Selecting a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider is a big decision for any organization. Recruitment process outsourcing can be a comprehensive talent acquisition solution with big business impact. Previously, we explained how to determine if RPO is right for your smaller organization and how to make the case for top executives. Here we zoom in on the challenge of choosing an RPO provider.

According to the National Center for The Middle Market, “In the third quarter of 2017, middle market companies continue to report strong growth, confidence, and optimism. At 7.0%, year-over-year revenue growth remains steady and the 6.4% growth in employment is well above the historical average. While confidence in the U.S. economy is down slightly from the first quarter of the year, global and local economic confidence remain near peak levels.”  

We wanted to investigate what the current state of the middle market means in terms of hiring and recruiting, and what the business drivers are affecting talent acquisition. To find out, we recently interviewed talent acquisition expert, Pam Verhoff, president of Advanced RPO, a recruitment process outsourcing company based in Chicago, IL.  Here is an edited excerpt of this interview.  

Filling open positions as need arises for an organization is no longer effective. Staying competitive in today’s job market means building candidate pipelines and managing candidate pools among other talent acquisition strategies.

While analysts and practitioners might have different views on the new role of human resources, they all agree that HR has evolved from the basics of employee managing and hiring to serve a more strategic function. Some of the new responsibilities of HR include succession planning and data analytics, creating better processes and training protocol, and attracting and retaining top talent. 

Many talent acquisition leaders are still oblivious to recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) as a strategic alternative to other recruiting options (namely, internal recruiting and staffing agencies). Understanding the challenges RPO solves, the benefits it brings to an organization, how to start with an RPO, and what to expect are some of the information talent acquisition professionals need to know and the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association provides through its various programs including the Leadership Forum, a webinar series featuring thought leadership from the RPO and TA community.

This year, we were thrilled to have many of our members and partners speak at the Leadership Forum on a variety of TA and RPO topics. In this week’s #RPOAWeekly, we present a recap of 2017 RPOA Leadership Forum webinars. Watch these webinars and others on-demand at your convenience and get informed.

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provides many advantages to organizations of all sizes, including small and midsized organizations as explained in a recent webinar by Mike Palmer and Mike Tastle of Accolo, a recruitment process outsourcing provider based out of Dallas, Texas.

In "Recruitment Process Outsourcing: A lifeline in the War for Top Talent", Zach Chertok with Aberdeen Group provided the following insight on the advantages of using RPO: “Companies that do not partner with a RPO provider are 59% more likely than companies that do to be unable to establish a talent pipeline for their open positions”. Based on the same report, RPO customers are “17% more likely than non-RPO customers to find that more than 50% of their workforce is top quality.”

The U.S. economy is expected to expand over the next couple of years according to multiple sources. According to Fox Business “The U.S. economy has gained momentum over the past year thanks to pro-growth policies of lawmakers in Washington,” yet Reuters forecasts “growth will not accelerate the way the Trump administration has predicted.”

“Siri, tell Susan I’ll be right there.” “Siri, find a table for four in Palo Alto”.

Today, you can tell your phone to send a message to a contact and find restaurants in your area, among other things. Virtual assistants, like Siri from Apple and Alexa from Amazon, are becoming increasingly mainstream in our daily life. And these aren’t the only places where automation and machine learning are making a splash. New technologies featuring machine learning and artificial intelligence are finding their way into other applications in our life - including recruiting and talent acquisition.  

The Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association is committed to educating the marketplace on recruitment process outsourcing and the general discipline of talent acquisition.

Over the past five years, we hosted 39 webinars, published 9 eBooks and 462 articles, and managed the RPO Discovery Center (directory of vetted RPO vendors) providing exceptional educational resources and tools to the RPO and talent acquisition communities.

This month we’re excited to host another webinar that will focus on recruitment process outsourcing as a strategic talent solution for hiring challenges. On November 8th, Pam Verhoff and Tim Oyer with Advanced RPO will present case studies of true business impact. Register for the live webinar, or access recording on-demand post event. In addition, the following is a list of recommended RPO resources for your quick reference.

Technology is transforming industries including the talent acquisition and recruiting space. Amazon moved much of our shopping online and put the customer in the driver's seat, while Tesla is moving humans out of the driver’s seat and revolutionizing our commute experience. Technology has also transformed the candidate and recruiter experiences. Arguably, "talent acquisition is becoming a consumerization practice, where candidates are treated as customers of the employer and expect a great experience," per Talent Acquisition Technology: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond, Zack Lahey, Aberdeen Group 2015. 

To understand the evolution of talent acquisition technology from a recruiter’s perspective, we spoke with recruiting veteran and Moore eSSentials’ Partner, Tricia Tamkin. Here is an edited version of our interview.