Definition
RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) is a model where a company delegates its hiring process to a provider. Unlike a staffing agency paid per filled role, an RPO provider takes on a volume or scope (a department, a region, the whole company), often for several months, with its own recruiters, tools and metrics.
There are end-to-end and partial forms, sometimes called on-demand: sourcing only, screening, or project management for a hiring wave.
When to consider it
RPO suits companies that hire heavily over a given period without wanting to build an internal team. It requires good information sharing: clear criteria, response times, metrics such as time to fill. Even outsourced, recruiting still reflects on the employer: commitments to answer candidates belong in the contract.
Concrete example
A company opening a new warehouse needs to hire 60 people in four months. Rather than building a temporary in-house team, it hands the campaign to an RPO provider, with time-to-fill targets and a written commitment to answer every candidate. The provider reports weekly on hires, pipeline and response times.