With the Pure Sourcing service a multi-channel sourcing strategy is implemented.   This consists of an in-depth search conducted using a proprietary tool to search job boards and find resumes of the most qualified candidates. A list is generated that consists of those candidates whose skills and education requirements match each specific position.

Pure Sourcing is a strategy that Hire Velocity has been successful in using to find qualified candidates to fill positions in a number of companies. Utilizing the latest technology, social media websites and access to over 200 job boards, we are able to find top candidates who fit the positions you want to fill. This service simply finds and generates a list of those candidates that would be most qualified and does so without having to make any contact with them. This saves HR managers from having to weed through candidate resumes who are unqualified and allows them to focus on those with the skills and education required, saving the organization time, money and energy.

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.

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),

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 Analysis”we 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

The UNIVERSUM Employment Branding Insights 2011 survey shows that 64% of the 632 companies included in the survey say that their key employees leave to pursue new professional opportunities. The top performers are looking for greater challenges and opportunities or more money.  The high turnover rate requires companies to spend more time and resources looking for qualified potential employees then ever before. Many companies are turning to outside firms, like Hire Velocity, to help with the recruiting cycle. These resource process outsourcing (RPO) firms are able to find qualified, available, and interested candidates fast using the trained recruiters and specialized tools.

This has not always been the case. Past generations have typically had the mindset that they will stay at the same company for their entire career, moving up the ladder to better positions. Generation Y has a different mindset and companies can no longer rely on people to stay with an employer for their whole career. It is difficult for employers to keep their most talented employees while other opportunities open up for them. Generation Y is slowly dominating the workforce with 74% of employers looking to hire talent who have recently graduated from college or have 8 or less years of experience. This is making it difficult for senior professionals, people with more than 8 years of experience, to find work as only 18% of the employers surveyed are looking to hire them.

The future is not hopeless; employers agree that a long-term employer branding strategy leads to better recruiting results. Creating and implementing a long-term employer branding strategy will improve the company’s ability to attract and retain the right talent. The positive sign of this survey is that 82% of employers are now investing in talent attraction which excludes direct recruitment, but includes employer branding and communicators. Many of these employers believe that developing brand awareness and esteem are the solution to this growing problem.

We would like to virtually introduce you to the Hire Velocity top management team. While we focus on the top management in this post, but we can assure you that our entire team is experienced in the recruiting industry. Hire Velocity understands the importance of having qualified and caring employees. For that reason, we have high standards when choosing to add new members to our team.

Valeri Marks

Valeri is the Chief Executive Officer at Hire Velocity. She has been CEO or President for the past 10 years of private or public companies. The entire team was excited when she joined the team in July 2009. Since her addition to the team, Hire Velocity has been named on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing private companies.

Valeri has over 28 years of service industry experience. Her experience spans raising funds, selling companies, integrating acquisitions, and an IPO. Valeri has an MBA, with distinction, from the University of Michigan.

Byron West

Hire Velocity considers itself very lucky to have Byron West as our President. As a seasoned recruiting entrepreneur, Byron provides the vision and leadership at Hire Velocity. With over 20 years as top management in recruiting companies, Byron is excellent at understanding critical personnel needs without organizations and their importance to success.

Before his move into the entrepreneur world, Byron was a member of the Navy’s Submarine Division. He uses his military skills to assemble efficient and effective teams. He is directly involved in the hiring and training of our team members, ensuring that each one is qualified to be working within the company. As an advocate for efficiency and innovation, Byron demonstrates his intense desire to overcome obstacles and win for his customers.

Byron graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Civil Engineering.

Matt Dawson

Matt Dawson is Hire Velocity’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Hire Velocity is happy to have such an experienced individual to oversee finance, accounting, human resources, and all administrative/back office functions. Matt is also responsible for developing relationships with strategic partners and reviews competitive analysis.

Matt has over 12 years of experience in the Fortune 500, private equity, and smaller entrepreneurial companies across the business services and healthcare sectors.  His expertise encompasses all facets of finance and business strategy, including capital-raising activities, business valuation, turnarounds, due diligence and financial modeling.

Matt is a graduate of University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Matt also holds an MBA from University of Tampa.

Jennifer Maher

Jennifer Maher joined the Hire Velocity team in September as the Senior Director of Client Services. Jennifer joins the team with over 12 years of experience in RPO, staffing, and outsourcing organizations across the retail, telecommunications, consumer electronics, and manufacturing verticals. Her experience includes restructuring and building high performing, high volume service delivery organizations, consultative selling, selecting and implementing new technology solutions, and advanced sourcing strategy design.

As Senior Director of Client Services, Jennifer is responsible for the service delivery across all clients. She has led multiple teams to successfully hire 5000+ people per year across the United States and Canada, while reducing time to hire, increasing overall quality of hire, and reducing turnover.

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Miami with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration in Accounting.

Now that you know our team, we invite you to contact us to set up a time to talk. It is hard to judge the quality of our team from a blog post and we are confident you will be impressed with us after talking with the team. You can contact us here.

In choosing the right RPO, you will have some major strengths to consider. RPO firms typically lead to large cost savings; for example, Hire Velocity can drive down your recruiting costs by as much as 50%.  Not only that, but outsourcing all or some of your recruiting efforts allows your recruiters and hiring managers more time to focus on other important business functions.  It also provides your business the ability  to scale up or down as needed gaining a flexible recruiting advantage.  Another strength of using an RPO firm is the speed and quality of recruiting. An effective RPO can reduce your time-to-hire and fill those open positions faster. But filling open positions faster should not affect the quality of the candidates. Reputable RPO firms will be able to deliver qualified, available, and interested candidates for your open positions. RPO providers are process driven and leverage Service Level Agreements (SLA) to measure, reward and sometimes penalize based on attainment of results. The SLA is such an important part of the RPO process because it details the expectations, objectives, needs, numbers, procedures, and quality of the candidates.

While there are numerous strengths for using an RPO, there can also be weaknesses if the right firm is not chosen. It is important to meet with the RPO and ensure that the partnership is a good fit since it will become an extension of your team. Choosing an RPO that cannot deliver on what you expect can cause it to have a negative impact on your business. It is important to look at the experience that the RPO firm has. For example, Hire Velocity has over 70 years of recruiting leadership on our team and the client list includes Fortune 500 retailers, private to public healthcare companies, Fortune 1000 telecom companies, and Fortune 100 technology companies.

Using an RPO can also have its opportunities. In general, RPO firms have a proven record for high hiring numbers across the industry. Organizations that have previously used a reputable RPO firm can attest to the positive results achieved during the partnership. The partnership created during the RPO experience is another opportunity for an organization. When requiring fast and cost-efficient hiring in the future, the partnership that was created with the RPO in the past will allow for a quick start to the recruiting requirements and ensure successful results based on previous experience with the organization.

As with any other business task, there are threats involved. One of the initial threats is finding that the organization and the RPO do not have a partner relationship. Again, this goes back to meeting with the RPO and making sure there is compatibility before choosing it. Additionally, a well thought-out SLA will provide guidance and avoid one party being unhappy with the partnership.

RPO SWOT

Choosing a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) firm to outsource your hiring needs is a great choice when you’re focused on maximizing financial and operational results. To maximize the benefits of using an RPO, it is important to have a well-formulated Service Level Agreement, or SLA. An SLA is an agreement between the customer and the RPO that specifies expectations, objectives, needs, numbers, procedures, and quality of the candidates. This agreement is developed before the RPO begins working on the recruiting tasks and is the backbone of the partnership that is about to begin.

The SLA guides the success of the partnership between the internal recruiter and RPO.  It helps guide the RPO to understand what types of candidates the customer is looking for, the process that will be used and the key metrics for success.  By having these specific details outlined, the RPO will be able to work more efficiently and achieve better results.

The SLA can also be used as an incentive for the RPO to meet the outlined goals.  By basing the part of the RPO’s compensation on meeting the goals, it will ensure the best results because the compensation is based off of the final result, their performance.

The typical RPO SLA is made of seven sections:

• Objectives and Needs Assessment – Defines exactly what the customer is looking for and what the final result should achieve.
• Scope Statement – Summarizes what process and methods that will be used to source and screen the candidates.
• Pricing and Cost Estimate – Outlines how the pricing works and the cost per resume, cost per qualified submission, or cost per hire.
• Organization Chart – Establishes the roles and responsibilities of each contributing member on each side.
• Measurements and Metrics – Discusses how performance will be measured and monitored.
• Work Schedules and Communication – Describes the expected hours of operation and how the two parties will communicate.
• Response and Escalation – Creates a communication plan for issues

Resources:

Anapol, Stan. “Recruiting Process Outsourcing: Using a Well-defined SLA and KPI to Engage the Right Vendor and Set Correct Expectations..” HR Management n. pag. Web. 9 Nov 2010. <http://www.hrmreport.com/article/Recruiting-Process-Outsourcing–Using-a-well-defined-SLA-and-KPI-to-engage-the-right-vendor-and-set-correct-expectations/>.

While calculating cost per hire (CPH) is not an exact science, it can be a valuable instrument that gives insight into the cost of the hiring process for various positions and do some comparisons. Cost per hire can also allow companies to evaluate how effective they are with various sourcing strategies in the hiring process. However to be most effective, a company should look at all of the factors that contribute to the cost per hire.

Many contributing factors have to be considered when calculating the cost per hire of an internal recruiting team. The first factor is the recruiter who is a fixed cost since he or she is an employee of the company. Then hardware related costs have to be added in such as the computers and the telephones. Expenses to get the word out about open positions like job fairs, job boards, referral bonuses, and the applicant tracking system will also need to be added into the cost per hire calculation. Finally add in training, on-boarding, and turnover costs. Once all those costs are added up, the total cost per hire can be determined. This total cost per hire is essentially the same whether a company is hiring an inexpensive person or an expensive person because it is the same person doing the recruiting. When recruiting internally, it is also important to remember that the recruiter is a fixed capacity so he or she cannot handle any surges in hiring.

The alternative to recruiting internally is using a recruiting agency for hiring needs.  The cost per hire with a recruiting agency should encompass most of the items that are calculated into the cost per hire of using an internal recruiter

One option is using a contingency firm, who gets paid only when someone is placed into a position. Contingency firms typically charge 15- 30% of salary. This means if a company is hiring an employee who will be paid $50,000 a year, the contingency firm will charge between $7,500 and $15,000 per hire.  This can be a very hefty fee. The other option is to utilize a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firm.  An RPO allows companies to outsource a part of the recruitment process or the entire recruiting function. RPO’s typically result in a cost per hire of 5 – 10% of salary compared to the 15 – 30% that a contingency firm charges. Using the same $50,000 salary as before, an RPO would typically result in a cost per hire of $2,500 to $5,000.  Even by comparing the lowest CPH for a contingency firm with the highest price for an RPO, there is a minimum savings of $2,500 over a contingency firm.

When a company is faced with any level of volume hiring, the savings to the firm with an RPO exponentially increase.  This is one of the areas where real value is delivered.   Think of the cost savings of using an RPO versus a contingency firm to hire, for example, five sales personnel with $50,000 salary.  This could be a savings of $7,500 to $50,000!

Utilizing an RPO such as Hire Velocity, a company can achieve a more cost effective cost per hire while delivering flexibility and scalability in meeting hiring needs…especially in this market when many internal recruiting teams are at their smallest size.    Additionally, the RPO helps the company avoid any of the fixed cost elements of the Cost per Hire calculation.

Related Posts:

A New Way to Look at Cost Per Hire

Recruitment Process Outsourcing, also known as RPO, involves a company turning all or some of its hiring duties over to an external company. The external company, an RPO, has the task of finding a specific number of employees using a list of specific needs and a timeframe set by the company. For example, Hire Velocity was tasked with hiring over 900 assistant store managers and bi-lingual sales consultants over the period of 12 months for a major telecommunications company. Hire Velocity saved this telecommunication company about $260 per hire made, saving the company a total of about $236,340.

Many companies are left wondering whether it would be best for them to do the hiring internally, through the use of a contract recruiter, or use an RPO to do some or all of its hiring tasks. The company needs to ask itself if it can handle the increased workload of hiring a large amount of employees in a specific time frame. It is important for the company to consider all of the steps in the hiring process. The first step is active sourcing and screening, which is manually going through its applicant tracking system, job boards, and social networks to find potential applicants. Then the company must screen every applicant to ensure that they have the skills, education, and experience that the company is looking for. These two steps alone can often be overwhelming for a company that is looking to hire a lot of qualified candidates in a specific time frame.

This is where an RPO can help relieve the stress of mass hiring from a company. A company can choose to have an RPO do some of the hiring tasks, called RPO On-Demand, or have the RPO take over the whole hiring process, called Enterprise RPO.  For example, a major home improvement store company hired Hire Velocity to do diversity sourcing and screening. Hire Velocity used its resources, including over 200 job boards and 5,000 content partners, to source potential candidates using the needs and wants of the company.  Hire Velocity then telephone-screened each potential candidate to make sure his or her skills, education, and experience met the needs of the home improvement store company. This process led to 49 bi-lingual store managers and human resources managers being hired.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing can be a great tool for a company to take the stress out of hiring and reduce costs by up to 50%. However, it is up to the company to evaluate its needs and resources to see if it would be beneficial to hire an RPO or do the hiring internally. With an RPO, every task is managed for the company and all tools are supplied.  With a contract recruiter, the overall work must still be managed internally as well as all tools needed to do the job.  If you’re looking to do volume hiring quickly in an efficient and cost effective manner, the RPO may be just the solution to your current hiring challenges!