Across many organizations, overall hiring volumes have softened over the past year. Yet competition for specialized skills continues to intensify. Healthcare, engineering, data, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity roles remain persistently difficult to fill, even as broader labor demand fluctuates. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, many of these occupations are projected to grow significantly faster than average through the next decade, while Gartner research points to sustained demand for advanced digital and technical capabilities across industries. The result is a paradox confronting talent leaders today: fewer roles overall, but far greater pressure on the roles that matter most.This article is based on an edited version of a recorded Talent Leader Council interview with Grant Jessup, a Talent Leader Council contributor and Global Head of Sales and Solutions at LevelUP HCS, a global Recruitment Process Outsourcing and talent solutions provider. The conversation is part of the RPO Association’s Talent Leader Council interview series and was conducted by Lamees Abourahma, CEO of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association.
Demand for specialized skills has not receded with broader hiring slowdowns. Instead, it has become more concentrated and more competitive. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects strong growth in healthcare practitioners, data scientists, and information security analysts through 2032, underscoring that critical skills shortages are structural rather than cyclical. Gartner has similarly highlighted that digital, analytics, and AI-related capabilities remain among the most difficult for organizations to secure.
Source: EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS — 2022−2032 (BLS)
Jessup: From my perspective, this is being driven by three main forces. First, there is a consolidation of skill requirements. Organizations are asking for broader hybrid profiles, often blending technical expertise with commercial or analytical capability. Second, AI adoption is accelerating across every function, which is fundamentally changing what it means to be qualified for a role. And third, AI skills look very different depending on the job family, which creates confusion and scarcity at the same time.
As Jessup notes, the challenge is not simply that talent is unavailable. It is that job requirements are evolving faster than most organizations’ role definitions and assessment models can’t keep pace.
“AI skills for a software engineer mean something completely different than AI skills for a marketer or a risk analyst, and that nuance is where many companies struggle.”
Grant Jessup, Talent Leader Council Contributor, LevelUP HCS
Even as demand for specialized skills rises, workforce mobility remains constrained. Gartner research indicates that a majority of employees intend to stay in their current roles, limiting the supply of active job seekers and intensifying competition for passive talent. For talent acquisition leaders, this dynamic fundamentally changes the recruiting equation.
Jessup: One of the biggest issues is that internal teams are leaner than they were several years ago. After the reductions we saw across talent functions in 2023 and 2024, most teams are covering more roles with fewer people. Specialized sourcing for niche skills requires time, market knowledge, and persistence, and many teams simply do not have the bandwidth.
Jessup also points to credential mismatch as a growing issue. Many emerging roles lack standardized degree pathways, making traditional screening methods less effective. This increases the importance of capability based assessment and targeted sourcing strategies.
“The requirements are changing much faster than job descriptions or internal capabilities can keep up with, and that creates real friction in hiring.”
-Grant Jessup, Talent Leader Council Contributor, LevelUP HCS
As the active candidate pool contracts, organizations must engage professionals who are not actively looking. Research from Gartner consistently shows that top performers are the least likely to be actively job searching, particularly in high demand technical fields.
Jessup: The organizations that win passive talent do three things well. They personalize outreach using real business context, they clearly articulate the “why now” story, and they engage candidates across multiple channels rather than relying on a single platform.
For talent leaders, this requires a shift away from transactional recruiting models toward relationship based engagement. Passive candidates are evaluating opportunity, leadership, and long term relevance, not just compensation or title.
“You cannot rely on generic templates anymore. Passive candidates need to understand why this opportunity matters now.”
Grant Jessup, Talent Leader Council Contributor, LevelUP HCS
The constraints facing internal teams have elevated the strategic role of external recruiting partners. Rather than replacing internal capability, effective partnerships extend it.
Jessup: External partners play a critical role in accessing segments of the labor market that internal teams struggle to reach consistently. This is less about replacement and more about alignment. Internal teams know the business deeply, while partners bring specialized sourcing expertise, broader market reach, and the ability to flex capacity up and down.
Jessup describes a blended model that combines embedded recruiters with global sourcing capabilities and talent intelligence. In one financial services example, this approach enabled a client to expand beyond a narrow industry specific talent pool, adopt skills first profiles, and build a more diverse and sustainable pipeline for risk analytics and AI adjacent roles.
“The real value comes from integrating internal strengths with external specialization into one unified recruiting strategy.”
Grant Jessup, Talent Leader Council Contributor, LevelUP HCS
Technology will continue to influence how organizations source and assess scarce skills. AI assisted sourcing tools promise greater speed and precision, while skills mapping platforms are helping organizations move beyond outdated role definitions. At the same time, new risks are emerging.
Jessup: AI-assisted sourcing is here to stay, but it needs to be applied thoughtfully. We are also seeing increased focus on skills intelligence tools that help organizations understand adjacent capabilities. And cybersecurity considerations are becoming critical, particularly as fraud and AI generated candidate activity increase.
For talent leaders, this underscores the importance of governance and partnership in technology adoption. Tools can enhance capability, but they require expertise and oversight to deliver value responsibly.
The persistence of scarce skills shortages, even in periods of reduced hiring, reflects a deeper transformation underway in the labor market. Rapid skill evolution, constrained workforce mobility, and leaner internal teams are reshaping how organizations compete for critical talent. As Grant Jessup’s insights illustrate, success increasingly depends on moving beyond traditional recruiting models toward flexible, skills focused, and partner enabled strategies.
For the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association, these conversations reinforce the evolving role of RPO as a strategic enabler of workforce outcomes, not simply a delivery mechanism. By convening talent leaders and grounding discussion in evidence and practice, RPOA continues to advance industry understanding at a time when clarity and adaptability are essential.