Glossary
RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)
A long-term outsourcing contract in which a third party operates some or all of an enterprise's recruitment function.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is the practice of outsourcing some or all of an enterprise's recruitment function to a specialist provider, typically under a 2 to 5 year contract. RPOs are best suited to large enterprises hiring hundreds or thousands of roles annually. For SaaS scale-ups hiring 5 to 50 roles a year, RPO is usually too heavy and too slow to spin up; lighter models such as RaaS or embedded TA tend to fit better.
Related terms
- RaaS (Recruitment as a Service)A subscription-based hiring model where an external partner runs an embedded recruitment function for a flat monthly fee, replacing per-hire commercials.
- Embedded Talent AcquisitionA delivery model where an external recruiter joins the customer's team and tooling for the duration of the engagement, rather than working at arm's length.
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