I recently joined a Global RPO solution onsite at an investment bank.  Making the leap from agency, especially as an established consultant where I managed to build an innovative sourcing desk servicing an entire business; into a new position and environment was a huge risk for me. 

I went with my gut and chose carefully, selecting an RPO that had a proven track record, a balance of stability and ingenuity, and some pretty well known leaders and experts throughout the business.  I chose RPO as opposed to agency specifically and after a month in my new job I’m happy to say I made the right choice!

Why I chose RPO:

• You get the best of worlds – ‘internal’ onsite and yet you are still part of a recruitment centric organisation
• You work for a recruitment / staffing business, and therefore gain industry expertise, learning and development that you may not get as part of a standard internal talent acquisition team
• Volume! In RPO you can be guaranteed some type of significant volume, which presents challenge on it’s own

When on the outside looking in, I saw RPO as an avenue to continue developing my sourcing skills and expertise, while improving my stakeholder management experience.

The agency vs RPO argument:

Bringing up this topic in a room of recruiters is like slapping a hornets nest.  So first up let me say that I definitely see a future for both models, but my decision to leave agency has been driven by a lack of innovation in the core agency business and a slow reaction time to a changing world of talent.  Years ago I was skeptical about RPO and it’s long term sustainability and more importantly it’s effect on the wider recruitment world value.   However what it does provide is another channel to effectively deliver great value and expertise to the client organisation, while increasing dwindling  agency profits.  We also see a greater investment in recruitment innovation and agencies using RPO to leverage other services and gain better understanding of their clients.

In my sourcing geek mind the challenge presented by volume and increased stakeholder / client consultation equals finding loads of great people.  And I’m really happy with that.

As always, interested in your thoughts 

Sarah