Solution: Recruitment Process Outsourcing

[Webinar On-Demand] The Ticking Talent Clock: Is Time Running Out to Address the Skills Crisis?

Posted on by akessler

[Webinar On-Demand] The Ticking Talent Clock: Is Time Running Out to Address the Skills Crisis?

With the rapid advancement of AI, accelerated digitalization and the greening of the economy, businesses are grappling with the changing nature of work—how we work and the types of jobs we do. In fact, a new research report from PeopleScout and Spotted Zebra, The Skills Crisis Countdown, reveals that nine in 10 HR leaders believe that up to half of their workforce will need new skills to perform their jobs in the next five years. Yet, only less than one in 10 say they are actively investing in reskilling programs.

Are HR leaders running out of time?

Join PeopleScout’s Global Head of Talent Consulting Simon Wright and Spotted Zebra’s Chief Customer Officer Nick Shaw as they delve into the key findings from the research, lay bare the skills crisis and show why the clock is ticking for HR leaders.

In the webinar, Simon and Nick cover:

  • How organizations are addressing the mismatch in skills demand and supply
  • The current state of skills utilization, skills-based hiring and the need to expand talent pools
  • Strategies for improving talent mobility (including case studies and success stories)
  • Practical steps you can take to transition to a skills-focused model
  • And more!

 

The Skills Crisis Countdown: The Clock is Ticking on Tackling Skills Gaps

Posted on by akessler

The Skills Crisis Countdown: The Clock is Ticking on Tackling Skills Gaps

Our latest research reveals, nine in 10 HR leaders believe that up to 50% of their workforce will need new skills to perform their jobs in the next 5 years. Yet, only 7% say they are actively investing in reskilling programs, and 45% admit to having no plans to undertake a workforce transformation initiative to prepare for the changing skills landscape.

PeopleScout partnered with skills-based workforce management company Spotted Zebra to survey over 100 senior Human Resources and Talent Acquisition leaders from organizations around the global and 2,000+ employees globally to compare perspectives on workforce skills. The resulting research report, The Skills Crisis Countdown: The Clock is Ticking on Tackling Skills Gaps, provides a detailed picture of the current skills landscape and the disconnects between the perspectives of employees and businesses.

Download our free report for the latest research exploring:

  • The current state of skills in the global workforce and outlook for the future
  • How HR leaders are preparing for the impending skills crisis
  • How employees expect their skills will need to adapt to new technology or automation.

Plus, you’ll get a roadmap of actionable steps to help your organization become more skills-centric.

Selecting the Right RPO Partner: How to Navigate Your RFP Journey

Posted on by edyson

Whether your organization is looking to outsource some, most or all portions of your talent acquisition program, a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) partner can help you.

So, how do you find an RPO partner? While there are plenty of roads you can take on your journey to finding the right RPO partner, the request for proposal (RFP) process is one of the most popular and effective methods.

In this article, we will outline the business case for RPO and guide you through the RPO RFP process to prepare your organization before embarking on your hunt for an RPO partner.

Getting Started on Your RPO RFP Journey

The first step in your RFP journey should be envisioning your organization’s ideal talent acquisition future. Then, ask yourself this question: How will outsourcing my talent program help reach this idealized future? The goal of this exercise is to get a clearer understanding of where your talent program is today, and where you want it to be in the coming years.

How an RPO Partner Can Help Improve Your Talent Program

Here are just three ways RPO can help you build and maintain a talent program that produces continued recruitment success.

  • Sourcing Hard to Find Talent: Skills gaps and talent scarcity have made sourcing talent an increasingly specialized field. An RPO partner can help proactively search for qualified candidates for current or planned job openings.
  • Talent Technology Support: Talent technology changes rapidly. It’s just about your applicant tracking system (ATS) or candidate relationship management (CRM) system anymore. AI, machine learning and recruitment marketing tools are evolving the recruitment tech stack. An RPO partner has experience working with multiple talent technology tools and can help you analyze and action your recruitment data. They may also provide proprietary talent technology, like we do at PeopleScout, that can complement your existing systems.
  • Recruitment Scalability and Flexibility: An organization’s talent needs are rarely static; they often fluctuate due to internal and external factors like the economy or product development. An RPO partner can scale its recruitment teams to support your business strategy, without increasing your in-house talent acquisition headcount.

👉 Learn more about what to expect from an RPO program.

Assessing Your Needs Prior to RFP 

The next step in the RFP process for RPO is assessing organizational needs and outlining a definition of success for your talent acquisition outsourcing engagement. Establishing needs and goals prior to sending out an RFP to potential RPO partners provides you with an opportunity to build a consensus within your organization, solidify key stakeholder support and give you something to go back to after an engagement is completed.

Your needs analysis will also help you avoid being swept away by grand vendor presentations and make your decision much more objective and aligned with your defined organizational needs.

As an example, imagine you are looking to procure a new talent technology platform. Your needs assessment process would begin with a discussion about what you would gain through adopting a new platform. In this case, you may look at your organization’s overall competencies regarding talent technology such as:

  • Do you have internal resources dedicated to talent data expertise and stewardship in managing candidate data?
  • Do you have a need for enhanced digital recruitment marketing capabilities?
  • Will you need to integrate your current internal technology systems and dashboards with a new platform?
  • Are you in need of strategic consulting and advice bundled in with the platform or do you have internal resources who can learn and manage a new system?

Your goals in this situation may include:

  • Enterprise-wide adoption of new talent technology
  • Improve talent metrics reporting and applicant tracking
  • Automation of the sourcing process
  • Improve time-to-hire
  • Improve candidate engagement and communication

Your needs assessment questions and goals will outline how you structure your official RFP, so be sure to plan them in detail. Your needs assessment will pay off before the first vendor responses, as your RFP will have a better representation of what you are looking for from outsourcing.

RPO Partner Relationships: Defining Your Stakeholders

Your needs assessment can’t be done in a silo. Deploying a successful RPO solution requires more than a relationship between hiring managers and the RPO partner’s recruitment team. The internal relationships between the drivers of the RPO engagement and other stakeholders at your organization will affect the success of your RPO partnership.

To create buy-in for RPO, it is essential to involve the right stakeholders from the beginning. To make sure the process runs smoothly, you should develop a plan that formalizes how each stakeholder will be involved in making the RPO RFP process a success.

When determining the stakeholders, you typically include:

  • CHRO
  • Procurement
  • Senior business line leaders
  • Front line management/Hiring managers
  • HR leaders
  • TA leaders 

👉 Learn how to create buy-in for RPO with our conversation guide.

Determine Your RFP Timeline

After assembling your team, bring everyone together to establish a timeline for the RFP process. The timeline should align with your organization’s goals and deliverables for the project—including when you want the solution implemented by.

Key items on your timeline include:

  • RFP launch date
  • Due date for questions from vendors
  • The date answers will be provided by your team
  • Due date of the RFP
  • Announcement of finalists
  • Date of finalist presentations
  • Final award

Your RFP timeline should include not only the due date for proposals but also due dates of when a contract must be signed and when work should begin.

RPO Partner

Developing Your RFP Document

Developing your RFP document should start with creating an outline. This outline can be as detailed as you want to make it. At a minimum, you should make a structured list of the sections you want to include in the final RFP, as well as the order in which they will be presented. Your procurement stakeholder will be an invaluable resource at this stage.

If you and your team conducted a needs assessment, gathered stakeholder input and have a timeline set, you have already done the groundwork. If you skip these early steps, it can lead to a lot more work in the end.

Finally, you need to edit the RFP document you and your team have created, as typos and misspelled words throughout the RFP look unprofessional. According to Tom Sant, CEO of The Sant Corp., which develops software for generating RFPs, typos in an RFP are one of four things that frustrate vendors. The other three are “RFPs that are disorganized, RFPs that ask redundant questions, and RFPs that have contradictory requirements,” Sant says.

The Bottom Line: Finding the Right RPO Partner

Finding the right RPO partner will help your organization gain a competitive advantage in talent acquisition by providing industry-specific hiring expertise and increasing your recruiting bandwidth.

This is why constructing a thorough RFP that carefully addresses your organization’s talent requirements and expectations of the engagement is a valuable weapon in the RPO selection process.

Creating Buy-in for RPO: A Conversation Guide for Outsourced Recruitment

Posted on by akessler

Recruitment touches every employee, team and department within your business. If you’re considering recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), there will be many people in your organization who will experience the benefits. But it also means these folks must adjust to new processes and approaches. We all know change can be hard for any organization, so it’s important to engage various stakeholders early on to get everyone on the same page.

Human resources (HR), procurement, the C-suite and hiring managers will all have different pain points, concerns and desired outcomes. No matter where you sit in the organization, understanding the challenges of each stakeholder can help you demonstrate how talent acquisition solutions from an RPO partner can help individuals across the organization achieve their business goals. As a result, these stakeholders will be more “bought in” and open to changing their behaviors to make RPO successful.

In these conversation guides, we’ll help you understand recruitment challenges from the perspective of each stakeholder. Plus, you’ll get a list of questions to ask in order to gather information for your business case and tips on how to speak each stakeholder about the value of RPO.

👉 Want to learn more about RPO? Check out our guide.

RPO in HR

What Matters to HR

Whether the talent acquisition function sits under Human Resources (HR) or is a separate department, HR is a crucial stakeholder for any RPO program. Strategically, HR is particularly concerned with ensuring the organization has the talent it needs to meet business objectives, and that it is set up to meet these needs into the future. From an operational point of view, HR supports hiring managers and current (and future) staff through the entire employee lifecycle. They strive to meet the standards of hiring managers and the C-suite by balancing organizational productivity and employee needs, creating a flourishing company culture and obtaining the best talent to support ongoing success.

Top Concerns:

  • Quality of hire
  • Employee retention
  • Workforce planning
  • Employer branding
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I)

How to Talk to HR about RPO

When speaking to HR, it’s important to present RPO as solving critical business challenges and not just as outsourcing your recruitment function, which can sometimes trigger emotions and anxieties about potential redundancies within the in-house recruitment team. It may be helpful to discuss how RPO could complement or augment the existing in-house recruitment resources to expand scope, provide specialized expertise and alleviate workload. Emphasize the ability of an RPO to scale up and down as hiring needs change and to tackle parts of the recruitment process that would allow the HR team focus on other priorities.

Show examples of how an RPO partner can act as a trusted advisor who can optimize your talent acquisition program through process, technology and employer branding improvements. RPO providers have access to market insights to help HR and talent acquisition leaders make workforce decisions and strategic plans for the future. Plus, with DE&I expertise honed across many clients, an RPO partner understands how to source, engage and hire candidates from underrepresented groups.

Questions to Ask HR to Gain Buy-in for RPO

Strategic Focus

  • Are there roles that are crucial to your organization’s objectives that you’re struggling to hire for now? How do you see this changing over the next couple of years?
  • What are the retention rates for hires made in the last 12 months?
  • What are your DE&I goals, and how does talent acquisition fit in?
  • Are your employer brand and talent attraction methods effective for engaging the right talent profiles in all regions? What feedback are you getting from hiring managers?

Tactical Focus

  • Are you using any third-party agencies for permanent hires? What are the associated costs? Are they meeting Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?
  • Is the talent acquisition team the main point of contact for these agencies, or are hiring managers engaging them?
  • What technology are you using for recruitment? What’s missing from your current recruitment tech stack?

Operational Focus

  • How many in-house recruiters do you have right now?
  • What is the recruitment process? Are there stages where you’re seeing high drop-out rates?
  • Are you measuring the candidate experience (i.e., candidate NPS) or asking for candidate feedback? What are you hearing back?
  • What are your key and/or recurring operational issues, and what is causing them?
getting buy in for recruitment process outsourcing

RPO and Procurement

What Matters to Procurement

Procurement leaders look at external spend and evaluate and select vendors that partner with the business to drive results. They are often champions for RPO as they welcome the cost saving benefits. As with any purchase for the business, they’re interested in benefits like flexibility, cost reduction, risk mitigation and tangible results against organizational goals.

Procurement will likely have set processes and policies for selecting a talent acquisition partner, so it’s best to engage them early so you understand what they require during the selection process. Treat them as a valued advisor, and they’ll be happy to support you with requirements definition, process efficiencies and contract negotiations. Bring them in too late, and they could feel more like a barrier than an ally.

Top Concerns

  • Cost per vacancy
  • Agency spend
  • Process efficiencies and added value
  • Risk mitigation

How to Talk to Procurement About RPO

When discussing RPO with procurement, emphasize the economies of scale that can be gained by an RPO partner’s ability to ramp up and down. Procurement professionals will be wary of getting locked into a contract that’s too rigid to account for unanticipated changes in the business environment, so stress the flexibility within the potential RPO partnership.

If your organization is leveraging multiple staffing agencies, procurement may be frustrated with the disparate methods for obtaining talent and will be motivated to reduce the reliance on third-party agencies to gain control of costs. Share information about how RPO can help you consolidate recruitment under a single partnership, reduce staffing agency usage and make costs more predictable. They may also be interested to hear about a potential RPO provider’s supplier management capabilities as part of an integrated total workforce solution.

👉 Check out our guide for navigating your RPO RFP.

Questions to Ask Procurement to Create Buy-in for RPO

Strategic Focus

  • What is the current annual external spend on talent acquisition?
  • How many third-party agencies are being used for permanent hires? Who is managing these relationships?
  • What issues are created by using multiple agencies?
  • What resources would be needed to support an RPO approach long-term?

Tactical Focus

  • When it comes to deciding on an RPO solution, what do you see as the qualifying criteria? What is the winning criteria?
  • What stages and timescale do you anticipate for a selection process like this?
  • Are you committed to any contract termination timescale with existing suppliers?

Operational Focus

  • What data do you need to collect internally for the procurement process?
  • How should you initiate discussions with providers in the market?

Securing Executive Buy-in for RPO

What Matters to the C-Suite

The CEO and other members of the C-suite are chiefly concerned with ensuring the organization has the talent it needs to keep a competitive edge. In the midst of economic uncertainty, companies are struggling to navigate changing employee expectations and hire the talent they need. It’s crucial for the CEO to feel confident that the organization can quickly fill vacancies and grow with high quality talent in order to maximize productivity, hit revenue targets and retain customers.

Top Concerns

  • Speed to hire
  • Candidate experience
  • Candidate quality
  • Employer branding
  • Cost per vacancy

How to Talk the C-Suite About RPO

When speaking to the CEO about an RPO solution, highlight how the long-term partnership allows for a holistic approach to creating a strategic talent acquisition program that fuels business initiatives. They will also be excited by the labor market insights that RPO providers offer, which is not part of an engagement with a staffing agency. This data will help with strategic planning so the C-suite can make informed decisions about geographic expansion, new products or services or other business transformations.

In addition, leading RPO partners offer talent advisory services, including employer branding. This consulting engagement creates a differentiated employer value proposition to help your organization become an employer of choice for all your talent audiences.

Questions to Ask to Gain Executive Buy-in for RPO

Strategic Focus

  • Do you have talent gaps that are impacting productivity and/or revenue?
  • Does your talent acquisition strategy reflect and boost your employer brand?
  • Does the current recruitment program support business continuity and succession at all levels?
  • Are there business changes coming that could impact recruitment (i.e., merger or acquisition, reorganization, new location, new product or service, etc.)? Do you feel prepared for these changes with the current talent acquisition approach?

Operational Focus

  • What talent acquisition metrics do you have access to? What would you like to see?
  • Does your visibility into recruitment program vary by region?
  • Do you have good insight into what roles your competitors are hiring for?
getting buy in for RPO

Hiring Manager Buy-in for RPO

What Matters to Hiring Managers

The relationship between hiring managers and recruiters can vary significantly. In some cases, it can be strained, especially when the talent acquisition program is not meeting the hiring managers expectations. In others, there is a strong relationship, though this does not necessarily mean that business needs are being met. Often there’s a mismatch in perceptions—80% of recruiters say they have a high understanding of the jobs they’re trying to fill while 61% of hiring managers disagree.

We recommend speaking to hiring managers in departments where a lot of hiring is needed, like call centers with seasonal fluctuations, or teams where skills are particularly hard to find, like software development teams. This will give you a sense of the current state and the amount of time and effort hiring managers are investing in the recruitment process.

Top Concerns

  • Filling positions quickly with a consistent process
  • Candidate quality
  • Spending less time on recruiting activities
  • Trust in the process and recruiters they work with
  • Control over budget

How to Talk to Hiring Managers About RPO

Hiring managers will want to know how the RPO team manages the recruitment process and how they can reduce the hiring manager’s time investment through interview scheduling, assessment execution and even offer management. Emphasize the RPO partner’s focus on providing quality feedback to both candidates and hiring managers for a great all-around experience.

Another benefit of RPO for hiring managers is reducing time-to-fill through talent pooling. Leading RPO teams create pools of qualified candidates so they’re not starting from scratch every time you open a new requisition or need to backfill a role. In addition, proactive outreach means you can engage with passive candidates who may never have considered your organization, widening your access to talent.

Questions to Ask Hiring Managers to Create Buy-in for RPO

Strategic Focus

  • How much time are you putting into hiring activities?
  • What are the key areas of need or challenge?
  • What are you spending directly on recruitment (i.e., advertising or agency spend/budget you control)?
  • Are you attracting the right candidates in terms of both skills and cultural fit?
  • How would you rate the quality of candidates being presented by in-house recruiters and/or agencies?

Tactical Focus

  • Are you engaged with third-party recruitment agencies? Are they meeting their SLAs?
  • What kinds of agencies are you working with? What are their strengths?
  • What other recruitment approaches have been working for you (e.g., LinkedIn, events)?

Operational Focus

  • What is your offer acceptance rate for each job type?
  • Are there any roles you get too many responses for?
  • Are there any elements of the process that are not efficient or effective for you or candidates?

Paving the Way for Recruitment Process Outsourcing

Although obtaining data and information for your RPO business case is an important reason to have these conversations, your key aim should be to gain buy-in for RPO and build trust, and to develop a joint-working approach. Hearing stakeholders’ stories, as well as understanding their motivations and what might be blocking them from supporting change, will foster a culture of collaboration and set your RPO program up for success.

One of our experts would be happy to provide information about RPO, more tips on creating buy-in or help building your business case! Let’s chat!

PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis—December 2023 

Posted on by akessler

U.S. employers added 216,000 jobs in December, exceeding economists’ expectations and fueling optimism that the economy can achieve a so-called soft landing. The unemployment rate remained flat at 3.7%. Year-over-year wage growth rose slightly to 4.1%.

The Numbers

216,000: U.S. employers added 216,000 jobs in December. 

3.7%: The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7%. 

4.1%: Wages rose 4.1% over the past year. 

The Good

December’s jobs report shows a pace of hiring even stronger than expected, wrapping up a year of steady gains in what experts at The Wall Street Journal call “a job market that continues to defy expectations.” The addition of 216,000 jobs suggests a healthy economy, with the most significant growth seen in the healthcare, leisure and hospitality, and government sectors. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent, despite analyst predictions of a slight bump over last month.

The Bad

Despite overall job growth, losses in transportation and warehousing indicate sector-specific challenges that could be a sign of shifting consumer behavior or technological advancements impacting these industries. Further, the labor force shrank by nearly 700,000 workers in December, which as reported by the New York Times is disappointing after seeing strong labor force growth through much of 2023. This decrease is likely what caused the unemployment rate to remain flat.

The Unknown

Last month’s job gains have diminished previous hopes of an interest rate cut in March, with Bloomberg reporting experts now predict the rate cut is more likely to come in May. Time will tell if additional data will help convince the Fed that inflation is still falling as hoped. According to the New York Times, Federal Reserve officials have also indicated that wage increases above 4 percent are “a little too hot for comfort,” so December’s wage gains are also likely to keep them on watch.  

Conclusion

The December 2023 U.S. jobs report indicated that the economy avoided a recession last year, and experts think it’s likely to continue to grow through 2024 as labor market resilience supports consumer spending. However, this growth is likely to delay cuts in interest rates by the Fed, keeping them on the sidelines longer than expected.

Talent Predictions: How Talent Acquisition Will Navigate 2024

Posted on by akessler

By Simon Wright, Head of Global Talent Advisory Consulting 

We are in one of the most transformative periods in the history of work. Between technological disruptions, societal shifts and global events, the talent landscape five years from now will likely look very different than it does today. However, even in times of uncertainty, we can discern key trends that will impact the way organizations source, recruit and retain talent. 

As a leading talent solutions provider, PeopleScout has a unique vantage point to view the forces shaping the future of work. Based on our experience and industry insights, we believe there are eight core areas talent acquisition leaders should embrace in 2024 to up-level their strategic importance within the business.  

1. Talent Leaders Will Look to New Models to Ride the Economic Waves 

The power balance has now shifted back to the employer amidst a tight labor market, fewer vacancies and a cost-of-living crisis. But if you think it’s time to pause investment in your talent programs, think again.  

Talent acquisition teams shrunk during COVID-19 and then grew quickly as part of the bounce back only to shed jobs again this past year. With continued uncertainty, TA leaders must showcase the value they bring to business by minimizing the impacts of economic fluctuations.  

It’s time to leave behind the boom and bust and embrace agility through a strategic approach to workforce planning and forecasting. Talent solutions like recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), including modular RPO solutions, offer responsiveness to help stabilize operational delivery amidst unpredictable economic waves.  

2. Business Transformation Will Shape the Workforce 

The specific skills and capabilities companies need are shifting rapidly, which means the jobs and roles employers need to fill are changing too. According to McKinsey research, one-third of new jobs created in the U.S. in the past 25 years were types that barely existed previously, particularly in high-demand areas like data analytics, software development and renewable energy. According to Totaljobs, despite a general slowdown in hiring, the demand for green jobs continues to go up, skyrocketing by 677% between 2019 and 2023. 

However, this business transformation is being hampered by the lack of talent and relevant skills. Economic, social and labor market changes are evolving faster than workforce training and development systems can keep pace. There simply aren’t enough workers with experience in emerging fields and new technologies.  

TA leaders must work proactively to build the reputation and influence of their employer brand with potential talent now—ahead of the hiring they need to do in the future. This means being able to recruit the best talent in the market, not just the best talent in your pipeline. Investing in candidate nurturing and employer branding strategies now will ensure organizations can hire first—and fast—when the time comes. 

3. Employees Will Continue to Reevaluate Their Relationship with Work 

TA leaders must be the eyes and ears for their organization, tuning in to the candidate market and shaping the employer value proposition (EVP) to meet the changing needs and expectations of candidates. Today’s employees are demanding more, and the one-size-fits-all EVP approach must evolve to keep up.  

Organizations that refresh their EVP with a more human-centric approach that recognizes employees as people, not just workers, will go beyond traditional offerings to provide exceptional life experiences that match employee needs. Delivering a positive emotional connection will be crucial for improving retention, overcoming the productivity vacuum and attracting quality talent in 2024.  

4. Data Will Be the Key to Overcoming Talent Scarcity  

The labor market has shrunk due to the retirement of Baby Boomers, and companies face an enormous brain drain of institutional expertise. Not only is the upcoming population smaller and not replacing the Boomers who are leaving the workforce, but they lack the some of the soft skills of the departing generation. With this double depletion at play, organizations will need to work hard to attract and train Gen Z in order to keep their workforce development on track for the future. 

Additionally, long-term illness, including lingering complications from COVID-19, has sidelined many working-age adults. The latest ONS data shows that the number of people economically inactive because of long-term sickness is now over 2.5 million in the UK alone. 

The key to reducing the impact of talent scarcity in 2024 is data. It’s time for TA leaders to treat talent intelligence as business intelligence, bringing it to the C-suite to drive decision making and inform strategy. Organizations must leverage data to understand both internal and external talent pools, maximizing ROI on talent attraction and retention efforts. 

Talent Acquisition Predictions

5. Skills-Based Practices Will Take Center Stage 

In order to keep pace with changing roles and dwindling talent pools, leading organizations are taking a proactive and holistic approach to adapting their workforces. They are investing in upskilling and reskilling programs while also leveraging RPO partners to find professionals with the most in-demand and future-proof skills. 

More organizations will look to expand candidate pools and tap into diverse skill sets through skills-based recruitment. To do this, organizations must evolve their candidate assessment practices to focus on skills rather than credentials or pedigree. We’ll see more organizations follow the likes of Google and drop their university degree requirements. This will have the added benefit of promoting greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace.  

6. Internal Mobility Will Receive Big Investment 

More than a third (36%) of HR professionals surveyed identified employee retention as a priority in 2024. Internal mobility will become the key to retention as well as filling open roles and skills gaps. Focus will shift from building external talent pools to internal talent pools, putting methods in place to identify transferable skills that can be boosted to support business transformation.  

We saw an uptick in labor hoarding in 2023 talent trends. In 2024, organizations must invest in transforming the skills of the workers they’ve kept on board in order to ensure they’re ready for what’s on the horizon. 

In 2024, career moves won’t take a linear path but will weave across departments and disciplines, providing workers with variety and rewarding work. Organizations must train hiring managers to look at candidates, not just for their fit for a specific role, but for the value they can bring to the organization.  

7. Long Overdue Tech Upgrades Will Happen for HR 

The Josh Bersin Company estimates the HR technology is a $250 billion market. 2024 will be the year of recruitment tech stack upgrade.  

Organizations will look to capitalize on AI-powered features to do the heavy lifting so their teams can focus on more valuable recruiting activities. TA leaders should look to technology to augment human touches throughout the candidate experience, to identify opportunities for streamlining through automation, and to help them better interrogate data for a more agile resourcing model.  

This is also an opportunity for TA leaders to demonstrate they can deliver digital transformation and deliver ROI from these investments. This has been a criticism of talent acquisition and HR in the past, and it’s time to dispel that narrative.  

8. AI Fever Will Hit an All-Time High 

And finally, it wouldn’t be a 2024 talent acquisition forecast without a mention of AI. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) tools, like ChatGPT, were on the tip of our tongues in 2023. As organizations grapple with the ethics of AI, most will succumb to the transformative potential and begin to test and experiment with how AI can benefit their workforce and operations in 2024.  

The role of technology will keep evolving within talent acquisition, but it’s primed to have a pivotal role in streamlining recruitment tasks and improving efficiency in everything from screening to assessments to interview scheduling.  

Organizations should take a principled approach to leveraging AI and automation to augment recruiting, while ensuring human oversight and care for people remains central. Starting with a small project or two will clear the mist so you can see clearly where AI will add value to your recruitment tech stack and candidate experience. 

The Importance of the Right Talent Partner to Help You Ride the Waves 

The future of work holds exciting potential, but also some uncertainty. However, while individual trends are difficult to predict, TA leaders that embrace agility, skills practices and tech innovation will find themselves in a strong position to prove their value in driving business performance. As your talent partner, PeopleScout will be ready to support, challenge and inspire you for whatever lies ahead. 

By staying on top of key shifts like these and working with an expert talent solutions provider like PeopleScout, companies can build workforces with the skills, mindsets and diversity of experiences to thrive in the next era of business. 

The Recruitment Handbook for Financial Services Talent

Posted on by akessler

The Recruitment Handbook for Financial Services Talent

The financial services industry faces immense recruitment challenges. With skills gaps persisting, economic uncertainties complicating hiring, and cultural perceptions pushing away young talent, talent leaders need solutions.

That’s why we created The Recruitment Handbook for Financial Services Talent.

In this information-packed guide, you’ll discover:

  • The latest global trends impacting financial services hiring so you can plan accordingly
  • 4 key recruitment strategies to solve your biggest hiring obstacles
  • Real-world examples and case studies of these strategies in action with RPO

Whether you need to build your employer brand, enhance your candidate experience, upskill employees or leverage better sourcing techniques, this handbook has tactics you can implement right away.

Download your copy now.

Talent Trends: 2023 in Review

Posted on by akessler

By Simon Wright, Global Head of Talent Advisory Consulting  

Earlier in 2023, we highlighted six key areas that would impact how companies attract, retain and develop talent. With the year wrapping up, we’re revisiting these critical topics to examine what transpired in the talent landscape and what may be on the horizon for 2024.  

From closing persistent skills gaps to offering more work flexibility, companies continue to face pressing talent challenges. Economic fluctuations have led some employers to pull back on hiring and remote work, while others doubled down on upskilling programs and expanded their talent pools.  

In the following review, we trace how the 2023 predictions played out amidst an uncertain economy and ever-evolving workplace. 

1. Closing Skills Gaps 

What We Said: 

With rapidly evolving technologies requiring new skills, companies are making upskilling and reskilling their workforce top priorities. Most employees feel unprepared for future jobs, so it’s important for organizations to invest in development to retain employees, build confidence, and help them adapt to changing business priorities. 

What We Saw: 

Skills gaps, and the upskilling and reskilling that must happen in order to close them, are still very much top of mind for HR leaders. The economic slowdown has increased candidate availability, so in the short term there has been more tech talent available, for example. But long term, there is still a skills crisis, and organizations are largely yet to shift to skills-based practices. 

We’ve seen front-runner organizations investing in skills development initiatives to grow the workforce they need. For example, Amazon’s program Career Choice is part of a wider initiative to invest over $1.2 billion by 2025 to provide 300,000 U.S. workers with the training they need to pursue careers in whatever field they choose.  

The average shelf-life of skills is now less than five years. So, the skills conversation is only going to get louder. If the World Economic Forum’s prediction is correct that over 85 million jobs will go unfilled by 2030 due to a lack of skilled talent, resulting in $8.5 trillion (USD) in annual lost revenues, then this is the most pressing issue facing talent leaders today.  

2. Offering More Flexibility 

What We Said: 

Amidst the acceleration of remote work, companies are facing mounting pressure to offer greater location and schedule flexibility to attract and retain talent.  

What We Saw: 

The return to the office debate is still raging. Employees want greater flexibility, but more and more employers are pulling people back into the office. Even Zoom, the video communications company that helps us all work from home, announced in August that it will start tightening its restrictions on remote work. Amazon, Disney and more have all reduced remote-work days. 

While power has shifted back to the employer, this issue won’t go away. If you really think your employees love coming to the office just because you’ve introduced free snacks, you don’t understand what flexibility means to your workers. Flexibility is not just about where you work. True flexibility is about giving more autonomy to your employees about the kinds of work they do and when and where they do it. 

3. Shifting to Contingent Workers 

What We Said: 

As the desire for work flexibility drives more professionals into freelance and contract roles, organizations are increasingly utilizing these temporary workers to fill pressing skills gaps and specific project needs while maintaining financial and strategic workforce flexibility. 

What We Saw: 

The economic uncertainty this year has made organizations less likely to make permanent hires. Plus, freelancers, consultants and contractors have developed into an essential part of the workforce as skills requirements become more complex. Maintaining a mix of traditional and flexible talent is crucial for businesses to stay ahead in today’s dynamic climate. 

With the enormous interest in ChatGPT and generative AI, it’s not a stretch to think the pace of business transformation will only accelerate in 2024. And demand for contingent workers will continue to rise. Indeed, according to Ceridian, 65% of organizations plan to increase their reliance on contingent workers in the next two years. 

Talent Trends 2023

4. Tapping into New Talent Pools 

What We Said: 

Facing workforce shortages, organizations are expanding their applicant pool by targeting untapped talent like Generation Z, unretiring Baby Boomers and boomeranging ex-employees.  

What We Saw: 

In 2023, the UK government launched a “returnership” initiative to inspire those over the age of 50 to come back to work. The goal is to help older workers retrain and learn new skills, providing them with a roadmap back to the workplace and encouraging organizations to hire them.  

We also saw organizations turn their attention to the talent pool sitting right under their noses. Internal mobility was a hot topic for talent leaders in 2023 as recruiting new talent became more and more challenging and costly.  

We were also reintroduced to the concept of labor hoarding, a term coined in the 1960s. This practice refers to organizations forgoing head-count reductions now, so they’re prepared when business picks up. In an era of labor shortages, organizations are keeping their workforces to avoid the risk of losing good talent to a competitor and to skip the costs associated with hiring again. 

5. Rallying Around the Mission 

What We Said: 

Our Inside the Candidate Experience research revealed that for 50% of candidates, an organization’s mission and purpose are a key influence on their decision to apply. Yet, when evaluating career sites, we found details on the mission or purpose of the organization less than half (48%) of the time.  

What We Saw: 

Employees are more dedicated than ever to finding an employer that shares their values and offers them a sense of purpose. However, workers within organizations that lack a sincere commitment to improving the community and supporting climate initiatives often report disengagement.  

According to Gallup data from June 2023, 59% of global workers say they’re not engaged at work. This is worrying as we move into a labor market that favors employers, as they will inevitably become less motivated to keep their employees engaged. Yet, a key reason why someone quiet quits hasn’t changed—and it’s down to a lack of connection to the company culture and purpose. 

A lack of engagement in the workforce is a leading factor in the productivity vacuum. Going into 2024, my hope is HR leaders will go beyond simply thinking about wellbeing to view their employees as whole people—not just workers. Updating your employee value proposition (EVP) to be more human-focused can help strike the right balance between compassion and business interests. Shifting to a Personal Value Proposition (PVP), and customizing offerings so that each employee feels valued as an individual, can help in fostering a positive emotional connection. 

Learn how to evolve your EVP to a human-centric PVP and increase productivity 23%.   

6. Engaging Outside Talent Acquisition Solutions 

What We Said: 

Despite economic uncertainty, business leaders foresee revenue growth in the coming year, but may need flexible and agile workforces achieved through contingent staffing to meet their top challenge of filling critical roles amidst a shifting talent landscape. 

What We Saw: 

We saw an increase in talent acquisition teams looking for quick wins. At PeopleScout, we are investing heavily in talent solutions designed to boost agility for employers of all sizes and across all industries. This includes offerings like our Amplifiers and PeopleScout Accelerate solutions launched this year. 

Amplifiers provide modular, targeted recruitment process outsourcing tailored to specific hiring needs. Clients can implement RPO support for just part of the talent acquisition lifecycle, whether that’s filling the top of the hiring funnel with high volumes of qualified talent or gaining deeper insights to guide strategic workforce decisions. This “as-needed” model is ideal for companies that want to remain nimble. 

Additionally, our PeopleScout Accelerate technology-enhanced RPO solution is purpose-built for fast-scaling organizations that need to ramp up recruiting quickly. We can implement PeopleScout Accelerate in just two weeks, providing access to our proven recruitment methodologies and our industry-leading Affinix talent acquisition technology suite right out of the gate. 

As we close the books on 2023, it’s clear the talent landscape continues to shift in new and uncertain directions. In the coming year, agile organizations that invest in the longevity of their workforce and truly connect with their people on a human level will maintain an edge. Rather than recoiling from change, forward-thinking talent leaders have an opportunity to guide their organization’s evolution. Now is the time to build workforces that can pivot on a dime while staying true to their purpose. 

PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis—November 2023

Posted on by nfuqua

U.S. employers added 199,000 jobs in November, continuing the slowing pace of hiring. This is only slightly higher than what economists expected and shows the Federal Reserve’s plan to increase interest rates may be working. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7%. Year-over-year wage growth fell to 4.0%.

jobs report infographic

The Numbers

199,000: U.S. employers added 199,000 jobs in November.

3.7%: The unemployment rate fell to 3.7%.

4%: Wages rose 4% over the past year.

The Good

Experts at The Wall Street Journal call November’s jobs report “nearly perfect,” and an indication that a soft-landing for the U.S. economy is taking shape. The 199,000 jobs added to the economy represent a sustainable pace of growth that has remained steady throughout the fall months. The unemployment rate also fell to 3.7% after jumping to 3.9% the previous month. This had raised some red flags on Wall Street, but November’s decrease demonstrates that job growth is likely to continue into 2024. Additionally, wage growth continued to soften, dropping to 4%. The Federal Reserve is looking for wage growth to slow to lower inflation.

The Bad

It’s not easy to find bad news in November’s report, but the New York Times points out that the job growth was not evenly spread across industries. The strongest growth was in healthcare and government hiring, which are two of the sectors least connected to the strength of the economy. While manufacturing did see growth in December, much of that can be attributed to workers returning after the auto strikes. Additionally, the retail industry shed more than 38,000 jobs, showing some weakness in holiday hiring.

The Unknown

The big question is what the latest jobs report trends will mean for interest rates. Marketwatch reports that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep rates high into next spring. However, as the board meets next week, analysts expect the pause on increases to continue. Recent jobs reports have indicated that their strategy is working, and they fear raising rates too high or too quickly could trigger a downturn.  

PeopleScout Named an RPO Leader in EMEA and APAC on HRO Today’s Baker’s Dozen

Posted on by nfuqua

RPO provider rankings based on customer feedback

LONDON – November 27, 2023 – PeopleScout, a leading global provider of talent solutions, has been recognized as an RPO leader on HRO Today’s 2023 RPO Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings in EMEA and APAC. This follows the company’s ranking as an enterprise leader on the global 2023 RPO Baker’s Dozen list announced in October.

“At PeopleScout, our clients are at the center of everything we do, and the trust they place in us is paramount,” said Rick Betori, PeopleScout President. “As a dedicated talent partner to organizations across the globe, we are committed to developing flexible and scalable solutions to their toughest talent challenges.”

HRO Today‘s Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings are based solely on feedback from RPO buyers. The EMEA and APAC lists rank the top RPO providers within each respective region. Providers are evaluated on three sub-categories—breadth of service, size of deal and quality of service—in addition to an overall ranking.

“This recognition as an RPO leader in both EMEA and APAC is validation of our efforts to drive innovation in talent solutions and talent advisory capabilities globally,” said Andrew Wilkinson, Executive Leader and Managing Director in EMEA and APAC. “We remain grateful for the strength of our client partnerships around the world, without which, these rankings would not be possible.”

PeopleScout’s talent solutions combine speed, scalability and industry-leading technology with over 30 years of experience across geographies and industries to provide clients with the competitive edge they need to hire top talent. Backed by its award-winning technology, Affinix™ PeopleScout’s best-in-class RPO solutions take a partnership-oriented approach to provide full-cycle, partial cycle or project-based support to simplify the talent acquisition process, enhance the candidate experience and drive lasting business outcomes.

In addition to its recognition as an industry leader on HRO Today’s RPO Baker’s Dozen annual list for more than 10 years, the company was also named an RPO Leader on Everest Group’s 2023 RPO PEAK Matrix and a Leader in every category of NelsonHall’s 2023 NEAT Vendor Evaluation for RPO.

Learn more about the 2023 RPO Baker’s Dozen in EMEA and APAC on the HRO Today website.

About PeopleScout
PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company, is a leading RPO provider managing talent solutions that span the global economy, with end-to-end MSP and talent advisory capabilities supporting total workforce needs. PeopleScout boasts over 90% client retention managing the most complex programs in the industry. The company’s thousands of forward-looking talent professionals provide clients with the edge in the people business by consistently delivering now while anticipating what’s next. Affinix™, PeopleScout’s proprietary talent acquisition platform, empowers faster engagement with the best talent through an AI-driven, consumer-like candidate experience and optimizes the talent process through data and actionable insights. Leveraging the power of data gleaned from engaging millions of candidates and contingent associates every year, PeopleScout has served clients in more than 70 countries with headquarters in Chicago, Sydney and London and global delivery centers in Toronto, Montreal, Bristol, Krakow, Gurgaon and Bangalore. For more information, please visit www.peoplescout.com.   
 
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