In this article, you will learn:

1. What is RPO and why is it gaining importance?

2. How does RPO recruitment work in practice?

3. Stages of the recruitment process outsourcing

4. Benefits of RPO for tech companies

5. How to choose an RPO agency in Poland?

6. Cost comparison: RPO vs Success Fee

7. Examples of using the RPO model – case studies

What is RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing)?


Curious about what RPO is and how it supports recruitment processes? Recruitment Process Outsourcing goes far beyond simply outsourcing hiring or parts of the HR function. It’s a long-term strategic partnership in which you gain a dedicated recruiter or an entire team of specialists working exclusively for your company. As a result, they become an integral part of your hiring process – helping shape your strategy, executing recruitment goals, and ensuring the effective acquisition of top talent.

How does RPO recruitment work in practice?


Implementing RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) means entering into a strategic partnership that – like any long-term relationship – requires time to understand each other’s needs. A dedicated RPO recruiter is not just a CV provider but above all a consultant responsible for optimizing the recruitment process, improving sourcing methods, and ensuring precise candidate selection. This enables the RPO agency to identify potential hires perfectly aligned with your organization’s culture and goals, while building a strong talent pipeline. The result: your team is joined by experienced specialists who truly strengthen your business operations.

Stages of Recruitment Process Outsourcing


Recruitment outsourcing in the RPO model provides strategic support for any organization aiming to build a team quickly and effectively without expanding internal HR structures. Partnering with an RPO agency gives you access to experienced recruiters who are fully committed from the start to achieving your business goals. Below are the key stages of implementing recruitment process outsourcing:

The recruitment outsourcing process can be broken down into a few simple steps:

  • Initiating the recruitment process and selecting the RPO agency and recruiter who will join your HR team.
  • Onboarding the recruiter into your organization – understanding your tools, goals, and company culture.
  • Daily collaboration with a dedicated recruiter, fully aligned with your needs.
  • Regular recruitment meetings and feedback sessions to optimize HR processes and improve internal recruitment workflows.
  • Scaling the external recruitment efforts or ending the partnership depending on your plans.

Following these steps ensures a smooth RPO implementation, enabling fast access to top talent and precise management of your candidate pipeline. Regular feedback sessions allow for continuous recruitment process optimization, and the flexibility to scale the cooperation makes outsourcing fully adaptable to changing business demands. As a result, RPO not only streamlines your HR department’s daily operations but also supports the long-term growth of your organization.

Benefits of RPO recruitment for tech companies


RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) is an increasingly popular solution, especially in the IT sector, where competition for skilled professionals is intense. This model gives companies access to a broad candidate pool and the support of experts who manage the entire recruitment process – from needs analysis and sourcing to candidate selection, hiring, and onboarding.

Financial and Operational Benefits


Companies using RPO can reduce recruitment costs by up to 47% annually. These savings come from eliminating the need to build and maintain an in-house recruitment team and from optimizing talent acquisition processes. Additionally, RPO can shorten the hiring time for specialists to just 3–5 weeks – a key advantage in the fast-paced IT environment. The model also offers the flexibility to scale services based on current business needs, allowing the agency to quickly increase recruitment resources during high-demand periods.

Advanced Tools and Methods


RPO providers use premium professional tools such as LinkedIn Recruiter, ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems), sourcing automation platforms, and skills testing tools. In the IT sector, recruiters also rely on specialized sources like GitHub and Stack Overflow to accurately reach top talent. This allows them to quickly and effectively identify candidates, assess their fit with role requirements and company culture, and enhance the overall efficiency of the recruitment process.

Dedicated Recruiter and Company Integration

As many as 68.2% of recruiters indicate that the biggest challenge is finding the right candidates, while 59.1% point to high employee turnover – highlighting the need for professional recruitment support and premium tools offered by RPO agencies.

Mass Recruitment Report 2024, Staffly

In the RPO model, companies often receive a dedicated IT recruiter who works exclusively for them, integrates with the team, and represents the company in all candidate interactions. This person manages the entire end-to-end recruitment process, allowing for better alignment with the organization’s specifics and ensuring consistent communication with candidates. Additionally, all data and contacts remain the property of the company, providing greater control over the process.

Disadvantages and challenges of external RPO recruitment


While the RPO model often brings significant benefits such as faster access to talent and operational flexibility, it’s important to be aware of potential challenges during implementation. Understanding these obstacles helps organizations better prepare for the partnership and avoid unnecessary delays. Below are the key disadvantages and challenges associated with outsourcing the recruitment process via RPO:

Time-consuming recruiter onboarding

  • Full integration requires familiarization with internal workflows, tools (ATS, communication systems), and key KPIs.
  • Initially, this creates an extra workload for the HR team and hiring managers, who must balance ongoing processes with onboarding the external partner.

Adapting to company culture and industry specifics

  • The recruiter must understand the company’s values, internal language, and the specifics of technological or regulatory processes.
  • It’s essential to verify the agency’s experience and references, and if needed, provide supplementary training.

High transparency requirements

  • There must be constant access to reports on the recruiter’s work, candidate pipeline data, and measurable metrics (e.g., time-to-hire, CV-to-interview ratio).
  • Lack of regular status meetings and open communication can lead to delays, misunderstandings, and reduced quality of candidate profiles.

Understanding these challenges allows you to properly prepare your organization for RPO cooperation. A carefully planned onboarding process, choosing an agency with proven experience, and maintaining open, regular communication are all crucial to fully leveraging the potential of recruitment process outsourcing. When implemented properly, RPO becomes an effective extension of the HR team and a true growth driver for the organization.

How to Choose an RPO Agency in Poland?


Choosing the right RPO agency is a key element in successfully implementing external recruitment support. The decision should be based not only on the price of the service, but above all on the quality of processes, experience, and transparency of operations.

Here is a set of criteria to help you select the right recruitment partner:

  1. Experience in recruitment process outsourcing and deep knowledge of the IT industry.
  2. High quality and well-structured onboarding programs for dedicated recruiters.
  3. Reliable references confirming the effectiveness of previous RPO projects.
  4. Professional preparation and organization of recruitment interviews.
  5. Flexible collaboration model and efficient feedback collection and implementation process.
  6. Clear candidate fit presentation and full transparency of actions.
  7. Understanding of Recruitment as a Service offerings and the ability to distinguish them from classic RPO.

IMPORTANT! Avoid partners who offer you a contract first and only then start looking for a recruiter — this means you lose control over the process and over who represents your brand.

Carefully analyzing the above criteria will help you choose an RPO agency that not only delivers the right candidates but also becomes a trusted advisor in shaping your HR strategy. This way, you gain a partner who supports your team’s long-term growth while adapting to your evolving business needs.

RPO recruitment costs vs. Success Fee


The RPO model is based on a fixed, subscription-based fee for the exclusivity of a dedicated recruiter who becomes an integral part of your HR team. Within this subscription, there are no additional charges for submitted CVs or successful hires, providing full budget transparency and predictability.

A hybrid model is also increasingly popular – combining a lower base fee with a success fee for each completed hire. This approach minimizes risk in cases of fluctuating vacancy volumes while also motivating the agency to act quickly and effectively.

When recruitment needs are occasional and limited to individual projects, a traditional success fee where the cost arises only after a role is filled – may be a better fit. However, the RPO model offers cost predictability, deeper integration with the HR team from backlog planning to shared KPIs, and support in employer branding and recruitment process optimization.

Examples of RPO recruitment in practice


The RPO model proves effective in various scenarios – from entering new markets, handling temporary spikes in demand for specialists, to recruiting for roles requiring unique skill sets. Thanks to a strategic partnership, an RPO agency can quickly adapt to the specifics of each challenge and support the company in achieving its HR goals. Below are three case studies illustrating how recruitment process outsourcing brings tangible benefits in practice.

1. International expansion with RPO


Entering a new market often requires rapidly building local HR structures without prior experience or resources. In this case, a U.S.-based IT company entrusted us with the entire recruitment process – from an in-depth analysis of the Polish talent market, including salary expectations, benefits, and competitive landscape, to developing standardized candidate selection procedures.

As part of the cooperation, we implemented a temporary ATS solution and later supported the client in integrating their target system, ensuring smooth information flow and full transparency at every stage. All activities were designed in compliance with Polish and EU data protection regulations, eliminating legal and reputational risks.

As a result, the client was able to focus on developing their technology and market strategy, confident that the recruitment process was running efficiently, aligned with local regulations, and fully scalable.

2. RPO during recruitment peaks


When the Kraków branch of an international bank faced the challenge of hiring several hundred IT specialists in a very short time, traditional in-house recruitment methods proved insufficient. The RPO model turned out to be a perfect solution – our recruiter was embedded directly into the Talent Acquisition team for several months, operating as if they were a permanent team member.

This setup allowed us to immediately implement proven sourcing processes, optimize candidate communication, and run parallel recruitment sprints across multiple technologies. The flexibility of this approach enabled the bank to focus on critical business challenges while avoiding the lengthy onboarding cycle required for new internal recruiters. Once the peak demand period was over, the RPO recruiter seamlessly exited the team, leaving the HR department fully prepared to continue managing the processes internally.

This case clearly demonstrates that recruitment outsourcing can be just as effective for large corporations as for fast-growing startups needing rapid support during periods of intense growth.

3. IT RPO for the automotive and industrial sector: SAP, DevOps, and Cloud-native Hiring


A global manufacturer of automotive and industrial components needed an IT-RPO partner capable of handling complex recruitment in areas such as SAP, DevOps, cloud-native technologies, and solution architecture. The challenges included hard-to-find technical skills and diverse expectations from multiple hiring managers.

Our approach focused on precise candidate targeting with a quality-first mindset, continuously refining the ideal candidate profile based on manager feedback, and offering end-to-end process support – from sourcing and organizing the recruitment process, through consulting on hiring decisions, to finalizing offers.

The result was a significant improvement in recruitment efficiency and an extension of the RPO collaboration to other key IT areas.

Outro: Is RPO recruitment worth considering?


RPO is an effective way to kick-start your hiring process, optimize HR operations, and bring top specialists on board. It works within a flexible recruitment model and offers a competitive edge – especially valuable in the IT industry. If you’re looking for a solution that reduces recruitment costs, streamlines hiring methods, and improves candidate matching, RPO recruitment is definitely an option worth exploring.

Wondering whether RPO is a good investment? Curious about the differences between RPO and recruitment outsourcing? Need support with international expansion? Interested in how RPO works in the IT sector or what the real cost comparison looks like between RPO and traditional hiring models? Get in touch – we’ll be happy to help.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

How is RPO different from traditional agency recruitment?


RPO gives you a dedicated recruiter who works as part of your team. In traditional recruitment, the agency works with multiple clients at once and charges a commission for each successful hire.

Is RPO cost-effective when hiring for just a few roles?


Usually not. RPO becomes a smart investment when you’re running several recruitment processes per month. Otherwise, a success fee model is likely a better fit.

How long does it take to onboard an RPO recruiter?


On average, anywhere from a few days to 2–3 weeks – depending on the complexity of your processes and the tools you use.

Will the RPO recruiter have access to my HR tools?


Yes. That’s why onboarding is so important – the recruiter is integrated into your systems (ATS, calendar, communication tools) and works as a true member of your team.

What if our recruitment needs change after a few months?


The RPO model is flexible. You can scale it up by adding more recruiters or end the collaboration once the project is complete.