Powered by agility, project-based RPO allows organizations to get to talent faster.
By Zee Johnson
The ebb and flow of the hiring market of the last few years suits project RPO since it allows organizations to staff up quickly. Peter Simandl, senior vice president of talent solutions of Resource Solutions, recalls a organization that was pressed to recruit and onboard candidates for temporary field hospitals during the height of COVID-19. The solution? Project RPO-it enabled two large-scale hiring efforts to meet demand, each deployed within 48 hours, resulting in thousands of people recruited and onboarded to various professional roles. “We had more than 75 team members assessing candidates, conducting video interviews and onboarding workers nearly overnight,” recalls Simandl. “And this illustrates the benefits of Project RPO. Speed, but also customization to meet the unique demands of a client.”
Project RPO can help TA leaders build teams by leveraging third-party expertise that will support all their hiring needs-post jobs in the right spots, source candidates, interview them, send hire letters, basically get them in the door on time.
“I think if you’re an organization that needs to hire a certain number of people that are outside of the experience level of your internal recruitment staff, project RPO is the right fit,” explains Simandl. This solution also aligns with six- to 12-month timeframes that come with divestitures, spin-offs, and new locations hiring, as well as highly specialized projects that call for additional bandwidth and expertise. It offers the flexibility and scalability typical of these types of hiring needs, plus has easy access to talent to increase speed to productivity.” 
Where should organizations begin? Simandl recommends that leaders analyze the drivers of the project and ask themselves a series of questions that include the following.
- Will the solution solve bandwidth issues?
- Will it help with headcount restraints?
- By holding off on hiring, will it result in a loss in sales?
- Will talent go to competitors instead?
“If you’re addressing these types of things, then you’ll have a good business case for why project RPO should be outsourced,” he says.
Because this approach comes with management oversight, organizations are freed from the minutiae of how recruiting is getting done and only focus on the results. Plus size doesn’t matter here: project-based RPO fits all categories from small to medium size to enterprise level companies.
Project RPO offers the flexibility organizations need in a rapidly changing world. Not only does it release leaders of meticulous, time and cost consuming tasks, but it helps with a company’s scalability. With a solid project in place, businesses can double their output without doubling their work. Whether organizations need to switch on or switch off, scale quickly, or start building a future-proofed workforce, Simandl says a Project RPO solution can be tailored to all recruitment challenges.
