Some companies have more open roles than their recruiters can handle, and the gap shows up as roles that stay open for months. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) closes that gap by placing an external team inside your hiring process. Kintra recruiters work in your ATS under your employer brand, to service levels we agree together, and your talent leader gets a report every week.
What is recruitment process outsourcing?
Recruitment process outsourcing is a model in which an employer hands all or part of its hiring to an external provider. The RPO Association, founded in 2005, describes RPO as "a strategic talent solution". A widely cited description attributed to the association adds that the provider owns the design, management and results of the process, which is what separates it from an agency.
In plain terms, an RPO provider behaves like an extension of your talent team. Instead of sending CVs for one role, it runs the process for a set of roles inside your systems, against targets you can check every week. Our guide on what recruitment process outsourcing is covers the history and the variations in more depth.
How big is the RPO market?
Global Market Insights (October 2026) estimated the global RPO market at USD 11.11 billion in 2025 and projects USD 27.16 billion by 2035, with India alone projected to reach USD 1.83 billion. Those are market-research estimates. Growth is not a straight line either: Everest Group reported that the market declined again in 2024 amid delayed hiring decisions and tighter budgets.
Our view: an engagement should be as easy to scale down as it is to scale up. Ask any provider, including us, how the contract handles a hiring freeze.
Which RPO model fits your hiring plan?
There are four common RPO models, and the right one depends on how many roles you have, for how long and in which functions. If you are unsure, start with the narrowest model that covers your plan. Widening an engagement later is easier than unwinding a large one.
| Model | What is covered | Best for | Typical commitment |
|---|---|---|---|
| End-to-end RPO | All or most hiring across functions and levels | Continuous hiring at scale | Long-term, reviewed periodically |
| Project RPO | A defined hiring programme with a clear end | New offices, product launches, GCC ramp-ups | Fixed period tied to the programme |
| On-demand (recruiter on demand) | Embedded recruiters who add capacity to your team | Hiring spikes, or covering a gap in your team | Flexible, often month to month |
| Function-specific RPO | One function, such as technology, sales or finance | Companies where one area drives most hiring | Ongoing within that function |
For example, picture a SaaS company opening a new office in Pune that needs 40 engineers and support staff within six months. A project RPO fits. A company that steadily hires 15 sales roles a quarter is better served by a function-specific model.
What does Kintra take over in an RPO engagement?
Kintra takes over the work that eats recruiter time, while hiring decisions stay with you. SHRM's Recruiting Benchmarking 2026 reports that the median share of nonexecutive positions filled externally rose from 93% in 2025 to 97% in 2026, so most roles now depend on outside sourcing. That sourcing is where we start.
- Sourcing: market maps for each role family, then direct, personalised outreach to passive and active candidates.
- Screening: our two-stage screen, first for fit (skills, experience, salary, location, notice period), then for intent (why they would move, counter-offer risk).
- Scheduling: interview coordination with your panels, plus chasing feedback so candidates are not left waiting.
- Offer management: offer structuring, counter-offer preparation and weekly contact through the notice period.
- Reporting: a weekly pipeline report for every open role.
- Employer brand messaging: one consistent story about your company and the role, in every message and call.
Final interviews, hiring decisions and budgets stay with your team. We advise, but you decide.
How does an RPO engagement start?
An engagement starts with discovery, then service levels both sides agree, then systems access and weekly reporting. As a reference point, SHRM's Recruiting Benchmarking 2026 puts median time-to-fill for nonexecutive positions at 39 calendar days, based on data from more than 4,600 organisations. Your own SLAs should come from your roles and your history, not a national median.
- Discovery: we review your hiring plan, current process, ATS, past time-to-fill and where candidates drop out.
- SLAs agreed together: targets for shortlist turnaround, interview feedback and offer stages. Your hiring managers commit to their side too.
- ATS and tools access: recruiters work in your system, so candidate data stays with you.
- Weekly reporting: from the first week, so you see the pipeline building rather than a surprise at month end.
Our article on recruitment process steps shows how each stage fits together.
Which hiring metrics will you see each week?
You will see the numbers that show whether hiring is on track: time-to-fill, pipeline by stage, offer acceptance, source of hire and early quality-of-hire signals. Morgan McKinley's own vendor case study for an Irish commercial bank (2017) reported cost per hire down 17% for direct hires. Treat that as one vendor's single client, not a benchmark.
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Time-to-fill | How long each role takes, from approval to offer acceptance |
| Pipeline by stage | Where candidates are, and where they stall |
| Offer acceptance | Whether offers are pitched at the right level |
| Source of hire | Which channels produce people who accept and join |
| Quality-of-hire signals | 30, 60 and 90 day check-ins and hiring-manager feedback |
The same case study reported time to hire of 22, 25 and 30 days for volume, mid and senior roles. Your results will depend on your roles and on how fast your interviewers move. For definitions and formulas, read our guide to cost per hire and time to fill.
How does RPO compare with an agency or an in-house team?
Each option suits a different hiring pattern. Agencies work role by role and are usually paid per placement. In-house teams give you full control but carry fixed cost. RPO sits between them. SHRM's State of Recruiting 2025 found median time-to-fill of roughly a month and a half. Over that many weeks, a recruiter carrying too many roles slows every one of them down.
| Factor | Recruitment agency | In-house team | Recruitment process outsourcing |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per placement, usually contingency | Salaries, tools and job boards | Varies by provider, often a management fee, per-hire fees or both |
| Who owns the process | You, with agencies feeding CVs | You | Shared, with the provider running agreed stages |
| Scaling up or down | Easy, role by role | Slow, needs hiring or layoffs | Planned, within the engagement terms |
| Hiring data | Limited to the agency's roles | Full, if your team tracks it | Full, reported weekly |
| Employer brand | Each agency tells its own story | Consistent | Consistent, in your name |
When is RPO not worth it?
Recruitment process outsourcing is not worth it when you have only a handful of roles, or when hiring managers cannot spare time for interviews and feedback. No provider can fix a process where feedback takes weeks, whatever the SLA document says.
If you need two or three hires this year, our permanent recruitment service is simpler. If you have no approved headcount yet, wait until you do.
If your hiring plan has steady volume, share your hiring brief with the roles, locations and timelines for the next two quarters. A recruiter reads it and books a 30 to 45 minute brief call with your talent lead. You then get a written proposal: the model we think fits, the SLAs we believe are realistic and our commercial terms. Nothing starts until you have agreed them, so the first recruitment process outsourcing conversation costs you only that call.