RPO
7 min Read

On-Demand RPO (Flex RPO): The Complete Hiring Solution

Mayank Pratap Singh
Co-founder & CEO of Supersourcing

Struggling to keep up with sudden hiring demands? 

Your business is booming, but your recruitment process can’t keep pace. You need skilled talent—fast. But traditional hiring models feel slow, rigid, and expensive.

That’s where On-Demand RPO (Flex RPO) changes the game. It’s like having a recruitment SWAT team on standby—ready to jump in when needed. No long-term contracts. No bloated costs. Just fast, flexible hiring exactly when you need it.

Why are more businesses making the switch? And how does it work?

This guide explains why On-Demand RPO outperforms traditional models and how it helps companies manage fluctuating hiring needs without breaking the bank.

Let’s dive in and see why On-Demand RPO could be the perfect fit for your business.

What is On-Demand RPO (Flex RPO)?

On-Demand RPO is a recruitment model that gives businesses flexibility. Instead of locking into long-term contracts, you get recruitment support only when needed. It’s perfect for companies that experience unpredictable hiring spikes or short-term staffing needs.

Imagine you’re gearing up for a big project. You need to hire fast, but your internal team is swamped. Traditional RPO models tie you to lengthy commitments. On-Demand RPO doesn’t. It’s agile, efficient, and there when you need it.

Key Features of On-Demand RPO:

  1. Scalability: You can ramp up or slow down recruitment based on your current needs.

  2. Speed: Quickly deploy recruiters to manage sudden hiring demands.

  3. Cost-Effectiveness: There is no need to maintain a large recruitment team year-round.

  4. Expertise on Demand: Get access to skilled recruiters with industry-specific knowledge.

How Does It Differ from Traditional RPO?

Traditional RPO models usually involve long-term partnerships. They’re great for companies with steady hiring needs. However, when your recruitment volume changes often, traditional models can become a burden.

On-Demand RPO, on the other hand, adapts. It’s like having a flexible, expert recruitment team that you can call in when needed without paying for full-time support when you don’t.

Why Businesses Choose On-Demand RPO:

  • Rapid Growth: You’re scaling fast and need to hire efficiently.

  • New Projects: Starting something big? Get recruiters who understand your niche.

  • Seasonal Spikes: Handle peak hiring periods without long-term costs.

  • Internal Team Overload: Give your staff a break during busy recruitment cycles.

By choosing On-Demand RPO, businesses get the best of both worlds – expert hiring support without the usual strings attached. It’s all about being agile, saving costs, and staying competitive.

How On-Demand RPO (Flex RPO) Works

On-Demand RPO is all about simplicity and flexibility. It’s designed to make hiring easier, faster, and more efficient. Here’s how it typically works:

1. Understanding Your Needs

The process starts with a quick consultation. The RPO provider wants to know your current recruitment challenges. Are you scaling fast? Facing a seasonal hiring surge? Need specialized talent? This helps them understand your specific needs.

2. Creating a Customized Plan

Once the RPO provider knows what you’re up against, they draft a plan that outlines the needed resources, the timeline, and the expected outcomes. The focus here is on flexibility, tailoring the solution to your business rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

3. Deploying the Recruitment Team

Next, the RPO provider assigns recruiters based on your industry and hiring needs. These aren’t generic recruiters; they’re specialists who understand your sector. Whether you’re in tech, retail, healthcare, or any other field, they bring targeted expertise.

4. Sourcing and Screening Candidates

With the team in place, the real work begins. The recruiters start sourcing candidates through job boards, social media, professional networks, and databases. They handle screening, interviewing, and shortlisting, ensuring that only the best fit your criteria.

5. Presenting Qualified Candidates

You’ll receive a shortlist of top candidates. Each profile is thoroughly vetted, with detailed insights into their experience, skills, and cultural fit. This way, your team only spends time interviewing the most promising prospects.

6. Ongoing Support and Adjustments

Hiring isn’t always a straight path. Maybe the role requirements change or the initial candidates don’t fit. On-Demand RPO providers stay flexible, adjusting their approach to ensure you find the right people without wasting time.

7. Seamless Integration with Your Team

Unlike traditional outsourcing, On-Demand RPO is an extension of your HR department. The recruiters collaborate with your internal team, ensuring seamless communication and alignment with your company’s culture and values.

8. Scaling Up or Down as Needed

Once the hiring surge ends, you can scale the RPO support without hassle. No long-term obligations. Just efficient recruitment when you need it, and no costs when you don’t.

Why It Works:
On-Demand RPO is all about speed and efficiency without losing quality. You get a team of experts ready to jump in, handle urgent recruitment needs, and leave when the job is done. It’s perfect for businesses that want to stay agile in the face of changing hiring demands.

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Benefits of On-Demand RPO for Businesses

On-Demand RPO is more than just a flexible hiring solution. It’s a strategic advantage for businesses that need to adapt quickly. Here’s why companies are increasingly turning to it:

1. Flexibility When You Need It

Sometimes, hiring needs come out of nowhere. A new project may kick off. Or your competitor just poached half your team. Instead of scrambling, On-Demand RPO lets you bring in recruiters fast. No waiting. No long-term commitment.

2. Cut Down Your Hiring Time

One of the biggest challenges in recruitment is speed. When you’re short-staffed, every day counts. On-Demand RPO providers are recruitment experts. They already have the networks, tools, and processes in place. That means faster sourcing, screening, and onboarding.

3. Quality Over Quantity

Hiring fast is excellent. Hiring the right people is better. On-Demand RPO brings skilled recruiters who know your industry. They’re not just filling seats. They’re matching skills, culture, and long-term potential. That means fewer hiring mistakes and better retention.

4. Cost-Effective Recruitment

Keeping a sizable internal hiring team can drain resources, especially when hiring needs dip. On-Demand RPO means you pay for recruitment only when you need it. It cuts down fixed costs and keeps your recruitment budget lean.

5. Focus on Your Core Operations

Your HR team already has enough on their plate. Adding recruitment to the mix can stretch them thin. On-Demand RPO hires while your team focuses on what they do best. It’s like having a specialist on call without distractions for your core team.

Why This Matters:
In today’s competitive business world, agility is key. On-Demand RPO gives you that edge, helping you stay ahead without unnecessary costs or commitments. Whether scaling up or adjusting to changes, it keeps your hiring strategy on point.

When to Consider On-Demand RPO (Flex RPO)

On-Demand RPO isn’t just for any business at any time. It’s designed to solve specific challenges and is most valuable in particular scenarios. Here’s when you should seriously consider it:

1. Experiencing a Hiring Surge

Do you suddenly need a lot of new hires? You could have landed a big contract or opened a new location. Scaling up quickly without overwhelming your internal team is tough. On-Demand RPO brings in extra recruitment muscle, so you meet deadlines without compromising quality.

2. Facing Seasonal Fluctuations

Retail, hospitality, and similar industries often experience seasonal peaks. Hiring a full-time recruitment team for short bursts of activity isn’t practical. On-demand RPO provides a flexible, scalable solution that matches your hiring needs during peak times without the long-term costs.

3. Launching a New Project or Product

When launching something new, you need specific talent fast. Whether it’s a tech rollout, a marketing campaign, or a new product line, On-Demand RPO helps you find niche skills without the hassle of permanent recruitment.

4. Dealing with Unexpected Attrition

Losing key employees unexpectedly? It happens. On-Demand RPO lets you fill those gaps quickly, keeping your business running smoothly while you sort out a long-term plan.

5. Managing Recruitment Overload

Your internal HR team can handle regular hiring, but when the numbers skyrocket, they get overwhelmed. On-Demand RPO offers temporary support, helping to clear backlogs and manage urgent hiring tasks without burning out your existing team.

6. Specialized Skill Requirements

Sometimes, you need talent that’s hard to find, such as tech experts, healthcare professionals, or specialized consultants. On-Demand RPO providers have access to niche candidate pools and the know-how to source and screen efficiently.

7. Short-Term or Project-Based Hiring

Do you have a contract to fulfill or a project to complete? Hiring full-time staff doesn’t make sense. On-demand RPO offers a flexible solution where you hire just for the project’s duration. It’s efficient and cost-effective.

Why It Matters:
Understanding when to use On-Demand RPO helps you make smarter, more strategic hiring decisions. It’s about knowing when flexibility is more valuable than stability and using that to your advantage.

Case Study: Accelerating Swiggy’s Engineering Recruitment with Supersourcing’s On-Demand RPO

Client Overview: 

Swiggy, a leading food delivery platform in India, experienced exponential growth, necessitating a swift expansion of its engineering and IT teams to support its scaling operations.

Challenges Faced by Swiggy:

  1. Rapid Scaling Needs: Swiggy promptly required a significant number of skilled engineers to keep up with its fast-paced growth.

  2. Time-Consuming Recruitment Process: Identifying and onboarding top-tier engineering talent was lengthy and resource-intensive.​

  3. Balancing Operational Growth with Recruitment: Managing large-scale recruitment while ensuring seamless operational growth posed a substantial challenge.​

Supersourcing’s On-Demand RPO Solution:

Supersourcing partnered with Swiggy to streamline its hiring process and facilitate the rapid recruitment of top engineering talent. The tailored approach included:​

  1. Streamlined Recruitment Process: By simplifying Swiggy’s recruitment procedures, Supersourcing enabled faster hiring cycles. Access to a refined pool of candidates allowed Swiggy to quickly identify and onboard highly skilled engineers, effectively reducing hiring times by half compared to traditional methods.​

  2. Building a Dedicated Team: Over three years, Supersourcing assisted Swiggy in expanding its engineering team by over 30 professionals. This involved sourcing candidates who met technical qualifications and aligned with Swiggy’s fast-paced, innovative culture.​

  3. Ongoing Support and Scalability: As Swiggy continued to grow, Supersourcing provided the flexibility to scale the engineering team as needed, adapting to new demands without compromising quality or operational efficiency.​

Impact and Results:

  • 30+ Engineers Hired: Within three years, Supersourcing facilitated the expansion of Swiggy’s engineering team by over 30 professionals.​

  • Efficient Hiring Process: By cutting hiring time in half, Swiggy could focus more on product development and scaling operations.​

  • Future-Proofing Growth: With a strong engineering foundation, Swiggy was well-prepared to take on new projects and meet the demands of a growing user base.​

This case study exemplifies how Supersourcing’s On-Demand RPO services provided Swiggy with the agility and expertise needed to meet its dynamic staffing requirements, ultimately supporting its ambitious growth targets.​

Conclusion

Hiring shouldn’t be a headache. You need talent that is fast and efficient and without strings attached. That’s where On-Demand RPO shines.

It’s flexible. It’s fast. It’s there when you need it. No long-term commitments. No wasted resources. It’s just smart, agile hiring.

Your business moves fast. Your recruitment should, too. Whether you’re scaling up, filling gaps, or tackling a hiring surge, On-Demand RPO adapts. It’s like having a recruitment team ready to jump in and get the job done.

Why struggle with hiring when you don’t have to? Stay ahead. Stay flexible. Choose On-Demand RPO.

FAQs:

  1. What exactly is On-Demand RPO?
    On-Demand RPO (Flex RPO) is a flexible recruitment model where businesses hire RPO providers for short-term or project-based hiring needs. It’s perfect when you need quick hiring without committing to long-term contracts.
  2. How is On-Demand RPO different from traditional RPO?
    Traditional RPO involves long-term partnerships, which are suitable for consistent hiring. On-Demand RPO, however, is more agile. It’s there when you need it and scales down when you don’t.
  3. Who should consider On-Demand RPO?
    Businesses facing rapid growth, seasonal hiring spikes, new project launches, or short-term recruitment needs benefit the most from this. It’s also great for companies that need specialized skills on the fly.
  4. Can On-Demand RPO save costs?
    Yes. You pay only for the recruitment you need. Maintaining a sizeable in-house hiring team during low-demand periods is unnecessary. Plus, it reduces the risk of bad hires by using expert recruiters.
  5. How fast can On-Demand RPO deliver hires?
    Speed is one of its biggest strengths. RPO providers already have talent pipelines and skilled recruiters, allowing for quicker sourcing and hiring than internal teams.

Author

  • Mayank Pratab Singh - Co-founder & CEO of Supersourcing

    With over 13 years of experience, he has played a pivotal role in helping 70+ startups get into Y Combinator, guiding them through their scaling journey with strategic hiring and technology solutions. His expertise spans engineering, product development, marketing, and talent acquisition, making him a trusted advisor for fast-growing startups. Driven by innovation and a deep understanding of the startup ecosystem, Mayank continues to connect visionary companies and world-class tech talent.

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