Emerging trends in RPO

Nicole Cook, managing director of PeopleScout, outlines what’s in store for RPO in 2018

Do you have any forecasts for the year ahead for recruitment process outsoucing?
It’s only February, and given the number of enquiries and RFPs that have landed already, I would expect it to be a very active year for the RPO sector in Australia-New Zealand and globally. Based on recent conversations with a number business and HR leaders, I know that RPOs need to continue to be more innovative because the pressure on finding good talent that can deliver business outcomes is rising. As a result of workforce trends, I predict many organisations will shift towards both partial and enterprise RPO engagements.

• Organisations will need RPOs in 2018, and even those with in-house models may look for support. RPO arrangements will vary as organisations determine the best way to engage. Organisations may look to outsource talent acquisition for a particular area (volume or hard-to-fi ll positions), for a specifi c project, to perform a specialised function (like screening), or to manage the entire talent acquisition strategy.
• Locally, strong recruiters will be in demand, especially the ones that can adapt and understand how the technology can be leveraged to allow them to focus on the partnering aspects of their role.
• Companies with existing RPO solutions may increase the scope of arrangements and expand to other areas, such as contingent, in a push towards an integrated total workforce management approach. They will expect the technology solutions to support this, which isn’t quite there yet.

How is technology impacting this space?
Like any other industry, the digitisation of the talent acquisition function is happening at lightning speed. Recruitment tools that promote a personalised approach to candidate engagement and management will be new promoters of the employment brand across all platforms.

This includes targeted placement on social media platforms. AI-based sourcing capabilities will enhance the ability to fi nd good talent and transform the role of the recruiter to focus more on the high-value, strategic steps of the hiring process.

Sophisticated data analytics will provide insights that allow talent acquisitions leaders to more clearly see what’s working and what’s not, so they can make rapid adjustments where needed.

With five different generations of workers in the workforce, the digital components of the selection phase will need to be carefully planned. Video interviewing may work for some and not others. Gamification may be the new assessment tool, and virtual reality job previews are not that far away!

Overall, it’s an exciting time to be in the recruitment space, and recruitment as we know it will soon be turned on its head. I’m proud to work for an organisation like PeopleScout, which rapidly responded to this trend with the launch of Affinix. Companies with an established digital strategy will align well with RPOs that have digital talent acquisition capabilities and also train recruiters to maintain the personal touch required to engage with the best talent.

This is the next level of thinking – an organisation’s talent acquisition process will be digitally led, aligned with a digitally led business strategy.

Nicole Cook
Managing director
PEOPLESCOUT