RPO vs. Traditional Recruitment: What’s Right for You?
Hiring is no longer just about filling seats—it’s about building the right teams, faster, and with precision.
Whether you’re scaling in Southeast Asia or launching a new product function, your recruitment model plays a huge role in how well and how quickly you grow. But should you go with traditional recruitment… or switch to Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?
At Sabio Advisory, we often guide our clients through this decision, especially those hiring through our partner arm, Dart Solutions Singapore. In this post, we’ll break down the differences and help you figure out which model suits your hiring goals best.
What Is Traditional Recruitment?
In a traditional recruitment model, you engage an external recruiter on a per-hire basis, often through a placement fee—typically 15%–25% of the annual salary.
When it works well:
- You’re hiring for a one-off role
- You want a broad list of candidates to choose from
- You’re okay managing the rest—interviews, feedback, negotiation
Limitations:
- Can be transactional
- No deep integration with your team
- Limited visibility into candidate pipelines
- Costly for high-volume or hard-to-fill roles
What Is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)?
RPO means embedding a recruiter directly into your hiring process. Through Dart Solutions, we assign you a dedicated recruiter or team who works as an extension of your business—handling sourcing, screening, interview coordination, reporting, and more.
When it works well:
- You’re scaling across functions or regions
- You need structured, ongoing hiring support
- You want more ownership over the talent pipeline
- You prefer to partner long-term and align closely on brand fit
RPO vs. Traditional Recruitment: Quick Comparison
| Feature | Traditional Recruitment | RPO via Dart Solutions |
| Engagement Type | Per hire (one-off) | Monthly retainer |
| Ideal Use | One-off or urgent hires | Ongoing hiring or team buildout |
| Recruiter Access | Project-based, limited access | Embedded in your team |
| Candidate Ownership | Often recruiter-led | Client owns the pipeline |
| Pricing | 20–25% of annual salary | SGD 5,000/month or project-based |
| Hiring Visibility | Limited updates | Real-time access & reporting |
Signs You’ve Outgrown Traditional Recruitment
You might benefit from switching to RPO if:
- You’re working with multiple recruiters but seeing overlap or low returns
- Your hiring needs span more than one role or location
- You’re spending too much time chasing updates or coordinating interviews
- Your in-house team is overstretched and needs immediate support
- You want a more data-driven, consistent hiring engine
Why Dart Solutions?
Through Dart Solutions, we offer modular RPO setups depending on your scale, urgency, and team maturity.
This kind of collaborative, focused execution is difficult with traditional recruitment alone.
Final Thoughts
Both traditional recruitment and RPO have their place. If you’re doing low-volume, ad hoc hiring, a placement-based model might be sufficient. But if you’re planning to scale, reduce time-to-hire, or bring structure to a chaotic recruitment process—RPO is worth considering.
At Sabio Advisory, we help clients navigate both—offering traditional recruitment and full-scale RPO through Dart Solutions.
📩 Want to explore which model fits your goals? Reach out to us at consultants@sabio-advisory.com
🔗 Or visit www.sabio-advisory.com to learn more.
