How RPO Services Enhance Cultural Fit in Outsourced Recruitment

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provides a powerful strategy for companies prioritizing team compatibility in their talent acquisition efforts. It has the expertise and tools to identify culturally fit candidates during hiring.

If you want to learn more about ensuring cultural fit in outsourced recruitment, this article is for you. It will explore how this business process outsourcing model can help you find applicants who align with role requirements, core values, work style, and long-term vision. Read below to learn more!

What is cultural fit, and why does it matter?

Cultural fit defines how well a candidate’s values, beliefs, and behaviors align with the hiring organization’s. It encompasses: 

• Communication styles  
• Attitudes toward project management 
• Collaboration strategies 
• Preference in leadership 
• Decision-making 

Hiring for cultural fit builds cohesive teams, enhances employee engagement, and reduces costly turnover. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a bad hire could cost up to 200% of an employee’s annual salary. 

It is vital in a remote or hybrid environment. Values and work style alignment can bridge geographic distances and strengthen virtual collaboration. 

What is recruitment process outsourcing?

To understand RPO, let’s discuss BPO. Traditionally, business process outsourcing involves delegating routine back- and front-office functions, including recruitment and hiring, to third parties. This decision leads to several BPO advantages, such as: 

• Cost reduction 
• Increased efficiency 
• Scalability 
• Focus on core business 

BPO has become widespread over the years, with 57% of organizations outsourcing recruitment. However, as hiring processes become more complex and competition intensifies, companies must learn to acquire talent strategically. This is where RPO becomes valuable.  

RPO teams offer a more specialized approach to talent acquisition. They provide deep expertise, precision, and tailored support for the following recruitment functions: 

• Sourcing and candidate identification 
• Screening and assessment 
• Interview coordination 
• Offer management 
• Onboarding 
• Technology and infrastructure 
• Reporting and analytics 
• Employer branding 

They also consider cultural fit when hiring, a topic discussed in the following section. 

How RPO services help ensure cultural fit in outsourced recruitment

RPO isn’t just about cost reduction or volume hiring. It’s a strategic extension of a company’s talent acquisition program. Top-tier RPO providers recognize that culture is not just a “nice-to-have” but a core component of hiring success. 

Here’s how RPO teams enhance cultural fit in outsourced recruitment: 

1. Understand the company’s work culture from the start

Before posting a job or sourcing a candidate, RPO providers invest significant time in understanding your company’s mission, values, and work environment. This deep discovery process lays the foundation for value-aligned hiring. 

Their main approaches involve: 

• Culture discovery sessions. RPO teams collaborate with HR and managers to pinpoint key cultural aspects that define your workplace. Examples include autonomy, collaboration, pace, risk tolerance, and problem-solving.
• Stakeholder interviews. Insights from various team members help RPO providers accurately understand your work culture beyond formal documentation.
• Cultural scorecards. Many RPO firms tailor scorecards to assess skills, experience, and soft skills, such as emotional intelligence, adaptability, and work style preferences.

These tactics help you hire people who fit and thrive in your company culture, not just fill roles. 

2. Attract candidates with shared values

After determining the cultural criteria, RPO providers leverage their extensive networks and sophisticated sourcing tools to identify qualified, aligned candidates.  

Their primary strategies for achieving cultural fit include: 

• Focused employer branding. RPO specialists help develop messaging that effectively communicates your culture across job postings. They might emphasize diversity, innovation, autonomy, or team collaboration.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data analysis. Modern RPO systems utilize AI and real-time analytics to identify experienced candidates online who fit your culture.
• Employee referrals. RPO teams utilize their network to find referrals who understand and embody your values.
• These approaches can help build a pool of candidates who might be interested in the job, work environment, and employer brand.

3. Screen for more than just qualifications

Going beyond qualifications, RPO providers implement structured, multi-layered screening techniques. This enables them to assess a candidate’s skills and cultural fit, resulting in more impactful hires in outsourced recruitment. 

Their key strategies include: 

• Behavioral interviews. RPO teams might ask situational and behavioral questions about how candidates solve problems, collaborate, and adapt to different work environments.
• Psychometric testing. Personality assessments and values inventories help objectively assess a candidate’s potential cultural fit and preferred work style.
• Scenario-based evaluations. Simulations and case studies can evaluate whether a candidate’s decision-making approach aligns with the company’s leadership style and workflow.
• Culture fit rubrics. Employing standardized rubrics supports a consistent and objective assessment of cultural fit across all candidates throughout the hiring process.

By applying these methods consistently and at scale, RPO services ensure cultural fit in outsourced recruitment. Hiring decisions are comprehensive, objective, and strategically aligned with strong job performance and a cohesive organizational culture. 

4. Collaborate during interviews

An industry report reveals that 68% of candidates believe their application experience reflects a company’s treatment of its people. This includes interviews.  

Similarly, the process provides recruiters with invaluable insights into the person’s potential cultural fit. As embedded partners, RPO providers actively collaborate with you throughout the hiring process. They often participate in panel interviews and guide internal teams in assessing team cohesion and effectiveness. 

They achieve this through: 

• Structured panel interviews. RPO providers collaborate with hiring managers to develop questions that assess a candidate’s alignment with the company’s values and culture.
• Interview training. They train your internal team members to recognize cultural cues and evaluate candidates holistically.
• Bias mitigation. Having diverse perspectives during interviews reduces the risk of discrimination and contributes to more inclusive decisions.

Involving internal stakeholders early and often makes finding a culturally fit employee a shared responsibility. 

5. Embed culture during onboarding

Finding the right candidate is only the initial step. RPO providers extend their involvement in the onboarding process to achieve long-term integration and facilitate genuine cultural alignment for new hires. 

Here’s how they do it: 

• Developing customized onboarding plans. RPO teams help design onboarding programs highlighting the company’s cultural norms, preferred communication styles, and internal practices.
• Facilitating mentorship pairing. Strategically matching new employees with experienced mentors can accelerate their understanding and integration into the organizational culture.
• Implementing feedback loops. Conducting post-onboarding check-ins and surveys provides valuable insights into the new hire’s cultural alignment, the support they received, and their level of engagement.

Strong onboarding supports lasting cultural fit in outsourced recruitment. By customizing onboarding, pairing mentors, and gathering feedback, RPO providers help new hires integrate smoothly and align with company culture from day one. 

6. Derive insights for continuous improvement

The most effective RPO partners provide ongoing reporting and analytics that can continuously refine your recruitment strategies and strengthen cultural alignment. 

Here are a few ways RPO teams can help ensure cultural fit in outsourced recruitment through data-driven insights: 

• Tracking cultural fit key performance indicators (KPIs). Metrics such as employee retention rates, engagement scores, and performance reviews reveal how well new hires integrate with and embody the company’s culture.
• Gathering voice-of-candidate feedback. Actively collecting candidate feedback during the recruitment process can highlight discrepancies in expectations or their perceptions of the company culture.
• Implementing continuous improvement. Leveraging real-time hiring data and analytics can help you iterate on sourcing strategies, employer branding messaging, and assessment tools to improve the cultural fit of future hires.

This ongoing feedback loop keeps cultural fit a flexible, evolving part of your hiring strategy, not a one-time effort. 

The bottom line

RPO services provide a scalable, data-driven, and personalized approach to cultural alignment. This can significantly help you consistently make strategic, people-first hiring decisions. 

From sourcing to onboarding, RPO teams serve as stewards of your company’s culture. They ensure every hire brings you closer to a more cohesive, engaged, and high-performing team. 

If you’d like to learn more about ensuring cultural fit in RPO, let’s connect!