What is recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)?

RPO means handing your recruitment - some of it or all of it - to a specialist provider who runs it as an extension of your business. At Vermelo that covers sourcing, screening, assessment, offer management and onboarding, delivered under your brand. You keep strategic control; we run the engine. It's built for businesses hiring at volume who want quality and speed without an ever-growing agency bill.

What's the difference between RPO and MSP?

RPO manages your permanent hiring; MSP (managed service provider) manages your contractor and contingent workforce - the suppliers, the rates, the onboarding and the IR35 compliance. Plenty of businesses need both, which is where a total talent programme comes in: one partner, one data set, both sides of your hiring covered.

What is embedded recruitment (RaaS)?

Embedded recruitment - sometimes called Recruiter-as-a-Service - places experienced recruiters directly inside your team. They use your systems, carry your brand and represent you to candidates, but you switch the capacity on and off as hiring demand changes. It's the answer to hiring spikes that don't justify permanent headcount but do outgrow your current team.

How much does RPO cost compared to using recruitment agencies?

There's no single number, and anyone who gives you one without asking questions is guessing. What we can say: RPO replaces unpredictable per-placement agency fees with a model you can budget - typically a management fee, a cost-per-hire arrangement or a blend, shaped around your volumes. For most businesses hiring at scale, that means a meaningfully lower cost-per-hire and a number the CFO can actually forecast. Book a discovery call and we'll model it against what you're spending now.

Do you handle IR35 and FCA compliance?

Yes - it's designed into the model rather than added afterwards. Our MSP solution manages IR35 status determinations, right-to-work checks and supplier standards across your contractor workforce, and our screening services cover FCA pre-employment and annual maintenance checks for regulated businesses. We're not lawyers and don't replace your own legal advice, but compliance is the reason many regulated firms come to us in the first place.

How quickly can you get started?

Faster than you'd think. Embedded recruiters can usually be turned round in a matter of days; a full RPO or MSP programme takes longer to stand up properly, because doing it properly matters. Tell us what's urgent and we'll tell you honestly what's achievable - that conversation costs nothing.

VERMELO | INSURANCE & INSURTECH RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS

WE’RE AT THE HEART OF INSURANCE RECRUITMENT

Vermelo is an insurance and insurtech talent solutions specialist, named Best Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Business at the Global Recruiter Awards 2025. Most of our track record sits inside insurers and insurtechs, where hiring at volume also means FCA pre-employment screening at volume, right to work evidence on every offer and an audit trail that survives inspection.

If your hiring comes with regulatory obligations attached, you are not asking us to learn your world. It is where our recruiters spent their careers.

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Explore all our talent solutions

Who we recruit

Underwriters and underwriting assistants
Claims experts, handlers and adjusters
Pricing, actuarial and data professionals
Brokers and account executives
Compliance and risk specialists
Digital transformation and technology talent driving change across the sector
From high-volume operational hiring to the senior appointments that can take months through traditional hiring routes.

How we deliver it

Every insurance client is different, so the model flexes:

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) for insurers hiring at sustained volume who want one accountable partner running the engine
Embedded Recruitment (RaaS) when your in-house team needs experienced insurance recruiters inside it, under your brand, for as long as the demand lasts
Managed Service Provider (MSP) to bring contractor populations under one model, with IR35 status process and screening at the core
Total Talent Solutions when permanent and contingent hiring need one view instead of two worlds
Talent Advisory & Consultancy for specific projects: FCA screening framework design, ATS implementation, assessment centres

Not sure which fits?

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Need a specialist agency for a single insurance hire instead? That is our sister brand, Gerrard White Consulting.

Some commonly asked questions:

Still got questions? Book a short call and we will tell you honestly which model fits your hiring needs.

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It is built into the process, not added afterwards: pre-employment checks, regulatory references and annual maintenance screening designed as repeatable frameworks rather than one-off scrambles. We have built annual FCA maintenance check processes for UK insurers as standalone advisory projects, and the same discipline runs through every RPO and embedded programme.
Yes, and increasingly under one programme. Permanent hiring runs through RPO or embedded models; contractor populations run through MSP with IR35 governance built in; and a total talent programme joins the two so nothing falls between HR and procurement.
Yes. Our clients range from scale-up insurtechs building their first pricing team to established insurers running high-volume claims operations. The compliance obligations are similar; the pace and culture differ, and the recruiters we deploy are matched accordingly.