What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing where an employer transfers all or part of its recruitment processes to an external service provider.

What are the benefits of RPO?

Engaging an RPO provider can help reduce time to hire by up to 40% and deliver cost savings of more than 50% in the first year.

How does RPO differ from traditional recruitment?

Unlike traditional recruitment agencies, RPO providers manage the entire recruitment process, offering strategic guidance and embedding themselves within the client's HR function.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) FAQs

Recruiting the right talent in the maritime and shipping sectors comes with unique challenges, from sourcing highly specialised professionals to managing fluctuating hiring demands. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a strategic solution that helps businesses streamline hiring, reduce costs, and access top talent efficiently.

In this FAQ section, we answer the most common questions about RPO, including how it works, its benefits, and why it is an ideal solution for maritime companies looking to improve their recruitment strategy.

What is RPO?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a strategic recruitment solution where you partner with an expert RPO provider, like Faststream, to manage part or all of your recruitment activities. It is more than just outsourcing, RPO acts as an extension of your team, streamlining your hiring process, enhancing candidate quality, and ensuring efficiency.

With tailored solutions, advanced technology, and industry expertise, RPO helps you attract, hire, and retain top talent while reducing costs and improving your overall recruitment outcomes.

How is RPO different from traditional recruitment?

Traditional, or contingent recruitment, focuses on filling individual roles on a need-by-need basis. Our RPO solution offers a strategic partnership, covering some or all of your recruitment lifecycle and delivering scalable, data-driven solutions.

Are there different types of RPO?

Yes, our RPO solution can be tailored to you, but broadly the types of RPO solutions we offer include:

RPO Project: On-demand support for specific hiring needs or projects.

RPO Modular: Responsible for recruitment for defined roles, skills, seniority levels, business units or locations/regions.

RPO Full: Responsible for designing and managing recruitment processes and results and results across all levels and locations.

Do I need to work with a Maritime RPO specialist?

Yes, partnering with a maritime RPO specialist, like Faststream is highly beneficial. Unlike general RPO providers, a maritime-focused partner understands the unique challenges of the industry—such as sourcing hard-to-find talent, adhering to global compliance requirements, and navigating competitive markets. With access to extensive talent networks and tailored strategies, a maritime RPO specialist ensures you attract the right candidates while meeting operational and legal demands. It’s a strategic advantage that can significantly enhance your recruitment outcomes and business success.

How do I find the right RPO partner?

Finding the right RPO partner starts with identifying a provider that aligns with your business needs. Look for key qualities such as industry expertise, flexibility in services, proven results, and a strong cultural fit. A great RPO partner should have a track record of delivering tailored solutions, deep knowledge of your sector, and the ability to act as an extension of your team. They should also offer advanced technology, transparent reporting, and a commitment to understanding your goals.

What are some of the reasons your clients have partnered with Faststream for RPO?

Our clients partner with Faststream Recruitment for RPO because they are looking for a solution that aligns with their unique recruitment challenges. Here are some of the key reasons:

High-Volume Recruitment Needs: Many clients face large-scale hiring demands, such as staffing for new vessel projects or expanding operations, and need a partner to manage the process efficiently.

Struggles with Niche Roles: Finding specialised maritime talent can be challenging, and clients rely on us to source hard-to-find professionals.

Desire for Improved Hiring Processes: Clients often seek to streamline their recruitment, reduce time-to-hire, and enhance the quality of candidates.

Limited Internal Resources: When internal HR teams are stretched, clients trust us to provide the expertise and bandwidth they need.

Global Expansion Goals: For companies entering new regions or markets, RPO offers the support and local insights they need to succeed.

Is RPO suitable for small maritime businesses or start-ups?

We can tailor our RPO solution for businesses of any size, whether you are a start-up or a large maritime business, and everything in between. For smaller businesses, RPO can provide you with the recruitment expertise and resources of a larger talent acquisition team without the overheads.

How does RPO address talent shortages in the maritime sector?

We leverage our deep maritime industry knowledge, global networks, and innovative sourcing strategies to find hard-to-reach talent, whether it is for seafarers, technical specialists or more senior hires.

Can RPO help with high-volume recruitment for new vessels or projects?

Our RPO Project solution is ideal for scaling up recruitment efforts for project-specific needs, such as new builds, fleet expansions, project wins, or entering new markets.

We can also help with Employer of Record and International Payroll Solutions.

Can RPO help with hiring during new market entries or expansions?

Yes, absolutely. Our RPO service provides market mapping, talent availability insights, compensation advice, and tailored recruitment strategies to support your business's growth in new locations or sectors.

How long is an RPO contract?

Our RPO solution is tailored to you and your needs, but typically contracts start from three months to two years.

Can RPO be customised to my business needs?

Yes, we want our RPO solution to work for you. Our RPO experts will talk with you about your needs and provide expertise on the solution that they think will work best for you. Depending on your recruitment goals and challenges, we broadly offer three types of RPO, including:

RPO Project: On-demand support for specific hiring needs or projects.

RPO Modular: Responsible for recruitment for defined roles, skills, seniority levels, business units or locations/regions.

RPO Full: Responsible for designing and managing recruitment processes and results and results across all levels and locations.

What support does Faststream's RPO team provide after a hire is made?

We offer post-placement support to ensure smooth preboarding and onboarding processes, successful integration, and long-term retention of new hires.

How do I measure the success of an RPO partnership with Faststream?

The success of an RPO partnership can be measured in multiple ways. From the quality of hires, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, retention rates, and candidate experience feedback. Our regular communication and collaboration will ensure any adjustments required in a timely manner.

Will RPO save my business money?

Our RPO solution reduces costs by improving hiring efficiency, minimising time to fill, and increasing the quality of new hires, ultimately saving you money on recruitment and operational expenses.

How long does it take to implement an RPO solution?

Implementation times will vary depending on the scope and size of the RPO solution you choose. For most RPO solutions, this will take no more than a few weeks, but we will always work with you to meet your timelines whilst ensuring the quality of the service.

What parts of our recruitment process can RPO manage?

RPO can cover as little or as much as you desire. From workforce planning, sourcing, and screening to onboarding and post-placement care. It can also include employer branding, tailored salary surveys and benchmarking, and diversity hiring initiatives.

How does RPO improve the candidate experience?

Your Faststream talent acquisition team will be an extension of you and will take a full brief on how you want to be represented in the maritime marketplace. Our RPO service ensures a consistent and professional hiring process, with personal communication, timely updates, and a seamless journey from application to onboarding. This creates a consistent and positive impression of your brand and attracts the best talent.

How can RPO enhance our employer branding?

Our recruitment experts in tandem with you and our in-house marketing team can help create and promote a strong employer value proposition (EVP). Leveraging dual-branded advertising, a dedicated careers page, and targeted attraction campaigns to position you as an employer of choice in the competitive maritime market.

Can RPO handle fluctuating recruitment needs?

Our RPO service is fully scalable to your requirements. Whether you need support with a short-term project, or an ongoing full-service solution, our RPO service adapts to match your hiring requirements.

Can RPO help with recruitment in multiple locations/regions?

We pride ourselves on our access and connections to global maritime and shipping talent, we have connected employers and candidates in over 65 countries. We have dedicated teams who cover recruitment in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

We can also help with Employer of Record and International Payroll Solutions.

How does RPO use technology to improve recruitment?

Faststream utilises advanced applicant tracking systems (ATS), automation coupled with human interaction, and data-driven insights to optimise sourcing, improve candidate experience, and increase efficiency in recruitment processes.

Will I have access to reporting?

Yes, we will agree with you on the frequency of reporting and the key metrics that are the most valuable to you. The majority of our partners use either monthly or quarterly reporting with regular recruitment updates and collaboration in between.

Key metrics include examples such as applications, screening, CV submittals, first interviews, interview-to-offer ratio, job offer rejections, job offers acceptance rates, placements, application-to-hire ratio, time to hire, time in stage (hiring velocity) and cost per placement.

Will I lose control of my recruitment process?

Not at all. RPO acts as an extension of your team. Your Faststream talent acquisition team will work collaboratively with you to ensure alignment with your company's values, goals, and hiring requirements.

How does RPO support diversity in maritime hiring?

We believe that diversity and inclusion are pivotal to driving excellence and innovation in maritime and shipping. Our commitment to these principles is integral to our recruitment services, helping you build dynamic, forward-thinking teams. We utilise inclusive sourcing channels, bias-free job descriptions, and diverse candidate pools to help maritime businesses build more innovative and representative teams.