Recruitment Outsourcing Sees Dramatic 2006 Growth

April 11, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A survey by a St. Petersburg, Florida-based HR research firm has found that more than a third (34.4%) of companies have outsourced parts of their recruiting function, compared with 15.4% in 2005.

A news release by the Institute for Corporate Productivity said the positions leading the way in third-party recruiting outsourcing are executives (56.5%) and experienced professionals (43.5%). The least-outsourced function is supervisors, at 14.5%.

While outsourcing has doubled, the survey found that the total number of staff devoted to recruitment after outsourcing did not decrease. In fact, in most cases it increased.

“This actually makes a lot of sense,” said Jay Jamrog, Senior Vice President, Research at the Institute. “We’ve all heard about the ‘war for talent’ and seen the demographic projections. As talent becomes a scarce commodity, companies are naturally applying more resources, both internal and external, to solve the problem.”

The survey also found that most companies identify which recruiting measurements are most valuable and regularly report on them. However, the majority do not bother to benchmark their recruiting metrics vs. those of similar companies, their vertical industry or globally.

When measurement is conducted, the study found that 75.5% of responding companies feel that measuring total job openings is most valuable, and more than 71% report on their metrics either monthly or quarterly.


The Recruiting Function Practitioner Consensus Survey was conducted by the Institute, in conjunction with HR.com, in March 2007. A total of 188 organizations responded.

For more information contact Greg Pernula at pernula@i4cp.com or via phone at (727) 345-2226.

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