route to a championship in his career.

And finally, when the team is assembled and it performs above and beyond the expectations of management and shareholders, we get to sit in the stands away from the limelight and celebration, but with the tremendous satisfaction of knowing that we played our part in delivering a win through recruiting great talent. Yep, we get to live March Madness every day of our careers!

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Jimmy Taylor has more than 20 years experience in the recruiting industry and is the co-founder of Novotus.

HealthEdge Selects Novotus to Lead Talent Acquisition Efforts

Mike Mayeux — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:03:49 GMT

Austin, TX – March 27, 2012 –Novotus, a leading recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) company, announced today that HealthEdge®, provider of the only modern, enterprise-class software platform for healthcare payors, has selected the company to streamline its talent acquisition efforts. Novotus will provide full scale RPO services to HealthEdge as the company continues to respond to the explosive growth in demand for its award-winning HealthRules® claim processing and benefit administration, business intelligence and portal solutions.

“With demand for our products soaring, one of our key goals is to continuously locate and attract the best healthcare and technology talent in the country to be part of the rapidly-growing HealthEdge team,” stated Rob Gillette, HealthEdge CEO. “Novotus has built a tremendous set of capabilities and resources in this area that we believe will help us to continue to rapidly scale our business.”

Novotus has a proven history of providing high growth companies with the recruiting tools needed to drive the acquisition of expert-level, hard-to-find talent. These tools, along with Novotus’ solid understanding of what it takes to find top-level technologists, are key components that make Novotus an ideal partner for rapidly growing technology companies like HealthEdge.

Leveraging a state-of-the-art applicant tracking system, analytics and a number of proven methodologies for sourcing and recruiting, Novotus will be able to quickly provide HealthEdge with both strategic and administrative support throughout the recruiting process. Working together, Novotus will enable HealthEdge to rapidly acquire the talent needed to support their continued growth and success.

“HealthEdge is an innovative and forward-thinking company whose patented software suite is helping to make next-generation healthcare possible,” said Novotus CEO Mike Mayeux. “We are thrilled to be partnering with them, and we are looking forward to helping them to acquire the best and brightest talent available in the highly competitive software marketplace.”

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About Novotus

Novotus provides recruiting process outsourcing and recruiting related services, and is a founding member of the Recruiting Process Outsourcing Association (rpoassociation.org). Novotus is the largest RPO provider based in Texas. To learn more or request a demonstration visit us at www.novotus.com

About HealthEdge

HealthEdge® provides the only modern, enterprise-class software platform for healthcare payors. Using the patented, award-winning HealthRules software suite, health plans, health insurance companies and other payors can finally respond to new business opportunities and market changes in hours, not months or years, while drastically reducing both IT and operational costs. Leveraging an investment of over $150 million, HealthRules is the most modern, scalable and cost-effective technology in the industry. HealthEdge is the only choice for payors to survive and thrive in the emerging healthcare economy. For more information, visit www.healthedge.com

Trashing Your Employment Brand

Mike Mayeux — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:07:35 GMT

We have all seen how the media can take a 3 second sound bite and eviscerate a political candidate in the span of a single evening news cycle. I’m sure if you could visit with one of those poor victims they would tell you things like: “I was misquoted” - “That’s not what I meant to say” - “I honestly made a mistake or had a weak moment”. Some of the funniest (being fair to all sides):

Rick Perry - Stated that the Revolutionary War was fought in the 16th century (vs 18th)

Sarah Palin - Regarding Paul Revere’s use of bells to warn that the British were coming

Nancy Pelosi - Regarding Obama Care stated “We have to pass it to know what’s in it.”

Joe Biden - "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States undefined Barack America!"

The big idea here is that it does not take much to destroy a good brand while it takes years of successful, purposeful execution to build a good brand. But, unlike my examples above, when it comes to your employment brand, you won’t have the luxury of seeing it fall apart on television. It very much happens out of site, can spiral out of control and all too often is totally out of mind.

So - Here are the questions all business leaders need to be asking themselves.

- What is killing my employment brand?

- What helps my employment brand?

In my experience, no two things are more destructive to your employment brand than a bad candidate experience and headhunters representing your firm in the market.

CX. Our COO here at Novotus, Cory Kruse, is a recruiting genius. He invented the term CX and it simply means Candidate Experience. He and his teams brilliantly organize their RPO programs to focus on the overall experience of the candidate to insure two key elements.

1. Process transparency and efficiency (Keeping the candidate informed on the process and their status)

2. Flow (keeping things moving so as not to exasperate the candidate). Our Chief Strategy Officer, Hank Stringer, in his book TalentForce (co-authored by Rusty Reuff) made the most articulate defense I have ever heard on CX and he calls it “Gracious Recruiting”.

That just leaves the headhunters. It seems like a harmless plan. Say you plan to hire 20 people over a quarter. On average you can fill about 15-16 of these yourself, but for those other 4 or 5 you rely on the headhunters to fill the gap. The problem is you don’t know which 4-5 you will need them to fill so you let them work all 20. Let’s say you issue those 20 searches to 3 recruiters. What has just happened is that 3 recruiters will take the same 20 searches to market in 3 different ways - not to mention you’re out in the market representing these 20 jobs your way. So your 20 jobs are hitting the market with different messaging as if they are 80 jobs. The good news is that you have lots of activity out there. The really bad news is that you have lots of activity out there. Candidates often see your company as desperate, especially when the people calling are bounty hunters saying whatever they need to say to get them interested in the job. And that’s about the time the VIRUS starts. Suddenly the emails start, text messages, social networks, etc., all cranking out information on your jobs. All of this is out of your line of sight and none of it is any longer within your control. Worst of all, your editors are entirely self motivated by huge fees if they fill the jobs - or no fee if they fail.

There is a way to take your brand and your open positions to market. A consolidated, single message thread about the virtues of your company and the jobs you are looking to fill. There is a way to activate a market and get the same VIRAL engine working for you. These best practices start with knowing and controlling that process.

What you stand to gain is simple. Hire better people, faster and for less money.

How Do You Find and Select an RPO Provider?

Lamees Abourahma — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:06:35 GMT

Guest blog. Author: Bernan German. Re-published with permission from ERE Net.

In the following article, German makes the analogy between the process of creating an RFP for selecting an RPO provider with C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars. In both cases, each part can stand alone, but they're more effective when they're paired together. Similarly, selecting an RPO provider based on an RFP can produce better results.

RPO Wars: Episode I — C3RPO & RFP2D2

"A time right about now,

In a galaxy not far, far away,

A world exists where recruiting labor swirls

Within corporate hiring needs,

Melding with sourcing and branding,

Colliding with hiring process and adoption,

A war has erupted in the expanse of options in how to best recruit to fill corporate talent voids: Outsource vs. In Source; RPO vs. RPWhat; RPWho vs. RPHuh?"

I am not a Star Wars geek but a fan of the movie series (as a child of the 1980s). When I sat down to write about recruitment process outsourcing services and the necessity of developing a comprehensive Request for Proposal process when selecting a supplier, I realized the story was much bigger. The title popped in my head as I looked at the evolution of RPO. But as I continued to write, I realized that RPO is a world into itself fighting for relevance as it continues to be defined.

I opted to tell the story from a corporate staffing leader’s perspective, taking it from the initial decision point of whether or not to outsource recruiting labor.

I could think of no better characters to choose than C3PO and R2D2 to use as metaphor. For those not familiar with the Star Wars movie series, C3PO and R2D2 are droids and sub-characters who play pivotal parts in the stories.

Relevant to this article, they each stand alone in parts of the story but are more effective when they are together. They form a team often helping the heroes escape danger or provide insights into the action. Now for the transition: provide me some latitude to support the title. Like C3PO and R2D2, an RPO service provider can be selected without running through an RFP process. But it is best practice to not do one without the other. The proposal and subsequent information gathered from the RFP process allow an organization to better outline their requirements in evaluating and comparing RPO providers. The results will offer a clearer picture in selecting the right RPO provider while setting performance expectations.

As a corporate staffing leader, I was an early adopter of the RPO model and preferred to outsource recruiting labor versus building a large internal team. The strategy was to shift the employment burden to an external partner and control recruiting labor costs as a cost of doing business versus head count. Another goal was to be flexible with resources to meet cyclical demands. I maintained an internal recruiting team to handle critical roles and outsourced all others. The results were successful, and like any recruiting team, it was necessary to manage performance closely. I did not have droids to calculate and formulate a strategy, it was a bit like piloting an X-Wing Fighter by feel, but it started with a plan.

Mistakes in Selecting RPO

Over the years, I have fielded inquiries from colleagues regarding RPO services and lagging performance. I found a common theme in that some organizations select and implement RPO services without conducting proper due diligence to outline business requirements, understand cultural acceptance, establish objectives, and pilot prior to full-scale implementation. The word “recruiting” is a broad term often associated with staffing agencies, and I learned that most of these colleagues selected their RPO provider similarly in how they select staffing agencies, with little due diligence. I strongly caution against this approach. The services are vastly different. Selecting an RPO provider is a decision that will impact the business (and often HR’s reputation) and it is requires the same effort in selecting an RPO as an organization puts forth in selecting an applicant tracking system. Arguably, the performance of an RPO can have more influence on business leader perception of HR than an ATS.

Importance of Project Management

Proper due diligence requires identifying a project leader, unlike Palpatine (the authoritarian) and more like Obi Wan (the collaborator), to formulate a project plan to help you methodically work through the project phases. If you have a project management organization, partner with them to help drive the project. If not, assign someone to take on the project management duties to help drive the project to completion. In support of the project leader, build a cross-functional project team that will include a handful of HR colleagues and business users of the RPO services. I have learned in my career that change management starts early in the process, and the sooner you engage business managers, the better the result during implementation. The project team will be the primary resource to answer questions and validate requirements. The scope of your initiative will predicate the amount of time it will take to develop and execute against a project plan. But use the “Force” of project management to guide you.

In its basic form, the project plan should have four phases:

Discovery
Development
Implementation
Ongoing ROI

For this article as Episode I, we will focus exclusively on parts of the Discovery Phase, as it has the most depth and variables depending on your objectives. Not to send you into the deepest reaches of project management space, I will not belabor all the steps associated with conducting proper Discovery as it can be done quickly depending on the scope and resources available to you. But I do intend to hit the basic steps to assure a baseline is established.

The Discovery Phase has four primary stages:

Requirements
Evaluation
Selection
Negotiation

Building the Business Case for Why

Under the Requirements stage, build a business case to garner support from the business for RPO, like a representative in front of the Galactic Senate, which starts with a hypothesis to explain “why” this should be considered. Examples might include:

Metrics show that 80% of recruiting resources are allocated to low-strategic value hiring initiatives.
A business unit might be located in a unique area where recruiting resources are not situated, and not deemed strategic enough to allocate internal recruiting resources.
The organization does not have an internal recruiting function but would like to establish dedicated recruiting resources for the business.

Once the “why” is established, next steps would be to expand upon the findings to articulate “what” the RPO will solve or improve.

Defining “What” RPO Will Solve

To get to the “what” will entail a bit more research. A few examples might be:

Review of all hiring workflows and recruiting labor-load analysis categorized by type of hiring (e.g. executive, professional, non-exempt) by region and/or business unit.
More simply, hiring demand divided by resources for proper allocation (e.g. X requisitions per recruiter).

In the least, the research should show an opportunity to improve hiring with additional or redeployment of resources such as efficiencies in time to fill or volume of hires within a period of time. To support the “what,” know the cost of current operations which will establish budget perimeters. Cost reduction is always attractive to add to the business case, but RPO is not about cost reduction rather investment. Unless the RPO is replacing heavy staffing agency or exec search usage and their fees, an RPO will not lower the cost of an internal recruiting function. It is a deferral of cost and an investment to improve hiring to allow the organization to be more competitive. The improvements should be more about quality and speed of hire versus cost.

Now that the business case is developed and project management team is set, we will follow C3RPO & RFP2D2 out of the Requirements sector deeper into the Evaluation stage into the world of “Demo-gobah.” A wild place where plans go awry, surprises occur, and relationships are made or ruined during the review of RFPs and demonstration of services. How do you develop an RFP? How do you select a final supplier? How do you negotiate pricing? What metrics should be measured? In my best Yoda voice: seek these answers you will in the next article of RPO Wars: Episode II — A New Decision.

3 Best Practices for Running a Successful RPO Company

Lamees Abourahma — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:30:08 GMT

The RPO industry is in a growth mode, with a multitude of different players arriving to be a part of this emerging industry. As RPO matures, natural selection process will start to take place and a few RPO companies will rise to the top. The best way to ensure that your company survives is to adopt best practices that ensure solvency and scalability over your competitors.

“A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means,” said Michelle Quiles, managing director of Phoenix Advisory Group. “A best practice is much more than a practice that works.”

Here are three best practices Michelle recommends for running a successful RPO company:

Develop a monthly checklist – This checklist should list daily, weekly and monthly tasks for each department or aspect of the RPO company; tasks that are necessary to keep the business running. Each task should then be assigned to someone on the team to complete.
“Break the business down to the buckets of operation,” Quiles said. “You’re still a business. You can’t ignore the core parts.”
This can be easy for a company to forget as it gets engrossed in the practices of the client. A monthly checklist will help in maintaining the health of the company and will contribute to functionality.
Find a niche or core values for focus – Quiles said that in the end, an RPO company is dealing with people, so the company should focus on a niche and/or some core values of which it is passionate.
“Be clear about who you are and your strengths,” she said. “Make decisions based on your mission and core values.”
If your RPO company has some trouble finding a niche, Quiles suggested taking a look at the growth sectors in the global labor market, as well as where clients are having trouble finding quality candidates. These types of sectors offer the most opportunity for an RPO company to focus and to define itself.
Be an effective communicator – Clients are looking to an RPO company to manage one of the most crucial aspects of the business, so it’s incredibly important to have a communication strategy or plan of action from start to finish.
“Effective communication also needs to take place within the firm, and with the candidates,” Quiles said. “It’s the best way to ensure success.”
When it comes to communicating with clients, it’s best to outline the responsibilities of each member of the team, and to remain in frequent contact.

As the RPO industry matures, it’s important for each individual company to make sure that it is still thriving, that it will be able to survive the increase in competition and the increased needs coming from clients. Best practices are the key to maintaining the healthy and functionality of the firm.

“The RPO industry is in the middle of a marathon, where the objective isn’t always to win,” Quiles said. “It’s about positioning yourself to be thriving and standing.”

About Michelle Quiles

Michelle D. Quiles is a seasoned recruitment optimization and talent management professional with over 10 years of diversified corporate and professional services experience; including both domestic and global engagements. She has a demonstrated track record in helping employers build “best in class” talent acquisition & talent management capabilities to attract, recruit & retain high performing employees. Michelle is a speaker, contributing writer, subject matter expert and thought leader on topics related to the future of work in the global ecco-system & best practices for engaging the millennial workforce. In addition, Michelle is the Founder and CEO of the Phoenix Advisory Group an RPO and professional soft-skills training provider.

About Phoenix Advisory Group

Phoenix Advisory Group is an RPO company focused on the millennial market, creating talent pipelines for clients to recruit recent college and high school graduates. The company also provides services in professional development and soft skills training to candidates in the pipeline, better preparing them for their new employers.

What is your best practices for running your RPO company? share on our blog or LinkedIn Group.

Listen to Michelle's entire discussion on RPO Best practices.

Register for our upcoming discussion on "The black hole" by Matt Schreyer with Instigate Inc.

3 Vital Tips for a Solid RPO Delivery

Lamees Abourahma — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:04:55 GMT

As recruitment process outsourcing gains more popularity and momentum, the importance of solid RPO deliver is crucial for the health of the RPO industry. Managing expectations and delivering at a profit are part of that solid delivery; but how can RPOs deliver at their best? In a recent RPOA discussion, association co-founders and RPO leaders, John Younger and Mike Mayeux, shared the following three vital tips to help RPOs provide solid recruitment delivery:

Know How to Price - To have solid recruitment delivery, you need to ensure that you will be getting enough money to cover your costs, and then some. Granted, recruitment process outsourcing is a new industry where pricing has yet to be standardized, but consider the negatives of underpricing. It looks unprofessional, especially if you're only doing it to win business. It also can lead to mismanagement and bad business in the long run if the recruitment outsourcing process isn't priced and compensated for properly.
Architect the Right Solution - Recruitment process outsourcing needs to be tailored to each individual client in order to ensure solid recruitment delivery. This includes making sure you understand how the client perceives RPO, and how they want the solution to work i.e using their staff, meeting their deadline, and if possible, accommodating their price range. This is especially important since HR departments can easily miss costs associated with the recruitment outsourcing process, so solid recruitment delivery depends on meeting the unique needs of each client.
Fill Jobs and Make Customers Happy - That's what the recruitment outsourcing process is all about: getting the job done well. However, it's not that simple. Filling jobs and making customers happy involves taking on business you are confident in executing successfully. It takes setting an appropriate price and solution for the client. It takes managing expectations and delivering at a profit. Sure, RPO means filling jobs, but if customers aren't happy, then what's the point of the process and the industry?

Overall, solid recruitment delivery revolves around keeping RPO about the client and meeting the client's needs. With recruitment process outsourcing rising in popularity, with companies needing to fulfill new contracts, take on new projects, or simply better themselves, it's up to RPO providers to perpetuate solid recruitment delivery and to propel the industry forward.

Not yet an RPOA member? Become an RPOA member and join the discussion. View our calendar of events.

Introducing RPOA's New Executive Director

Lamees Abourahma — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 02:21:51 GMT

The Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA) has partnered with Ms Lamees Abourahma, Webbright founder and president, to grow their membership by launching a new online marketing campaign.

“We are excited about our new Executive Director, Ms Abourahma, who has hit the ground running,” said Mike Mayeux, RPOA co-founder and Novotus president.

Ms. Abourahma initially helped RPOA develop RPOA Buyers Guide in 2011. The Buyers Guide is the first and only one of its kind in the RPO industry; it is an open listing of verified RPO providers. Since its launch last October, new providers are joining the Buyers Guide on an ongoing basis. The content has boosted up the site traffic and leads a great deal. “Not only is Lamees a fantastic leader for the RPOA, she is also a web development and marketing star,” said Mr John Younger, RPOA president and Accolo founder.

The RPOA has been going through a transformation that includes membership structure and benefits. “One of the first things I will be working on is conducting a market research to help define membership value for RPOA,” said Ms. Abourahma. “The website has some great content including videos, tools, and articles; this year we’ll be adding a lot”.

“There are so many good things we can accomplish together that will help build a strong industry for all of us,” said Mr. Mayeux. Lamees is an inbound marketing professional who can integrate content strategy, search engine optimization, and social networking to develop an effective marketing strategy for the organization. RPOA members and the RPO community are eager for educational resources and industry information. Lamees will be working on developing and adding many new resources to the RPOA website. With this new marketing strategy we can position our organization as an RPO hub that people come to for insight and leadership.

“There is a lot of work to be done. I’m excited about the journey ahead and the results that we can accomplish together", said Abourahma.

You can connect with Lamees by email at lamees@rpoassociation.org and on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lameesabourahma. You can help shape the future of RPOA by participating in this questionnaire.

5 Big Trends in the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Industry

Lamees Abourahma — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:40:51 GMT

Recruitment Process Outsourcing industry is experiencing a tremendous growth according to the executives of two leading RPO companies and the co-founders of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association.

Here are the five big trends emerging in the RPO industry, and what RPO executives can take away from them:

RPO Industry is on the Rise

Mike Mayeux, CEO of Novotus, said that its deal flow in particular is up tremendously. The company is going through a flurry of activity, hiring recruiters and engagement managers in order to keep up with all their new clients. Last September, Novotus’ revenue hit record high. The record was beaten shortly in October. Today, Novotus revenue is 50% higher than the record in September, demonstrating that the rise in the RPO industry is happening very rapidly.

John Younger, President of Accolo, said his company is experiencing similar results. A Valentine campaign that Accolo launched for the month of February, brought in more leads in a couple of weeks than they had for the past three months.

Low-end of Mid-Market, Engineers, Sales, Mid/Senior Level Coming In

Part of that increase in deal flow is coming from smaller deals from smaller companies, according to Mayeux. Instead of massive deals of million, or multi-million, dollar deals, deals are coming in the form of multiples of $400,000 to $700,000 contracts that are driving revenue and will be driving the RPO industry going forward.

Younger noticed that not only was the lower end of the mid-market coming into RPO, but engineering, sales, and higher level executives as well. Accolo has been working a lot in the digital media advertising. “These companies are going head to head with the “googles” of the world. In order to do that, they have to have a large sales force and they’re turning to us for help.”

More Newcomers are Engaging in the Process

Mayeux said that it’s these newcomers to the market, who had never heard of RPO before, that are becoming some of the biggest fans of the process. On top of that, these newcomers were once naysayers of the RPO industry, but have become some of the most passionate about the process. This is because the human resource departments of these companies are excited about the help in meeting the hiring needs of the firm.

“There’s a ferocity in the market for something different,” Mayeux said. “The status quo is no longer something to buy in.”

Turnover a Key Factor as Market Improves

A survey from Staffing.org of technology development professionals found that 50% of them would leave their current job as soon as the market improved. This showcases that job growth isn’t necessarily the creation of new jobs and a decrease in the unemployment rate, but changing of jobs if the opportunities arises.

The Department of Labor has a term for this type of turnover: churn. According to the Department, a healthy rate of people voluntarily moving from one job to another is between two to three million. Expect “churning” to make a difference in the RPO industry this year.

Companies are Implementing Initiatives that Were Once on Hold

“Now as they start to pull the trigger on some of those initiatives… there’s no plausible way to hire that staff with their current game,” Younger said. “They’re turning to us to accelerate those initiatives.”

Overall, the RPO industry is trending in the right direction, with more businesses getting on board with the process and needing help to meet their staffing needs to and to grow. As the career marketing improves, and the economy, so will the RPO industry.

Join the discussion. Register for RPOA upcoming conference call.

Factors to Consider When Calculating Your Cost Per Hire

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:00:14 GMT

When starting the recruitment process determining how much exactly your cost per hire will be is an important factor but so is your quality of hire. The wrong hiring decisions will wind up costing your company even more. With the current state of economy it is important that you are able to take the time and effort to hire top talent that will add value to your company while doing so at an affordable cost. Calculating this cost will vary depending on the way you choose to approach it.

Some companies choose to have their in house HR department in total control of recruiting. They are in charge of taking care of every task in the process and in addition the company is faced with a number of costs associated with recruitment. Some of the important factors to take into consideration when calculating cost per hire with this approach are:

· Job fairs, college recruitment, advertising, and job board posting and
access costs.
· Hardware that needs to be added in for candidate screening, from
computers, to resume search programs and phones
· The costs associated with marketing open positions
· All training, on boarding and turnover expenses
· Travel costs
· Recruiters and managers salaries

HR departments are often faced with a heavy work load and the recruitment process demands a lot of invested time in order to find the best candidates for each position. In order to allow them to focus on their core responsibilities that will continue to keep the business moving forward, a company often chooses to outsource their recruiting. They do so through either a contingency or recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) agency. With a contingency recruiter they charge nothing until the position is filled but many find that this approach can be expensive for their company, costing anywhere from 15-30 percent of those hired salaries.

The companies who chose to partner with an RPO agency have found that they are able to get ahead of the competition using the specialists with the experience and the tools to find the best candidates to fill their positions. A 2009 study conducted by the Aberdeen Group found that 62 percent of the organizations that they surveyed who had used this outsourcing approach were able to significantly reduce their cost per hire while hiring valuable candidates for their company. RPO providers, such as Hire Velocity, have the ability to drive down recruiting costs for companies by as much as 50 percent. As an RPO agency Hire Velocity offers to do as much or as little of the recruitment process companies they partner with need. The Aberdeen Group study of roughly 200 companies also revealed that 77 percent of those who were using RPO were happy with the results and would recommend it to others. Outsourcing with an RPO agency provides results of hiring quality candidates that will add value to your company as well as have results that will significantly reduce cost per hire.

July’s Job Report Shows Increase in Hiring

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:44:43 GMT

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release of July’s job report today revealed surprising numbers that shed some relief after a long week of trouble in the market and fears of recession. Economists had predicted that we would see about 85,000 jobs added for the month of July but today’s report came out with unexpected higher results. The U.S added 117,000 jobs compared to the 18,000 added in June. The results could have even been higher had they not been affected by a loss of 37,000 government jobs as a result of recent budget shortfalls.

Private employers ramped up their hiring the most based on the results from the BLS report. Business and professional services as well as retailers, hospitality and manufacturing all increased their hiring bringing the unemployment rate from 9.2 percent in June to 9.1 percent in July. Not only were more jobs added in these sectors but hourly wages also increased, bringing even more good news in the report. They rose up .4 percent, doubling what numbers were predicted previously. With July’s increase in jobs and hourly wage increase the report shows hope that these factors could help to put money back into the struggling economy by increasing consumer spending.

July’s job report comes out much better than expected and couldn’t have been released at a better time. After a rough week in the market and previous months of extremely low job reports the high number shows positive improvement for the future of the economy. Economists still say though that the number isn’t quite yet where it needs to be. More jobs need to continue to be added in order to keep up with the growing population, and many still fear that if the economy doesn’t improve soon that the U.S could ultimately fall back into a recession.

Avoiding risks when using social media in recruiting

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:29:48 GMT

Over the past few years, the popularity of social media has continued to increase. Not only are well known sites like Facebook and LinkedIn expanding with each new active user, but entirely new social networking sites continue to be created. These websites have evolved from their original purpose as a social connector with friends, to a valuable tool in a company’s recruitment process. Recruiters have been learning more ways to strategically use these sites in getting ahead of the competition, but in doing so they can find themselves at risk of legal question in comparing the information accessed online in relation to their hiring decisions.

A simple Google search of a candidate’s name or a visit to their Facebook and LinkedIn page can reveal a lot about the person, providing an inside look into their life that you normally wouldn’t see on traditional job applications and resumes. In a January 2010 report released by Microsoft, 79 percent of those hiring managers they had surveyed used social media and online searches in their hiring, and of those, 70 percent had actually chosen to reject candidates because of the information that they had found. Knowing how to use these websites efficiently without accessing information that could lead to possible discrimination claims is crucial in the hiring process. With all of the available information at your fingertips, it is important that when choosing to integrate social networking sites in the screening of a candidate that the search remains relevant and nondiscriminatory. Recruitment agencies that set up a policy to follow standards set up by organizations such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act for screening candidates will have effective results. They also will avoid any future legal question that could arise finding that them guilty of violating laws such as the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or others created to prevent discrimination in hiring.

In order to keep recruiting fair and avoid any question of a hiring decision there are a few key things to remember and techniques to have in place before searching the web. Establishing a strong recruitment policy along with prior education of these guidelines to those in charge of screening candidates (preferably someone who is not making the hiring decisions) is important. Making sure that these policies include what information can and cannot be included in making hiring decisions is vital in addition to creating a set list of what websites are to be used in accessing this information. Using social media to look into one candidate and not others puts recruiters in a questionable situation. If you choose to use social media to look into one candidate, it’s important that it is done with all others as well. Lastly, keeping documentation of all information to reference back to what was used in the recruitment process will be greatly beneficial to the company should any questions arise.

Social media is very valuable in the recruitment process when used correctly and integrated along with other screening tools. It has the ability to locate a large amount of possible candidates as well as provide valuable information. Those recruiters who are able to keep up with consistently changing social networking trends and have a strong knowledge of how to navigate these sites, position themselves above others; finding the best candidates possible, while staying clear of any potential discrimination claims.

Change your approach to hiring with an RPO

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:53:49 GMT

For any company, finding high quality candidates to fill positions is crucial to the business. Candidates must have the right skills and abilities for the job in order for the company to succeed. Emerging from a hard economic time, a lot of reorganization decisions are seen being made throughout many companies. They are looking to revamp their approaches to hiring and increase their talent pool in order to get ahead of competitors. This can be found to be a difficult and stressful task in the constantly changing recruiting environment where most HR recruiters are having trouble trying to keep up. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is now being utilized by leading companies for their hiring needs; they are using the expertise of these providers to find high quality talent for their organization.

The size of many companies’ HR recruiting teams has decreased due to cost-cutting, providing many challenges in hiring. Most HR departments don’t have the time or resources to be updated with the latest recruiting technology tools and online social media channels. This is why many companies are turning to RPO as a solution. They have found that RPO providers have the ability to deliver to their organization results that their HR recruiters cant. RPO’s have the ability to hire top talent, fast, while achieving a more cost effect cost per hire. It also takes the added stress and pressure off of HR and allows them to focus in on other tasks within the company. RPO’s can handle a few of the recruiting tasks or they can handle the entire life cycle. For instance, an RPO can handle all out the sourcing and screening allowing recruiters to focus on the qualified and interested candidates instead of taking the time going through piles of unqualified candidates.

RPO’s have the ability to provide a company with valuable results. Due to the current economy, most companies are working with smaller budgets and decreasing the amount of hires allowed; therefore it’s important to keep a focus on quality rather than quantity of candidates. Leading organizations who have experience with RPO’s have recorded high cost reductions and/or greater efficiencies in the hiring process. Many have seen reductions as high as 85% in search firm fees and 87% in offline advertising expenses. RPO’s continue to show results that include an expanded candidate pipeline, shortened cycle times, and reduced cost-per-hire. For hiring quickly, efficiently, and at a cost effective amount, RPO’s have specialists utilizing the latest technology and tools to fill crucial positions.

(2011, July). Workforce Management, 90(7),

Expand Your Talent Pool with Passive Candidate Development

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:01:13 GMT

Sourcing is typically done by casting a wide net out to one or more job boards. This approach works fine for candidates that are actively searching for a new position, but what if you want to tap into those that are currently employed and not looking? Perhaps you’re even interested in finding top notch candidates who work in similar positions in competitive companies. Passive candidates, as opposed to active candidates, cannot be found in a search of resume and job board postings. To find these candidates, Passive Candidate Development should be used.

With Passive Candidate Development, the recruiter directly sources talent from those currently employed and not actively in the job search process. Passive Candidate Development, also known as direct sourcing, focuses on finding qualified candidates currently in management positions from a list of targeted competitors. Once a list of names has been generated, candidates are identified and cold calls are made to each target candidate presenting the job opportunity. When the process is complete, qualified, available, and interested candidates are found to enrich a company’s talent pool. Sourcing specifically those passive candidates using this service will takes more time as candidates must be convinced to leave their current position. Using an RPO for Passive Candidate Development can take the time consuming and stressful pressure of the recruitment process off of the internal recruiters and Hiring Managers. This service has the unique ability to provide an organization with a higher caliber of skilled and qualified candidates than the company would normally come across with other forms of sourcing. With a focus on finding candidates currently employed in similar positions, this approach can find a diverse list of candidates within a similar industry and geographic area.

At Hire Velocity, we have had extensive experience using Passive Candidate Development for leading companies. Over just an eight-week period we were able to target 6,000 names, leading to 9 hires for a leading global management consulting firm. This significantly reduced their cost per hire, saving them about $8,000. Many benefits come with choosing to use Passive Candidate Development. Costs for high priced executive search fees can be reduced and new pipelines can be built with these types of candidates. This service results in a higher quality of hire and because of their specialization in the field, these candidates require minimal training.

Simplify Your Hiring Using Full Life Cycle Recruiters

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:20:25 GMT

When it comes to the hiring process, there are a number of situations that can unnecessarily complicate the process. If you’re burdened with more recruiting work than you can efficiently handle, outsourcing the tasks to a Full Life Cycle Recruiter may be the solution for you. Why burden yourself with managing the entire process and all of the tools when a Full Life Cycle Recruiter can do that much more efficiently for you. With Full Life Cycle Recruiting you are allowing specialists, who are backed with advanced technology and tools, to assist your business in reaching its ultimate potential. To adequately access the most qualified candidates, it takes money, time and often results in stress. Many of the recruiting tasks are very routine in nature while some are much more strategic and complex. With Full Life Cycle Recruiting, not only are posting and agency fees reduced but you can also reduce your cost per hire. Without the stress and time spent on trying to find the right candidate, your Hiring Manager will be able to focus their efforts on their core job and on projects more strategic to your company.

The service will handle the entire hiring process for you from job description creation to sourcing, phone screening, interview scheduling, offer management, employment screening and even onboarding. Your entire hiring productivity will be increased, while also reducing costs and time wasted. Hire Velocity offers the Full Life Cycle Recruiting service that will give your business confidence in obtaining the most qualified candidates to join your team. Let us assist you with your repetitive recruiting tasks while you focus on the bigger company issues. At Hire Velocity we were able to within a five month period assist a major department store in hiring 400 department, store, and division managers.

The Full Life Cycle Recruiting service can be managed virtually or on-site. With either, the main focus will be what is best for your business. The end goal is to improve your productivity while saving you time and money in the delivery of quality hires.

New Jobs Found in Emerging Fields

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:34:10 GMT

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the upcoming years the latest growing job sectors will be coming from the IT, healthcare and financial services industries. Jobs in manufacturing and farming, according to a recent BLS report, have been making a rapid decline, while new jobs are emerging to fit around the consistently changing market.

New lines of work are being created to fit consumers’ lifestyles. By the year 2018, economists anticipate that over 1 million jobs will be added into the workforce. We are already seeing changes in hiring as technology advances. The title of a social media specialist, something that was previously non-existent, now plays a major role in running a successful business. Massage therapist and other jobs in areas that help to fulfill a healthier lifestyle rank among the top job fields with a wide variety of job opportunities in the medical field.

This shows positive signs for the recent graduates who will have an advantage with the latest knowledge in these emerging areas as they start their career. It’s also good news for anyone else looking to make a career change. Most of these new jobs will require only unique training for the position, as opposed to having to go back to school to work towards a particular degree.

“Looking for a growing job sector?try social media, accounting, or massage”. Associated Pres (2011) Web. June 2011 <http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2011/06/08/looking_for_
a_growing_job_sector_try_social_media_accounting_or_massage/>

Companies Struggle in Hiring for Critical Job Positions

Tue, 31 May 2011 18:23:48 GMT

A recent survey has found that companies are having a tough time finding employees that have the right qualifications to hire for their most critical positions. Lack of experience and technical skills, were highlighted as the major reasons why roughly 52 percent of U.S companies have found themselves in a difficult position when it comes hiring.

As the economy continues to improve and the market is getting more competitive, not only are employers increasing their hiring, but the role of finding the most qualified candidate for the position has become more crucial then ever. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is something that should be considered in ramping up hiring efforts. RPO is able to give companies that step up above the competition. Through the use of various tools and strategies an RPO provider can find the most qualified candidates fast and effectively for critical jobs such as skilled trades, engineers and IT staff that have been found as the hardest to fill. In a previous blog An RPO SWOT Analysiswe discussed the importance of choosing the right RPO provider. It’s important that when making this decision a company takes into consideration the different aspects mentioned in this analysis. Choosing a provider that is able to meet a company’s needs will present them with qualified candidates to hire for these hard to fill job positions

Cogliano, J. (2011, May 20). Employers struggle to fill critical jobs. Austin Business Journal, Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2011/05/20/employers-struggle-to-fill-critical-jobs.html?ana=e_vert

Companies Ramp Up Hiring

Thu, 19 May 2011 14:40:28 GMT

As the economy continues to improve, more companies are ramping up their hiring efforts. Economists predict that around 200,000 jobs a month will be added throughout the year. Manufacturing has been a leading sector in the past months, and we’re seeing many major well-known companies expanding and looking to hire hundreds of positions.

The decrease in unemployment will allow for more of consumer’s money to be spent in the economy thus generating even more hiring. The new income for consumers is important as we see gas prices continually rising and large debts incurred during the recession that need to be paid off. Economists hope that gas prices will level off in the coming months to allow for consumers to have extra spending money to fuel the economy and continue to increase hiring.

Bartash, Jeffry. "Jobs report to shed light on U.S. economy." MarketWatch 1 May 2011 <http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobs-report-to-shed-light-on-us-economy-2011-05-01?reflink=MW_news_stmp>.
Crutsinger, Martin. "Hiring likely to boost spending despite gas prices." Associated Press 29 April 2011 <http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9MTI2104.htm.>

Job openings reach highest level in two years

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:05:46 GMT

The Labor Department reported that there were more advertised job openings in February than any time in the past two years. This trend is expected to continue throughout April, signaling a positive change in the economy. There were 3.1 million job openings posted in February, an increase of more than 350,000 since January. The outlook is good with the unemployment rate falling to 8.8, the lowest in two years. While there is still fierce competition for open positions, the decrease in unemployment and increase in job openings is evidence that the climate is starting to improve.

What is causing this increase in open jobs? More people are quitting their jobs, presumably to take positions elsewhere. Additionally, layoffs are near the slowest in ten years. Another reason for the increase in open positions is that consumers are starting to gain more confidence in the economy. The increase in retail spending creates more open positions. The increase in confidence can be seen when looking at the 11% increase in sales at Saks Inc and 14% gain from Limited Brands.

Rugaber, Christopher. “Fast Rise in Job Openings Brightens Hiring Outlook.” ABC News(2011): n. pag. Web. 18 Apr 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13368462&page=2>.

Generation Y: Taking Over the Workforce

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:07:24 GMT

Generation Y is starting to enter the workforce and there are a lot of them. In fact, there are more than 80 million, which is bigger than the Baby Boomers generation (Gronbach)! But what is Generation Y? They were born between 1985 and 2005, are very green, humanitarians, and do not see color.

Generation Y is flooding the labor market and may face 50% unemployment (Gronbach). This high unemployment rate will force many in this generation to create small businesses to make up for the lack of jobs. Many of the Baby Boomers are starting to retire, leaving many technical positions open. To fill these in demand jobs, Generation Y males are increasingly going to technical schools, hoping to find a high paying position. You can also expect more women to be leading and running companies. Right now, women outnumber men in college at a 60/40 ratio (Gronbach).

Gronbach, Kenneth. “The Age Curve.” CEO Council of Tampa Bay. Tampa, FL. 10 March 2011. Lecture.