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RPO case study: personal care company reduces time to hire by 30%.

A woman with straight black hair, wearing a green shirt, looks to the right. She is seated and in a work setting. Colleagues are behind her, out of focus.

Company’s Japan headquarters makes over its recruitment processes to overcome hiring challenges and reduce reliance on third-party talent agencies

client
global personal care company

goals/challenges
From having too many talent suppliers to a lack of headcount on its talent acquisition team, the company sought external support to streamline its recruiting practices.

solution
A recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) program was implemented, including direct permanent talent sourcing and agency management, for a consistent and more efficient talent acquisition strategy.

key results
Since adopting RPO, the company reduced time to hire by nearly 30%, experienced a 79% offer acceptance rate and increased direct permanent talent sourcing to nearly 40%.

when recruitment needs a makeover

For this large, global personal care company, hiring the right talent is key to delivering its cosmetic, skin care, hair care and perfume products around the world. But its office in Japan faced significant challenges in sourcing and hiring the right people to support its operations in the country.

One of the biggest obstacles was the resignation of the team’s talent acquisition lead. This meant that the company’s HR business partner had to drive the recruitment function, taking time away from other business critical tasks.

While the company worked with 15 agencies to support talent demand, this also led to some challenges, including a long time-to-fill rate of over 100 days on average. As a result, the company wanted to reduce its reliance on agencies and source talent directly to shorten its time to hire and get talent on board more quickly.

Overcoming these challenges, along with the overall goal of reducing costs, led the company to seek external support and expertise.

the foundation of a strong talent acquisition strategy

Working with Randstad Sourceright, the company adopted a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) program to reduce its reliance on third-party agencies and speed time to hire.

The RPO was designed, built and tested to meet the company’s most pressing talent acquisition needs. With instant access to expert recruiters, the company sped up recruitment immediately.

By removing many of the administrative tasks of recruitment, the internal team can focus on key initiatives like improving communication and working to increase diversity. They are free to set up workshops to educate candidates who might be hesitant to work in personal care on the benefits of working for the company. The program also includes educating key stakeholders on recruiting best practices.

Since implementing RPO two years ago, the company continues to benefit from this model when hiring for all positions, ranging from finance, HR, IT, logistics, procurement, sales and marketing, project management and more.

Key to the program’s success are regular check-ins between stakeholders. This helps ensure alignment on planning and execution, and that the company continues to conduct its recruiting activities as efficiently as possible.

a bold new look for recruiting

Since implementing the RPO program, the company has significantly improved its recruiting strategies and ability to source, attract and hire talent for its Japanese operations.

Overall, the company has reduced time to fill considerably, getting candidates into roles nearly 30% faster than before. It has also improved its offer acceptance rate from 62% to 77%, highlighting the program’s effectiveness in hiring right-fit talent.

Through the program, the company is sourcing more permanent talent directly as well. It has reduced its reliance on agencies, moving from 15 agency partners to just 10.

With most talent acquisition activities managed through the RPO, the company’s HR team can focus on other important areas, such as planning for its future talent needs.

> learn more about the benefits of recruitment process outsourcing