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.