Resources/Glossary/Staffing and agencies
Recruitment process outsourcing, or RPO, is when a company hands all or part of its recruiting to an outside provider that acts as its in house talent acquisition team. The RPO recruiters work under the client's brand, processes and systems.
In one line
When a company hands all or part of its recruiting to an outside provider that acts as its in house team.
An RPO is different from a staffing agency. An agency fills individual roles and is usually paid per placement. An RPO takes ownership of a recruiting process, sometimes end to end, from workforce planning and sourcing to scheduling, offers and onboarding handoff. RPO staff often use the client's ATS, email domain and employer brand, so candidates may never know a third party is involved.
Common models include enterprise RPO, which covers all hiring; project RPO, for a set hiring push such as opening a new site; and function or role based RPO, for one area like sales or tech. Pricing is often a monthly management fee, a fee per hire, or a mix of both.
Companies choose RPO to scale hiring up or down quickly, gain recruiting expertise and get more predictable costs than using many agencies.
For in house TA leaders, RPO is a way to add capacity without permanent headcount. For agency owners, RPO buyers are both potential clients and competitors, because a client that moves to RPO may stop using agencies. Recruiters also find RPO a solid career path with exposure to many hiring processes.
A logistics company plans to open two distribution centers and hire 300 people in six months. Its five person TA team cannot absorb that volume, so it signs a project RPO. The provider adds eight recruiters working inside the company's ATS. After the centers open, the project ends and the in house team handles steady state hiring again.
A staffing agency fills individual roles and is usually paid per placement or per hour worked. An RPO takes over part or all of the recruiting function, working as an extension of the in house team under the client's brand.
Common models are a monthly management fee, a fee per hire, a cost plus arrangement or a mix. Project RPOs may price by the full hiring project. Terms vary widely, so compare total cost against expected hires.
RPO fits companies with high or fluctuating hiring volume, a large hiring project, or a need for recruiting expertise they lack in house. Very small or occasional hiring is usually better served by agencies or direct hiring.
Written by recruiters at Work Insiders. Part of the recruiting and HR tech glossary. Updated October 2026.