Recruiting & the Advantages of RPO
RISMEDIA, September 10, 2009—Today’s brokers are being pulled in many directions in an effort to remain (or return to) a profitable business. They are dealing with new legal issues on short sales, revised training, overhead reductions and stressed out agents – all with smaller support staffs. Recruiting has taken a back seat, even though they know that it’s the one sure way to positively impact the bottom line and increase excitement in their office.
Adding experienced, producing agents is a key component of profitability and growth, but most brokers simply don’t have the time to hone their recruiting skills and then work the phones for the dozens of hours required to be successful. For brokers who are focused on leadership and innovation and choose to adopt a sense of urgency in their recruiting, outsourcing may be an option.
Just as many brokers realize cost efficiencies and market advantages by outsourcing technology, marketing or training; outsourcing components of their recruiting through RPO can produce strong results in a cost effective way while still allowing them to maintain their other management priorities.
What is RPO
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of the recruiting process to an external service provider. RPO involves the outsourcing of select recruiting functions or processes to an external provider. This provider serves to provide the necessary skills, tools, technologies and activities to serve as their client’s virtual “Recruiting Department”. While RPO is new to the real estate industry, it has benefited companies in all fields and of all sizes, right into the Fortune 500 space.
What are the advantages of RPO
1. Concentration on Core Business – by reducing the amount of time, effort and energy required to successfully recruit experienced agents, a broker can concentrate more on the core business of his/her office
2. Specialized Expertise – by outsourcing to a company whose sole focus is recruiting, you have a key resource to turn to for knowledge and expertise along with well defined recruiting best practices to ensure the highest level of success
3. Increase Your Value and Visibility – having an executive recruiter call and positively communicate your value proposition to hundreds of agents in your market place will put you and your brand ‘top of mind’ and create excitement about your dedication to growing your office
4. Competitive Advantage – the ability to effectively identify and attract experienced agents is more than a tactical advantage – in a highly competitive market, it is a core capability that will drive the success of your business for the long term.
5. Increased Revenue – adding experienced, producing agents provides an immediate and positive impact to both the bottom line and the excitement level in an office.
Brokers who are constantly looking for ways to get better and stronger will put recruiting and retaining agents as their number one priority. Taking advantage of today’s recruiting best practices and metrics-based process outsourcing is an effective strategy to grow your company today and for the future.
Todd Shyiak is the President of Cogent Step Recruiting.
For more information, visit www.CogentStep.com or e-mail Todd.Shyiak@CogentStep.com.
