What kind of benefits does an RPO have, even for SME?

For a long time, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) was seen as something reserved for large multinational organizations with although many times volatile, but generally high-volume hiring needs. If you were an HR leader or responsible for HR strategies for an SME, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, RPO probably sounded either too complex, too expensive, or you simply never considered it to be designed for companies like yours.

This perception, however, is changing fast. And not just because the labour market has changed a lot, but also because the need for quick access to specialized talent has increased in recent years. Something that for many organizations is not obtainable, especially ones with no or small HR and TA functions. For them, it’s just simply not financially sustainable to maintain a talent acquisition function with the deep expertise or knowledge of the market that would be needed to acquire these sought-after skills quickly and effectively. SMEs across CEE and Western Europe are realising that RPO is no longer about scale or costs alone, but it is about agility, expertise, and resilience.

So what does an RPO programme actually bring to an SME? And why are more mid-sized organisations starting to explore it seriously?

First, let’s ground this in reality. According to multiple European labour market studies, SMEs represent over 99% of all businesses in the EU and employ roughly two-thirds of the private-sector workforce. Yet, they often operate with very lean HR and TA teams, or sometimes without dedicated recruitment expertise at all. Hiring is critical, but it competes with everything else on the priority list.

This is exactly where RPO starts to make sense.

At its core, RPO is not about outsourcing responsibility. It is about extending capability. An RPO partner embeds into your organisation and takes ownership of part or all of your recruitment process, using your employer brand, your tone of voice, and your business priorities as a foundation. For SMEs, this often means finally having access to senior-level recruitment expertise without needing to hire it in-house.

One of the most immediate benefits is predictability. Many SMEs hire in waves. A growth phase, a new client, an expansion into a new market, and suddenly the existing setup is under pressure. RPO introduces planning, forecasting and scalable capacity, so recruitment stops being reactive firefighting.

Let’s see what the data says

Cost efficiency is another area where RPO is often misunderstood. SMEs sometimes assume RPO must be more expensive than using agencies from time to time. In practice, the opposite is often true. Agency fees in Europe typically range between 15–30% of annual salary per hire. RPO models, especially modular or project-based ones, tend to reduce overall cost-per-hire by 20–50%, according to industry benchmarks. The reason is simple: fewer intermediaries, better talent pipelines, and a focus on long-term efficiency rather than single placements.

Quality of hire also improves, and this matters deeply for SMEs. A bad hire in a 50- or 100-person company has a much bigger impact than in a corporation of 10,000. The cost of recruiting, hiring and onboarding a new employee can be as much as $240000. RPO teams work with structured assessments, consistent interview processes and data-driven sourcing strategies, which significantly lowers this risk.

For HR and TA professionals reading this, one of the most underrated advantages is strategic breathing room. Instead of spending the majority of their time on operational tasks, internal teams can finally focus on workforce planning, employer branding, or leadership development. RPO does not replace HR; it enables it to operate at a higher level.

Another critical aspect, especially relevant in CEE, is access to broader talent markets. Many SMEs struggle with local talent shortages but feel unsure about cross-border hiring. An experienced RPO partner brings knowledge of regional labour markets, salary benchmarks, compliance considerations, and sourcing channels across borders. This is particularly valuable when hiring for niche roles or scaling internationally from a relatively small home market.

Your key takeaways

To summarise the most tangible benefits for SMEs, an RPO programme typically delivers:

1. More predictable and scalable hiring capacity
2. Lower and more transparent recruitment costs
3. Improved quality of hire and reduced hiring risk
4. Access to senior recruitment expertise and market insight
5. Stronger candidate experience and employer brand consistency

Importantly, modern RPO is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Many SMEs start with a hybrid or modular model: outsourcing only certain roles, regions or hiring peaks. This flexibility is key. It allows business owners and HR leaders to test the model, build trust and scale up only where it makes sense.

In uncertain economic and political times, something that many CEE-based SMEs know all too well, resilience matters. Companies that can adapt their hiring quickly, without burning out internal teams or overspending on agencies, have a clear advantage. RPO, when done right, becomes less of a vendor relationship and more of a long-term capability partner.

For SME leaders who still see RPO as “not for us”, the real question may no longer be whether you are big enough for RPO but whether your hiring challenges have already become complex enough to justify it.