One of the most significant challenges that organisations face right now is workforce planning. As tasks are becoming increasingly automated, roles are changing and the skills that organisations require are in flux. As economies remain sluggish, hiring extra resources is a difficult decision, as the future remains uncertain and unpredictable. Finally, even when organisations manage to seize a window of opportunity, skilled talent remains scarce in key industry sectors.

For many talent acquisition teams, it is therefore becoming more difficult to stay in step with broader business goals. As a result, teams become reactive, rather than proactive. Many organisations will wait to see how the market changes or the business grows before making critical hiring decisions. This only serves to exacerbate the situation: without a ready supply to talented resource, it becomes harder to capitalise on opportunities in a fluctuating market.

Within this context, a new wave of RPO providers has emerged. They think differently to help their clients tackle the challenge. These RPO providers have evolved from purely operational suppliers into more strategic partners.

 

A long-term strategy, not a short-term fix 

Historically, RPO providers have been called in as a short-term fix. They are there to ramp up hiring when an in-house team is over-whelmed or to work through a backlog of open roles. However, not many employers need this kind of solution right now.  The challenge in workforce planning that organisations face is one of agility, not capacity. 

A strategic RPO partner will deliver that agility. They do that by: 

  • Building solutions on technology platforms that automate basic tasks. This allows them to mobilise resource quickly and scale back easily when required.
  • Prioritising relationship management and working closely with clients to improve hiring manager and candidate experiences. This goes beyond simply delivering CV shortlists.
  • Using consumer marketing methodologies, they build awareness and track candidate journeys. This enables them to reach new audiences rather than relying on the same job boards.
  • Optimising recruitment processes means that they put in place best practices that enable improved reporting and longer-term cost-savings.

 

Creating scalable talent solutions

A modern RPO equips hiring organisations with the tools they need to thrive in an ever-changing market. There is no longer any one-size-fits-all solution – even across the same organisation, different hiring challenges call for creativity, innovation and fresh thinking. By delivering real adaptability and bringing the ability to constantly shift gears, an RPO partner can play an instrumental role in proactively supporting the wider workforce plan:

Utilising proven AI platforms 

Modern RPO have already embedded AI into recruitment processes and identified the platforms that deliver the best results.

Build employer brand

Building employer brand enables you to build audiences and talent communities that form a ready, engaged pipeline for future roles – when they arise.

Deploy specialists

Hard-to-fill roles or areas with skill shortages can benefit from specialist recruiters – and many RPO providers have dedicated teams for critical industry sectors.  

Scale at speed

The combination of automation, ready-to-deploy recruiters and process optimisation means that, when the time is right, an RPO will scale in step with the business. 

 

 

If you’d like to learn more about how an RPO can help you build a scalable workforce solution, get in touch with us.