The True Cost of Traditional Recruitment
Many businesses underestimate the real cost of hiring. When you factor in job board fees, agency commissions, internal HR time, interview scheduling, and the cost of a bad hire, traditional recruitment can be staggeringly expensive.
The average cost-per-hire in the UK sits at around £3,000–£5,000 for mid-level roles. For specialist or senior positions, this can skyrocket to £10,000 or more. And that's before you account for the hidden costs: productivity loss during vacancies, manager time spent reviewing CVs, and the disruption caused by turnover.
What Is RPO and How Does It Work?
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a model where an external partner takes ownership of all or part of your recruitment function. Unlike traditional agencies that charge per-placement, RPO providers work as an embedded extension of your team.
This means:
The 60% Savings Breakdown
Here's where it gets interesting. Our clients typically see cost reductions of 60% or more when switching to RPO. Here's how:
1. Elimination of Agency Fees
Traditional agencies charge 15–25% of a candidate's first-year salary. For a £40,000 role, that's £6,000–£10,000 per hire. RPO replaces this with a predictable monthly or per-hire fee that's significantly lower.
2. Reduced Time-to-Fill
Our RPO model reduces average time-to-fill by 40%. Faster hiring means less productivity loss, fewer interim staff costs, and better candidate quality (top candidates don't wait around).
3. Lower Turnover
Because RPO focuses on cultural fit and thorough screening, our placed candidates have a 92% retention rate at 12 months - compared to the industry average of 70–75%. Fewer re-hires means fewer costs.
4. Economies of Scale
By managing your entire recruitment pipeline, we can negotiate better rates on job boards, leverage our talent pools, and use technology more efficiently than fragmented approaches.
Real Results from Real Clients
One of our healthcare clients was spending over £250,000 annually on agency fees to fill nursing and allied health positions. After implementing our RPO solution:
Is RPO Right for Your Business?
RPO isn't just for large enterprises. We work with businesses hiring as few as 10 people per year right through to those filling hundreds of roles. The key indicators that RPO could benefit you include:
Getting Started
The first step is a free recruitment audit. We'll analyse your current costs, processes, and pain points, then show you exactly how much you could save with RPO.
Get in touch to book your free consultation today.