Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) - Korn Ferry

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Recruitment Process Outsourcing |Korn Ferry Consulting

Back to top Recruitment Process Outsourcing

From Talent Acquisition to Talent Advantage

Ready to Outperform? Let's Go

Get More From The Report

Our Scalable Recruitment Process Outsourcing Solutions Help Your Business Succeed

Expectations on TA teams are rising. Talent demands keep shifting. And the market won’t sit still. That’s why TA leaders are turning to smarter, more flexible Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solutions, powered by AI and human expertise. 

Whether you're hiring 10 or 10,000, you need a recruitment engine that’s fast, adaptable, and built for results. Our AI agents and automation work around the clock, while expert recruiters bring market insight and human connection. Together, they deliver hiring that’s faster, more inclusive, and a better experience for all. So your hiring strategy drives the growth your business is ready to handle.  

With Korn Ferry you get more than talent acquisition, you get a talent partner.

Unleashing Potential withKorn Ferry RPO

No two hiring challenges are the same. That’s why our RPO model is built to flex across regions, roles, and recruitment needs. With 3,000+ recruitment experts in 110+ countries supported by the latest AI agents and automation, we help Talent Acquisition teams scale faster, hire smarter, and stay ahead.

Whether you need full-scale transformation or targeted support, we bring the strategy, tech, and expertise to help you build the workforce you need next.

Full or Blended/Hybrid Outsourcing

Reimagine your recruitment. Whether you need end-to-end outsourcing or support for specific roles, markets, or divisions, our RPO solution integrates seamlessly with your team.

Project Recruitment

When hiring demands spike, we support your recruitment projects with speed, scale and precision. Project Recruitment helps you hire 10 or 200+ at speed for launches, expansions, M&A, or specialized skill needs.

AI and Data-Powered Recruitment Technology

Your team needs to move fast. Our tech already is. Korn Ferry Nimble Recruit sources smarter and faster, increasing candidate volume by 50%, cutting interview wait times by 66%, and slashing first-day turnover to under 1%.

Talent Acquisition Consulting

Your TA strategy should do more than keep up, it should lead. We bring clarity, data, and decades of insight to help you build a strategy that performs under pressure and adapts to change. We also help align your TA and broader talent strategies, so your workforce plans are connected.

Flexible Recruitment Services

Pick the recruitment support you need, when you want it. From sourcing, screening, scheduling, event support, staff augmentation and more, pick the right Flexible Recruitment Services for your business.

Business Expansion Services

Expanding into new markets takes more than ambition. It takes the right structure, strategy, and talent. For successful Business Expansion anywhere you go.

How Partnering with Korn Ferry Helped to Transform Talent Acquisition

We could tell you how effective Korn Ferry RPO is, but our clients tell it better. Hear their stories and see why they call working with us, “the stuff dreams are made of."

How partnering with Korn Ferry helped Alcon transform their talent acquisition

Korn Ferry and Westpac discuss what makes a good partnership

Click to read video transcripts

Video Transcripts

1. How Partnering with Korn Ferry Helped Alcon Transform Their Talent Acquisition

Beverly Rouse, Director, Employee Relations: The Korn Ferry staff are very knowledgeable and they're prepared, they're willing to help at any time. Working as a federal contractor, we have statutory requirement and in that we're held accountable. I don't have to worry with the Korn Ferry recruiters.

Ivan Benson, HR Director, US Commercial & Global Franchise Vision Care: We had worked so much with the previous vendor to get it to functional. It wasn't optimal, but it was functional with a lot of hard work. So there was a little apprehension about that change and switching over to another provider, what will we lose in the transition? And that was my anxiety as a HR business partner because you're measured off two things, paying people and getting people in roles. And if you're not doing that, then you're in trouble.

Hanh Demma, Head of University Relations: The partnership has definitely evolved into a relationship where it's seamless for our candidates and for our hiring managers. And so the experience for all respective parties and stakeholders that are involved has turned into a wonderful experience at the end of the day, helps our business, helps our customers and helps our patients.

Jeff Bettinger, VP, Global Head, Talent Management and Organizational Development: Our partnership with Korn Ferry has enabled us to be much more responsive to our end customer, the patient and the doctor in a variety of ways, but most specifically in the speed with which we're able to replace talent when talent happens to leave, meaning the recruiters that they've put on our account, we've been able to up the quality of talent that we're actually hiring into the organization because there's a keen eye for making sure we bring the right talent in. So the partnership is, you know, for me, the stuff that dreams are made of.

2. Korn Ferry and WestPac Partnership

Deanne Barbary, Senior Client Partner, VP, RPO, APAC: Adam, it's great to be here today with you on the couch at Korn Ferry.

Adam Buxton, Group Head of Talent Acquisition, Westpac: Thanks for having me, Deanne. It's great to be here.

Barbary: Adam, Korn Ferry and Westpac have been working together in a recruitment process outsourcing partnership now for two years. And from our perspective, it's been an incredibly successful journey. You were involved in the inception, so really keen to hear from you, you know, what's it been like from a Westpac perspective?

Buxton: You know, from the very start of this journey, I really feel that we've had a very honest, transparent, and collaborative approach to what we're doing. I really feel that Korn Ferry have listened to what Westpac wants to achieve as a business, and we're working together to achieve that.

Barbary: So, Adam, can you please share what this integration has been like from your point of view?

Buxton: We needed to partner with somebody who could bring our candidate journey in line with our consumer brand, and that was the mission from day one. We're constantly putting pressure on each other to raise the bar in a really good way, and we're constantly looking at how we can do things better.

Barbary: So Adam, what are some of the most valuable skill sets that we bring to the table?

Buxton: What I've loved is seeing the team bring that really deep market knowledge to the table. On top of that, the vertical specializations that they have are really valuable.

Barbary: What has this partnership enabled Westpac to do as an organization?

Buxton: It's enabled us to really transition from being a reactive recruitment team to a much more strategic advisory team with the business. So we've got much more of a voice at the table now. We're using data and insights to really drive and inform workforce planning within the business.

Barbary: So from a relationship perspective, how have we changed your life?

Buxton: Oh my goodness. We used to have so many hiring managers coming to us and complaining, and that's absolutely turned around. There's now very little noise, and for me, no noise means... It's excellence, it's gold for me. We're now able as a team to really focus on the much more strategic bigger picture things. And as a team, I feel really proud. I feel like we have the best recruitment team within Australia. So I think working together, we've really raised the bar, so internally my stakeholders are really seeing a very different service coming to them. That's something I'm really proud of, both internally and going out to the external industry, I think we're doing a fantastic job. It would be so easy for us all to rest on our laurels. That absolutely hasn't happened here. We continue to push boundaries and that's fantastic.

Barbary: Thanks, Adam. I'm really proud of the partnership and I'm super excited about the next stage of our journey and our future partnership together.

The Korn Ferry RPO Advantage

Scalable Talent Models

Predictive workforce analysis and adaptable strategies designed from 50 years of proven people science.

AI-Powered Sourcing Excellence

Better-quality candidates, delivered faster through intelligent automation and robust talent pools.

Global Reach, Local Expertise

3,000+ RPO specialists across 110+ countries with deep cultural knowledge and sector expertise.

Change Management That Works

Smooth implementation, continuous improvement, and guaranteed success from day one.

Our experts

• 

  Jeanne MacDonald

  Chief Executive Officer, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)

• 

  Courtney Cook

  Senior Vice President of Global Client Solutions, Korn Ferry RPO

• 

  Pip Eastman

  Managing Director, RPO APAC, Global Market Leader, Financial Services, RPO

• 

  Juliana Barela

  Senior Vice President & General Manager, North America RPO, Senior Client Partner

• 

  David Ellis, PhD

  Senior Vice President, Talent Transformation

• 

  Richard Shea

  Managing Director, Global Expansion, Markets

• 

  Liz Bickley

  Senior Client Partner & Chief Operating Officer, Korn Ferry Health

View All Our Experts

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See All Related Insights

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The Definitive Guide to RPO

What to look for when assessing Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) providers

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No One Knows Talent Acquisition Like Us. Talk to an Expert

RELATED SOLUTIONS

Our talent acquisition services help you move past transactional hiring to create a seamless, end-to-end strategy that aligns with your business goals, adapts to change, and sets you up for long-term success.

• Talent Acquisition

  Attract and retain the right people at every level of your organization by leveraging our scientific research and practical expertise.

• Executive Search

  We bring in the best leaders for your business, team and culture, and we build the right compensation packages to keep them motivated and on top of their game.

• Professional Search

  We find and assess professionals in middle and upper management—for single or multiple roles. We help you pinpoint the candidates with the best chance of being a successful long-term fit for your business.

• Interim Executives & Professionals

  We find high-performing individuals from the c-suite to professionals to supplement and enable your workforce according to your timeline.

• Project Recruitment

  We help you quickly fill large numbers of roles when you need to—like during a merger or acquisition, relocation, expansion or to support a new product launch.

FAQ for RPO

What is recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)?

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is the process by which a business outsources part of or all its recruitment function to an external partner. This allows an organization who wants to improve recruitment to benefit from an RPO organization like Korn Ferry – we use our global outsourcing recruitment teams of local experts, our 50 years of people science and predictive AI technology to better understand your goals and how to accomplish them together.

Whether your organization has specific roles to fill or simply wants to enhance their RPO staffing with a specialized team, RPO offers greater flexibility and agility in the search for the best talent. The most effective RPO solutions are customized to fit the unique recruiting needs of an organization based on the present market.

Why is RPO important and when should you outsource recruitment?

Talent Acquisition is a crucial part of a business’ strategy and RPO can help make talent acquisition a strategic business function. Every company needs to build and run recruiting as a highly professional, agile, and flexible solution that gives the business access to the right talent, in the right place, at the right time. Every day a business goes without filling a position is a day that business is not operating at maximum capacity. Instead of rushing to replace employees with poor-fit candidates and risking higher employee turnover, partnering with an RPO company like Korn Ferry will be a highly effective outsourcing solution to today’s recruiting challenges.

A team of RPO experts will help create custom candidate profiles, fill key positions, and empower diversity. The key to recruitment process outsourcing at Korn Ferry is in the alignment between recruitment goals and long-term business objectives.

What are the benefits of recruitment process outsourcing?

An effective recruitment process outsourcing solution creates the opportunity to reduce costs, add efficiency to hiring, find better candidates and minimize time to hire. Outsourcing recruitment opens organizations up to expertise in nearly every field, removing restraints that expanding may present; meaning new territories, new ideas and new goals no longer have the same boundaries. RPO partners excel at working in tandem with internal teams, delivering on the strategy and goals of the business, and combining additional skills and expertise to form an integrated, holistic recruitment approach.

What are the KF consultation steps of Recruitment Process Outsourcing?

Korn Ferry will work to understand your business’ current state and future goals, and will make a plan to be the bridge between both. This process works best in a partnership that is transparent at each step. It continues to evolve and grow throughout the partnership to remain up to date with the needs of our clients.

What is the importance of talent recruitment in an organization?

It is imperative that companies develop smart, forward-thinking solutions for talent discovery that maximize resources, deliver results efficiently and make the most of their time and investment. Business thrives on recruitment getting the best fitting candidate in each job every time. A process that can anticipate the needs of an organization and flex with it can reduce your hiring costs, speed up hiring and help you find quality candidates so you can grow faster with motivated, high-performing teams.

What’s the difference between an RPO recruiter and a RPO staffing company?

When companies outsource all or part of their hiring and recruitment processes, they partner with a third-party RPO company. An RPO provider is a strategic partner that works closely with organizations to understand their strategy, processes, technology, people, brand and culture. An RPO provider’s goal is to build strategic solutions that help organizations find the best candidates for roles as quickly and efficiently as possible, immediately and in the future.

Staffing agencies are more transactional and less strategic than RPO providers. They’re focused on solving an immediate problem: sourcing candidates for a specific role or temporary, contract or seasonal positions. They don’t have expertise in handling aspects of the talent acquisition process other than recruitment. They don’t offer consulting or strategic services designed to improve a company’s overall talent acquisition.

What’s involved in RPO services?

RPO services vary depending on your needs. An RPO provider will help you diagnose the current status and work hand in hand with you. You can choose full-service RPO solutions, where a provider supports you in evaluating and changing your approach to talent acquisition and takes care of every aspect of the recruiting process. These companies manage sourcing, screening, assessing, interviewing and even onboarding candidates, all while informing strategy.

You may also want to outsource recruitment for just one set of jobs or one location, or outsource a portion of the recruitment process that has become a challenge. RPO services take the processes out of your team’s hands so they can focus on higher-priority work.

What should you look for in a top RPO company?

Leading RPO companies take a holistic approach to talent acquisition and apply talent science, technology and process to solve recruitment problems. Top RPO companies realize that they can’t take a “one-size-fits-all” approach to recruitment and bring the experience, assets and science to the table to solve problems. Every organization is different and needs an agile, personalized approach to RPO.

The best option is likely a firm with experience in a variety of areas. Look for experience in talent acquisition, talent management, digital recruiting technology and organizational consulting. This way, your recruitment processes benefit from a micro and a macro view. With the help of a top RPO company that takes a holistic approach to RPO, you’ll see the impact your people make on an individual, team and enterprise level.

You’ll also want to work with an RPO company that views you as a partner. The ideal partner will strive to understand your people, workflows, culture, market and industry. And they’ll be able to use their expertise to determine the best RPO solutions to propel your business forward.

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