5 min read

5 Common Recruitment Challenges SMEs Face and How RPO Solves Them

Recruiting the right talent is essential for business growth, yet small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often face significant challenges when it comes to hiring. From limited resources to high turnover, these obstacles can drain time, money, and productivity.

Fortunately, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) offers a smart, efficient solution. At TiaTalent, our RPO model provides SMEs with dedicated recruitment support, streamlining the hiring process while saving time and costs. In this blog, we’ll explore five common recruitment challenges SMEs face and how TiaTalent’s RPO service helps solve them.

1. Limited HR Resources

Many SMEs lack a dedicated HR team or Hiring Manager, leaving recruitment to business owners or managers who already have packed schedules. Writing job descriptions, sifting through CVs, and coordinating interviews quickly become overwhelming and take time away from core business activities.

How RPO Solves This:
With TiaTalent’s RPO service, you gain a dedicated Hiring Manager who handles the entire recruitment process. From crafting job adverts to screening candidates and arranging interviews, we take the workload off your plate, freeing up your time to focus on running the business.

2. Time-Consuming Hiring Processes

Hiring takes time—on average, SMEs spend 20-25 hours per hire on tasks like reviewing applications, conducting interviews, and managing offer negotiations. For businesses with limited staff, these hours add up quickly, creating bottlenecks that slow down operations.

How RPO Solves This:
TiaTalent’s RPO service streamlines every stage of recruitment. By managing candidate sourcing, screening, and interviews, we ensure the process is smooth and efficient. For example, outsourcing five hires can save up to 100-125 hours, allowing your team to reclaim valuable working days.

3. Attracting the Right Talent

SMEs often struggle to compete with larger companies for top talent. Limited budgets can result in generic job adverts, inconsistent candidate outreach, and difficulty positioning the company as an attractive employer. This leads to low-quality applicants or mismatched hires.

How RPO Solves This:
TiaTalent uses tailored strategies to attract the right candidates for your business. Our Hiring Managers create optimised job descriptions and adverts, ensuring they resonate with your target audience. Combined with proactive candidate sourcing and a focus on cultural fit, we deliver high-quality applicants who align with your company’s goals and values.

4. High Turnover Rates

Recruitment is only half the battle—retaining employees is equally important. High turnover is costly for SMEs, as replacing a single employee can cost up to 50-100% of their annual salary. Poor hiring decisions, cultural mismatches, or inadequate onboarding often contribute to this problem.

How RPO Solves This:
TiaTalent’s RPO model prioritises quality over speed, ensuring you hire candidates who are a strong fit for the role and your company culture. Our end-to-end approach includes thorough screening, assessments, and even onboarding support, helping new hires settle in effectively and reducing turnover.

5. Budget Constraints

Traditional recruitment agencies often charge high per-hire fees (typically 15-25% of a candidate’s salary), which can be difficult for SMEs to afford—especially when hiring multiple roles. Recruitment costs can quickly spiral out of control, making it harder to allocate budget effectively.

How RPO Solves This:
TiaTalent’s RPO service operates on a fixed monthly or annual fee, allowing you to budget for recruitment with confidence. This model eliminates the unpredictability of per-hire fees and offers significant savings for SMEs with ongoing hiring needs. For example:

  • Hiring 10 employees at an average salary of £30,000 with a traditional agency could cost £60,000 (at 20% fees).
  • With TiaTalent’s RPO service, costs are far more predictable and affordable over the year.

This cost-effective approach gives SMEs access to high-quality recruitment support without breaking the bank

Why TiaTalent’s RPO Model Is the Solution SMEs Need

TiaTalent’s Outsourced Recruitment (RPO) service is designed specifically for SMEs, offering flexible, scalable, and affordable recruitment support. By partnering with us, you gain:

  • A dedicated Hiring Manager to handle every step of the recruitment process
  • Significant time savings to focus on business growth
  • Access to high-quality candidates who match your business needs
  • A cost-effective, fixed-fee structure that saves money compared to traditional agencies

Whether you’re hiring one role or building an entire team, our RPO model adapts to your business needs, helping you overcome recruitment challenges efficiently.

Ready to Transform Your Recruitment Process?

At TiaTalent, we understand the unique challenges SMEs face when it comes to hiring. Our RPO service is designed to take the stress out of recruitment, saving you time, money, and resources while ensuring you find the best talent for your business.

Book a Discovery Call Today to see how TiaTalent can help you streamline recruitment and drive business success.