3 Challenges Growing Companies Face – And How an RPO Can Help

Many growing organizations find themselves at a crossroads when it comes to their talent acquisition strategies. You are competing with large companies for the top talent you need to drive your business, yet lack of brand awareness may have you at a disadvantage. Here are three unique challenges that talent acquisition teams face at growing businesses, and how an RPO partner can help elevate your organization.

1. Competing priorities in other areas of the business. 

TA isn’t the only area of the business that is under resourced and under funded. Marketing and Sales need tools and technologies to help them attract and win new customers. Operations and Finance need ways to streamline their processes and save money. Every department has a wish list of needs that will help them meet their goals.

And with a limited budget and resources, not everyone’s problems can be solved at once. Unfortunately for HR, they often find themselves on the backburner. A Sage study found that 57% of HR leaders shared that resourcing restrictions prevented them from investing in new technology, 53% are currently struggling to make the business case for change and 51% said a lack of vision and leadership in their organization is preventing change.  

While there isn’t an overnight solution here, the best defense against this challenge is developing a strategic business case, using data. An RPO partner can help ensure you’re capturing the right metrics and comparing them to the right benchmarks. A solid foundation of data, of both your own and external metrics, is the fastest way to build a business case for transformation. 

2. A fluid and unpredictable culture. 

One of the greatest unforeseen challenges for growing organizations is how much your culture changes as you scale. Your culture takes on a life of itself during a rapid growth stage, especially when it involves acquiring other companies and opening up offices in new geographies. 

While on the surface this doesn’t appear to be a TA problem, it is. While a changing culture isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does make it a bit more difficult to accurately represent your culture to top candidates during the hiring process. And today more than ever before, employees care about where they work. A Speakap study found that more than half of employees are willing to take a new job at a competitor with a better culture, and 48% said they’d consider working a 60-hour week in exchange for a better culture. 

This is typically where large companies get it right. They understand the importance of culture, and know how to leverage it to engage and attract top candidates. How can smaller, growing companies compete? An RPO partner can’t change your culture, but they can help ensure the employee value proposition is well articulated and you’re portraying it authentically throughout the hiring process. It’s a small but critical step that is a proven way to secure top talent.

3. Talent acquisition is a moving target. 

Generally speaking, you’re not solving one problem with a single solution when it comes to talent acquisition. Filling each role is completely unique based on geography, industry, skill level, team dynamic, hiring manager priorities, and more. There’s not one magic tool or strategy that will solve all of your challenges.

Zero in on growing businesses, and you’ll find even more gray areas. Talent needs often change overnight and the processes used to find talent aren’t as defined and mandated as they are in large, global organizations.

In addition to your own internal challenges, you’re also at the mercy of the state of the labor market. It’s been a tight labor market for well over a year, and there are mixed reviews on if or when that will change. 

While every TA function should be flexible, it is especially true for growing firms. An RPO partner can help control the ebbs and flows of changing hiring needs, offer access to next-generation tools and technologies, and provide strategic direction when things go off course. Check out our blog post sharing six ways an RPO partner provides value beyond filling roles. 

It’s not surprising then, that the latest Everest Group research found that the RPO market is one of the fastest-growing outsourcing segments today, with 20% growth in 2018 and double-digit growth four years in a row and counting. The firm attributes part of this growth to RPO adoption at small- and mid-market companies, as providers expand their service offerings to meet their unique challenges. 

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solutions from Advanced RPO can help you evaluate and improve your hiring processes to get the talent you need to succeed. Contact us today to learn more about our high-touch solutions.