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How offshore recruitment outsourcing works
A company partners with an offshore recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firm, which acts as an extension of its internal team. The process generally follows these steps:
- Initial consultation: The offshore RPO provider collaborates with your company to understand your hiring needs, budget, and specific talent requirements.
- Strategic planning: They conduct market research and define the roles needed to fill talent gaps.
- Sourcing and screening: Recruiters identify potential candidates through job boards, professional networks, and databases. They screen resumes and assess candidates for qualifications and cultural fit.
- Interview coordination: The offshore team schedules and manages the initial interview process.
- Offer and onboarding support: After a final selection by your company, the RPO provider helps with formal offer letters, negotiations, and the onboarding process, including paperwork and compliance checks.
- Ongoing support and analytics: The provider can offer continued support, performance tracking, and analytics to help your company make data-driven decisions
Key benefits
- Significant cost reduction: Offshore outsourcing can lower hiring costs by 40% to 70% compared to hiring locally. Businesses save on salaries, benefits, infrastructure, and administrative overhead.
- Access to a global talent pool: It provides access to a wider and more diverse range of candidates, including specialized or hard-to-find skills that may be scarce locally.
- Increased scalability and flexibility: Businesses can rapidly scale their recruitment efforts up or down to meet changing demands without the complexities of hiring or laying off in-house staff. This is ideal for seasonal or project-based needs.
- Faster time-to-hire: Offshore agencies can fill positions more quickly due to their established networks, efficient processes, and access to a large, pre-screened pool of candidates.
- Enhanced operational efficiency: By handling time-consuming, administrative tasks, offshore teams free up your internal HR staff to focus on more strategic, revenue-generating activities.
- Improved compliance: Reputable offshore RPO providers are experts in navigating complex Labor laws and regulatory requirements in various countries, which helps mitigate legal risks for your business.
- 24/7 service availability: Leveraging teams in different time zones can enable round-the-clock support and a continuous workflow, which is a major benefit for industries like IT and customer service.
Offshore recruitments outsoursing healthcare industry UK
For healthcare organizations and recruitment agencies in the UK, offshore recruitment outsourcing (RPO) is a strategic solution to address staffing shortages and reduce costs.
Specialized offshore providers can manage critical recruitment functions while navigating the industry’s complex regulatory landscape, allowing in-house teams to focus on patient care and other core activities.
Benefits of offshore recruitment for UK healthcare
- Reduced recruitment costs: Outsourcing recruitment functions can lead to savings of up to 50% on expenses like salaries, training, and infrastructure. Studies show British hospitals using outsourced administrative services can save hundreds of thousands of pounds annually.
- Expanded talent pool: The UK faces a significant skills shortage across the healthcare sector. Offshore RPO provides access to a wider, global network of highly qualified healthcare professionals, including nurses, doctors, and specialists from countries with abundant talent.
- Faster time-to-hire: Offshore teams can provide 24/7 recruitment operations, handling tasks like candidate sourcing and screening while UK offices are closed. This can reduce the time-to-hire for new roles by 30–50%.
- Improved efficiency: By offloading time-consuming administrative tasks, internal staff can focus on core duties. Outsourcing functions like medical transcription, billing, and candidate screening can boost productivity by up to 70%.
- Enhanced compliance management: The healthcare sector operates under strict UK regulations, including Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards and NHS frameworks. Many specialized offshore providers have trained compliance officers who can help manage this burden by ensuring all documentation, licenses, and background checks (like DBS) are current and properly logged.
- Flexible and scalable: Offshore RPO models are highly adaptable, allowing healthcare providers to quickly scale their recruitment efforts up or down to manage fluctuating needs for temporary (locum) or permanent staff.
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Offshore functions for UK healthcare
UK healthcare organizations typically outsource the following non-clinical and administrative functions:
Specialized offshore providers can manage critical recruitment functions while navigating the industry’s complex regulatory landscape, allowing in-house teams to focus on patient care and other core activities.
- Candidate sourcing and screening: Creating and managing job postings, sourcing candidates from global databases, and conducting preliminary screenings.
- Compliance management: Handling compliance checks for candidate credentials, professional registrations, and background checks.
- Administrative support: Managing appointment scheduling, medical transcription, and data entry.
- Billing and coding: Processing medical codes and managing patient billing.
- IT support: Providing IT support for software, electronic health records (EHR), and infrastructure management.
- Out-of-hours support: Providing continuous support for shift bookings and managing locum desks, especially on weekends and bank holidays.
Offshore recruitment outsourcing provides a strategic advantage for healthcare providers in the UK, US, and Australia, addressing talent shortages and managing costs. While the core benefits are similar across these regions—such as access to a global talent pool, cost savings, and scalability—there are distinct differences in regulations, compliance, and specific talent needs.
Core offshore healthcare recruitment functions
Regardless of location, offshore RPO providers typically handle non-clinical, administrative, and initial-stage recruitment tasks. These include:
- Sourcing and screening: Utilizing global job boards, social media, and internal databases to identify qualified medical professionals.
- Candidate management: Conducting preliminary phone or video interviews, managing candidate communication, and coordinating schedules.
- Compliance support: Gathering and verifying candidate credentials, certifications, and licenses.
- Database management: Keeping applicant tracking systems (ATS) and candidate pipelines up-to-date.
- Admin support: Handling medical transcription, data entry, and other administrative duties.
- Out-of-hours coverage: Providing 24/7 support for locum desk management, shift bookings, and urgent requests.
UK healthcare market
Context: The UK healthcare sector, particularly the National Health Service (NHS), faces severe staffing shortages and pressure on budgets.
Offshore focus: Healthcare recruitment agencies in the UK often outsource high-volume, low-margin jobs to offshore teams to increase their fill rates for both permanent and locum positions. Offshore partners assist with:
- NHS framework compliance, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
- Sourcing international candidates, with a focus on nurses and doctors, and guiding them through the registration process with regulatory bodies like the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
- Managing vendor management systems (VMS) for locum staffing.
- Handling out-of-hours locum bookings to ensure continuous coverage. Compliance: Strict adherence to the UK's version of GDPR is essential to protect patient and candidate data.
US healthcare market
Context: The US healthcare industry is characterized by a competitive market, high recruitment costs, and the ongoing challenge of filling specialized and hard-to-fill roles.
Offshore focus: Offshore providers support US healthcare organizations by reducing the time-to-fill for critical roles and cutting costs. Typical tasks include:
- Sourcing and screening a wide range of healthcare professionals, from general practitioners to highly specialized clinical staff.
- Handling administrative support for tasks like medical billing and coding.
- Supporting compliance management related to credentials and licensing. Offshore partners must understand regulations from organizations like the Joint Commission.
- Managing candidate relationships and coordination across different US time zones.
- Compliance: HIPAA compliance is non-negotiable for offshore partners handling sensitive patient or candidate data.
Australian healthcare market
Context: Australia faces a persistent talent shortage in its healthcare sector, especially in rural and regional areas. Many providers rely on overseas recruitment to fill vacancies.
Offshore focus: Australian staffing firms partner with offshore providers to manage the international recruitment pipeline, which can include:
- Sourcing qualified nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals from international markets.
- Screening candidates and verifying qualifications, including university degrees and professional experience.
- Navigating the visa and migration process for overseas staff.
- Compliance: Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and regulations from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) must be followed by offshore partners.
Best practices for offshore recruitment
- Choose a reputable vendor: Select an RPO partner with a proven track record, specific healthcare industry experience, and compliance knowledge in your target regions.
- Define clear requirements: Develop comprehensive job descriptions and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to align with your organization's goals.
- Ensure data security: Implement strong data protection measures, including encryption and access controls, and confirm the offshore partner is compliant with relevant data privacy laws (GDPR, HIPAA).
- Foster strong communication: Establish clear communication protocols, define response times, and leverage technology to bridge time zone and cultural differences.
- Invest in cultural training: Provide cross-cultural training to both your in-house and offshore teams to improve communication and understanding.
- Start with a pilot: Consider a pilot program to test the effectiveness of the offshore services before committing to a larger partnership.





