Whilst the media continues to report a definite slowdown in overall economic growth, the general consensus is that companies will continue to grow, albeit more carefully than in the last two years. As a consequence, technology business owners across the UK and Europe are seeking out ways to continue growing and acquiring new staff without necessarily paying the increased fees most recruitment agencies have been charging for the last 18-24 months.
While FTSE 250 technology companies have managed to maintain fairly sensible pricing arrangements with recruitment suppliers due to volume and brand, many smaller technology companies have found themselves held to ransom by recruitment suppliers over the last two years. The continuing increase in demand for high quality, skilled, technology staff UK and Europe-wide has not helped this matter.
One option that has already been adopted by many larger businesses ñ both in and outside the technology sector ñ is RPO, or recruitment process outsourcing. As the name suggests, RPO means the complete outsourcing of all recruitment activity to an external provider. Two companies that have already taken full advantage of this business model are Vodafone who have used Alexander Mann Solutions for a number of years now and Microsoft working with Brook Street for its volume customer service and sales resourcing.
According to Hudson, Europe has shown an increasing willingness to try RPO to the extent that the European market was worth in excess of 83.4 billion in 2005. By 2009 the market is expected to reach 113.3 billion, amounting to annual growth rate of 8%.
Until very recently, RPO has only really been an option for larger organisations with volume resourcing requirements and the finances to invest upfront in such a service. However, a new breed of RPO provider has been born over the last couple of years specialising in working with small to mid-sized organisations.
One such provider is Igloo RPO, a specialist RPO provider that works specifically with small to medium-sized companies within the technology sector. Due to the exclusive nature of each of its client relationships and the effective use of eRecruitment technology, Igloo is able to charge significantly less than traditional recruitment companies while offering a much higher level of service. A recent survey of Iglooís clients found that Igloo had typically reduced the hiring cost by 40%.
One convert to the Igloo approach is Justin Passmore, Managing Director of Unique ICT, a specialist IT services and consulting business. Speaking of Unique ICTís experience of recruiting prior to working with Igloo Justin Passmore said, ìAs a small business we did not have the branding to rely on direct applications as a single source of candidates.î.
As with many companies Unique ICT did try their hand at online advertising but found the upfront and repeated costs could not be justified where no response was guaranteed and adverts were lost in a sea of agency adverts.
No stranger to recruitment agencies himself before engaging Igloo, Passmoreís view of the agency approach is typical of other small to mid-sized technology company owners, ì[they] seem to feel they can charge what they want whilst rarely providing a consistent level of service.î
Using a combination of account management, the latest eRecruitment technology and online testing, Igloo is provides a responsive business model that is truly scalable for technology businesses with widely variable hiring needs.
Having been now been a customer of Igloo a while now Passmoreís view is that, ìworking with Igloo has definitely had a positive impact on our growth. Whereas before our growth could quite often be delayed by lack of candidates or the sheer expense of working with companies offering suitable candidates, we are now able to grow as we plan to rather than being dictated to by market conditions and hiring difficulties. Whilst recruitment is still an important part of our growth, it is one area I no longer have to continually worry about.î
RPO Facilitating Technology busiess growth in 2008
Technology companies take advantage of RPO to enable continued expansion despite reports of slowed economic growth
