Want to establish your Global Inhouse Centre (GIC) or and offshore RPO team?

Go for it. It is challenging than you think. However, when you get it right, it can contribute beyond 50% of your margins.

If you have not outsourced before or do not have an experienced Outsourcing Director to manage the offshore RPO team, here are the top 8 things the recruitment agencies get wrong when outsourcing for the first time.

1. It takes between 6 to 12 weeks to get the offshore sales/recruitment team to get the really off the ground from day one. Key stakeholders rarely budget enough time and money, and the onshore team quits before giving it enough time and a perfect shot towards the solution.

2. You can recruit a Rockstar recruiter on your offshore RPO team, but you must get involved for the successful implementation of the project. Rockstar recruiter will deliver only when you get involved and track the development during implementation and transition of the project. The Rockstar will not be able to deliver until they are aware of your processes, systems and get full support from the onshore team.

3. Outsource and relax is not a successful strategy: Offshore recruitment teams don’t have a magic wand. Just because the offshore RPO team have experienced recruiters and sales professionals, does not mean they will meet your expectations. They must know what your expectations are, be enabled to deliver. Hence your and team’s exclusive involvement is a must. Outsource and relax is as good a strategy as “spray and pray”.

4. If your champions and front-line teams are not committed to the offshore RPO project, they will either create an unhealthy culture for the offshore team to sustain or leave before the project takes off. It is never worth it. Hence, sell the objective, create champions and continuously evolving process for aggressive output.

5. It will be a smooth ride from day one: Things will go wrong in the first 90 days and be ready for it. Everything possible issue under the sun ranging from process errors, candidate complaints, onshore staff rants about how the offshore RPO team keeps contacting them for help, staff attrition, etc. will be the part of process transition. Implementation and transition is the most sensitive phase, and things do go wrong.

6. Post transition, the offshore RPO team will be on autopilot. No way! Many recruitment agencies leave the offshore RPO team to fend for themselves, only leading to process and project failure. You and your team must work with the offshore team as a close-knit unit. Onshore-Offshore, no difference.

7. Changing goalposts: Constantly changing the scope of work, KPIs and process will result in frustrations on both sides. Often the outcome is extreme, i.e. attrition on the offshore team and project failure in many situations as the core objective is unmet.

8. Not conducting reviews: Only relying on the one-sided story has shelved many ideas and projects onshore and offshore both. Conducting an unbiased review on the overall project is critical for both sustainability and growth of the offshore RPO project.

Hence, factoring these barriers from the beginning and working in line to addressing the challenges is fruitful for the success of the offshore RPO project.

Read more about 6 ways offshore RPO team can deliver better results.