You need skilled professionals on your team, but traditional recruitment methods struggle to keep up with the relentless demand and the need for seamless team integration. While Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) allows companies to outsource all of their recruitment needs, a more personalized and effective alternative has emerged: nearshore staffing.
Let’s talk about the distinctions between RPO and nearshore staffing. We’ll show how nearshore solutions — like those provided by Remote Team Solutions (RTS) — offer US businesses the edge. Nearshore staffing brings cost savings, but it also provides cultural alignment, bilingual talent, and time zone compatibility, all of which are critical for building high-performing, collaborative teams
While RPO services can deliver scalability and recruitment expertise as well, they often lack the hands-on, long-term integration that businesses need to thrive. We’ll show why nearshore staffing fills roles efficiently while enabling businesses to build lasting relationships with their remote teams. By the end, you’ll have the insight needed to determine which hiring solution aligns best with your company’s goals — and how RTS can help you achieve them.
What Is Recruitment Process Outsourcing?
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a hiring method where companies delegate a portion (or all) of their recruitment activities to an external provider. An RPO recruiter is responsible for tasks like sourcing candidates, conducting interviews, managing offers, and ensuring smooth onboarding. RPO is used when businesses experience a surge in hiring needs or must fill specialized roles quickly. They are typically based in the US and hiring for US companies. RPO companies receive a monthly fee plus a fee for each candidate hired. Their involvement ends when the recruiting process is completed.
Advantages of RPO Services
Think of RPO as handing off the entire recruitment burden to a specialized partner. It allows companies to benefit from industry expertise, streamlined hiring processes, and access to a vast network of candidates. Here are the primary advantages of RPO:
RPO services suit companies with variable hiring needs, like seasonal operations or those branching into new markets. They will hire for any position.
RPO providers offer deep industry knowledge and access to a wide network of candidates.
RPO lets companies concentrate on their main business activities by handling recruitment efficiently and eliminating hiring delays.
Challenges of RPO Recruiting
-
Alignment: RPO recruiters fill positions quickly, but they often lack in-depth knowledge of the company, team, or position, which can lead to hires that don't fit the requirements. This can impact retention and cultural fit over time. -
Loss of Control: With RPO, clients have little or no control over the recruitment process, as RPO providers use their own methods and stages, limiting customization. -
Limited Flexibility: RPO services may not be as adaptable for companies that require ongoing adjustments in team composition, such as agile startups or companies undergoing continuous change. -
Potential Disconnect: Because the recruitment function is external, alignment with company values and culture can sometimes be overlooked.
What Is Nearshore Staffing?
Nearshore staffing is a strategic hiring approach that leverages talent (e.g. recruiters) from nearby countries, such as Mexico, to build remote teams that work directly with US-based businesses for which they were hired. Unlike other outsourcing models, nearshore staffing offers the advantage of cultural compatibility, time zones that align, and smoother communication, making collaboration seamless and productive.
How Nearshore Staffing for Recruiting Works
Benefits of Nearshore Staffing
Nearshore staffing through Remote Team Solutions offers businesses a unique opportunity to build high-performing teams of recruiters while reducing operational costs. This approach combines the affordability of outsourcing with the strategic advantages of integrated remote teams, ensuring alignment with business goals and values. Below are some of the benefits that make nearshore staffing the preferred choice for many companies:
Because the recruiters hired in Mexico cost 60% less than in the US, US companies have the luxury of increasing the quality (more senior recruiters) and experience level of their recruiting team while saving money.
The recruiters hired work exclusively for their US company, becoming fully integrated into the company culture and following the company’s HR and recruiting processes.
Working with professionals who align with your time zone makes communication effortless. Plus, cultural similarities foster better collaboration, reducing misunderstandings and speeding up decision-making processes.
RTS provides access to a bilingual workforce fluent in English and Spanish, helping recruiters work with a diverse customer base. These professionals are carefully vetted to ensure they align with the company’s operational goals.
Unlike external RPO recruiters, nearshore teams become an extension of your business, participating in meetings, collaborating with local staff, and building long-term relationships. This sense of unity improves performance and retention.
With RTS, businesses benefit from a low 2% turnover rate, ensuring consistency and productivity across the remote recruiting team. Additionally, RTS’s focus on employee satisfaction leads to better long-term outcomes.
The new employee works in our offices in Mexico as a “remote employee” for your company. While the employee is technically an employee of RTS (employer of record), you manage them. We supply the office space and tools the employee needs to perform their work, and they’re supported locally by our HR/IT/Training teams – at no extra charge.
Comparing RPO and Nearshore Staffing
When deciding between Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and nearshore staffing, it’s essential to understand how these models differ — not just in how they operate but also in the kind of value they bring to businesses. For example, while RPO only provides recruitment services, nearshore staffing offers the flexibility to build an in-house recruiting team aligned with company values, processes, and training. Let’s put the two models side-by-side and demonstrate how nearshore staffing has the upper hand over RPO.
Recruiting Practices
Nearshore staffing offers dedicated recruiters who work solely for your company, immersing themselves fully in your culture and adapting to your specific hiring processes.
This contrasts with RPO, where recruiters are typically shared across multiple clients, limiting their ability to truly understand each company’s unique culture or procedures. In an RPO arrangement, 50 recruiters might serve as many as 200 different clients.
Scope of Operations
While traditional RPO focuses on handling specific steps in the hiring process — like job postings, candidate interviews, and onboarding — its emphasis on speed can sometimes overlook cultural alignment, leading to short-term placements. Typically, an RPO recruiter’s relationship with a new hire ends when the hiring process is completed.
Nearshore staffing, by contrast, offers a tailored and culturally aligned recruitment solution that serves as a more integrated RPO alternative. Nearshore recruiters work exclusively for your company, providing bilingual support and a deeper understanding of your company’s values and culture. This enables a personalized recruitment process where candidates are not only skilled but also a natural fit for the team’s dynamic.
For companies looking for more than quick placements, nearshore staffing delivers a recruitment experience that is an extension of their local workforce. This approach builds a team that grows with the organization, integrating new hires into daily operations alongside local teams. Whether you’re seeking a single dedicated recruiter or an entire team, nearshore staffing provides the flexibility and depth to enhance your recruiting process long-term.
Cultural Integration and Personalization
With RPO, the focus is on finding talent fast, often prioritizing qualifications over cultural fit. This can lead to challenges with employee retention or team cohesion. Nearshore employees are part of your team, meaning they are inherently aligned with your company culture and fellow employees. They often know the hiring managers and understand the team dynamics, leading to a more discerning eye when judging the cultural fit of a candidate.
Cost Effectiveness and Turnover
While RPO might be cheaper in the short term, nearshore staffing results in better staffing ROI because hires aligned with your company’s culture ultimately reduce costly turnover and rehiring. The US Society of HR Management (SHRM) estimates that replacing an employee costs a company 3-4x their salary when considering hard and soft costs.
Additionally, RTS boasts an incredible 2% turnover rat,e ensuring that your new recruiters will be with you for years to come.
Flexibility and Control
RPO offers flexibility for short-term or project-based hiring, making it ideal for companies with urgent staffing needs. However, RPO models lack the adaptability required for businesses with evolving long-term goals. Nearshore staffing allows for greater control and adaptability. As your business grows, Remote Team Solutions helps scale your workforce by aligning your nearshore teams with ongoing operational changes
How to Transition to Nearshore Staffing
Transitioning to nearshore staffing might feel like a big change, but with Remote Team Solutions, the process is straightforward and designed to ensure that your business experiences minimal disruption. Below is a step-by-step guide to help your organization make the most of this partnership.
- The process starts with an in-depth consultation, during which RTS works with your leadership team to understand your goals and staffing needs. Whether you're building a new team or expanding an existing one, this step ensures the strategy aligns with your company's long-term vision.
- RTS begins sourcing top-tier recruiting talent from their nearshore talent pool. Candidates are vetted for thei expertise and their ability to integrate into your company's culture.
- RTS handles the full onboarding process, ensuring that new hires have the tools, resources, and support they need to hit the ground running.
- Unlike RPO, nearshore staffing isn't a one-off transaction. RTS offers continuous workforce management, providing employee support, and ensuring your team remains productive and engaged. Regular check-ins and progress updates keep you informed and aligned with your team's activities.
- As your business evolves, RTS makes it easy to scale your team up or down to meet changing needs. Whether you need to expand operations or adjust workforce size, RTS provides the flexibility to adapt without the complications of traditional hiring models.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing vs. Nearshore Staffing: Which Model Fits Your Business Best?
Remote Team Solutions Introduction
Get a glimpse of RTS in action at their offices in La Laguna, Mexico.
FAQs: RPO Recruitment vs. Nearshore Staffing
Below, we’ve addressed some common questions concerning nearshore vs. RPO services. Please contact Remote Team Solutions for additional information.
Which option is more cost-effective: RPO or nearshore staffing?
While both models offer cost savings compared to traditional in-house hiring, nearshore staffing can provide up to 60% savings with the added benefits of low turnover and longer employee retention. In addition, RPO may involve higher long-term costs if frequent re-hiring is needed due to higher turnover.
What industries benefit the most from nearshore staffing?
Nearly all industries can benefit from nearshore services, because any role that can be done remotely can utilize nearshore staffing, such as engineering, accounting, software development, customer service, IT, sales, and operations, benefit significantly from nearshore staffing.
What’s the difference between outsourcing, offshoring, and nearshore staffing?
Outsourcing refers to contracting a third party to handle specific business functions, which can be done domestically or internationally. Offshoring means moving operations to distant countries — like India or the Philippines — to benefit from lower costs. Nearshore staffing, on the other hand, focuses on working with nearby countries, such as Mexico, offering lower costs, better cultural alignment, and real-time collaboration due to shared time zones.
