Post covid the job market has changed beyond all recognition, leading to a ‘perfect storm’ for those looking to locate the best talent. We look at how RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) could offer a way forward
The impact of the global pandemic has been profound and is still being felt. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the search for talent where things have fundamentally shifted.
It’s not only led many people to reassess their careers but changed employee expectations about everything from where and how they work to asking questions about the nature of work itself.
The great resignation or the great attrition, call it what you will, its influence is, and continues to be, immense and troubling for talent acquisition and HR teams everywhere.
According to a McKinsey report on talent acquisition in Europe, one third of the survey sample expected to quit their present positions in the next three to six months.
This is coming on top of a ‘perfect storm’ of record high vacancy rates, early retirement (24% of European workers have retired early in the last seven years, say McKinsey), and turbulent economic news – from the continuing war in Ukraine to the inflationary pressures pushing up prices leading to unrest and strikes.
Tough challenges, creative solutions
But for every challenge – however difficult it may seem – there is a solution. As the saying goes, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the way to madness.
So it’s important that organisations are open to taking advantage of whatever solutions offer the best chance of delivering quality talent, even if, for some, these might be unfamiliar.
For many organisations that means partnering with an RPO provider that can support an internal talent acquisition team with augmentation, flexible hubs, and internal talent development.
How RPO can deliver success
- Augmentation
You may well already have an excellent in-house talent acquisition team. But no matter how good they are, there is every chance that they are stretched thin right now and there are likely gaps in their skills and experience.
You might decide to use a third- party provider on an ad hoc basis to cover those gaps and provide vital support based on business demands. But many organisations are seeing the value in building longer-term relationships with RPO partners.
In this scenario it isn’t a case of just adding a recruiter to your team, but rather of finding the right partner who can bring skills and wider market knowledge and experience to augment the work of your in-house teams.
An RPO provider blends seamlessly with your existing team, while at the same time adding new skills, tools and techniques. It also enables an organisation to act with speed and agility, reducing the time to fill vacancies.
- Flexible recruiting hubs
Recruiters no longer need to work from physical hubs but can be home-based and organised by skills into virtual hubs.
In a virtual world, multilingual recruiters can search locally for talent or across borders giving companies access to a far more diverse pool of workers.
The right RPO provider will have already built virtual hubs of recruiters with the right language skills and market knowledge that can support your team with finding the best talent in places you would have never previously consider.
- Internal Talent Mobility
With one third of employees indicating that they are likely to quit their position in the next three to six months, organisations need to work harder to retain the best talent. One way to achieve this is to offer them new and progressive opportunities within their organisation
However, it requires a much greater focus on internal mobility, making employees aware of opportunities, and having a streamlined and efficient internal recruitment process.
Internal mobility programs are a solid recruiting strategy, but it puts additional pressure on talent acquisition teams, and many organisations do not have enough resources to support an effective process. A strong RPO partner can support retention by bringing in the best processes and leading your internal recruitment process or giving your team more capacity to focus on internal hiring.
Making RPO deliver for your company
The new challenges in the talent market require new ways of thinking and acting. By adapting and evolving your recruiting strategy and with the support of the right partner you can turn those challenges into opportunities.
To learn more about how RPO can help your talent acquisition thrive, connect with our team of local KellyOCG experts click here.
Katya Gorokhova is vice president, EMEA practice lead at RPO
