{"id":1118,"date":"2014-08-13T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/talent-acquisition-bluepint_081314\/"},"modified":"2014-08-13T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T17:00:00","slug":"talent-acquisition-bluepint_081314","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/talent-acquisition-bluepint_081314\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2014 Talent Acquisition Services Blueprint: Which providers are delivering in today’s Digitally-challenged marketplace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world of work has become a very, very different place in just a few short years.<\/strong> Today’s workers need to adapt, develop and promote their skills to make themselves attractive in today’s Digital economy<\/a> – and savvy employers need to try harder than ever to ensure they are finding staff who can do more than simply transact<\/em> – they increasingly want people who can think, create, analyze, collaborate and sell; people who are embracing today’s technology to create value to their organization. Ambitious employers want talented workers which can align themselves with where they want their businesses to go<\/em>, not with the legacy environment from where they are trying to evolve.<\/p>\n

So what better strategy to adopt than hire a service provider to take care of this talent headache for you? \u00a0Surely it’s time to explain to your HR department that fishing through resumes on LinkedIn is unlikely going to net you the best people? \u00a0Surely it’s time to partner with a recruiting expert that can quickly understand your business, the talent you need, and how to go out into today’s people marketplace to find it?<\/p>\n

So we tasked our global workforce and talent expert, Christa Degnan Manning<\/a>, to\u00a0assess those services providers helping organizations fill their open positions. The Talent Acquisition Services Blueprint<\/a> is the second in a series of HfS Workforce Support Services Blueprints reexamining and redefining how organizations are creating operating models and solution portfolios to support today\u2019s workforces. And here is how the providers today shake out, after Christa had put them through the HfS Blueprint mincer:<\/p>\n

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Click to Enlarge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

So Christa, what exactly are Talent Acquisition Service providers and how do they fit in with the overall research you are doing? <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A key principle of my Workforce Support Services research approach is that the traditional HR \u201chire to retire\u201d process-driven solution approach is completely obsolete in the modern workplace. We can see from the Power to the People research few people are actually planning to stay with their current firm until retirement, and they are struggling to focus on the right work to stay engaged and be productive.<\/p>\n

So companies have to think differently about how they identify the right workers, support them in their collaboration and development on a day to day basis, and recognize and reward them in more meaningful ways. The first Blueprint we did was on Rewards, Remuneration and Recognition<\/a> services, earlier in 2014 which took a new look at global payroll, benefits, and employee contact center providers and how they are moving away from simply processing paychecks to really help keep workers focused on work and appreciative of the support they get from the business.<\/p>\n

Then given what HfS saw in terms of both the disengagement in the workplace and this massive workforce exodus upon us, I targeted Talent Acquisition Services next. HfS defines Talent Acquisition Service providers as those third-party firms that support companies in the strategy, sourcing, and engagement programs and processes required to attract and activate workers as businesses desire today.<\/p>\n

Talent Acquisition Service delivery is evolving from the traditional recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and contingent or contract work managed service providers (MSP) worlds as companies seek access to more flexible labor pools and talent sourcing and management support models as well.<\/p>\n

We know that work is getting done today across an extended enterprise of traditional workers, contract laborers, and third-party service partners, so our new Blueprint explicitly assessed if third-party service firms could support clients across types of labor: staff (traditional full- or part-time employees) and contract (contingent labor).<\/p>\n

And to achieve business outcomes of quality of hire, faster time to productivity, or better engagement and retention, these services providers are having to go deeper into traditional talent management areas like workforce strategy and planning, helping clients answer: what is the employer value proposition to potential workers? What makes them productive or retained over time?<\/p>\n

This gets into more qualitative issues than simply sourcing and placing workers, so we also looked at capabilities amongst the service providers in terms of how they could support talent strategy and engagement as well.<\/p>\n

And what are the important service provider capabilities companies are looking for today? <\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s talent. Recruiters who know how to find passive candidates, assessment experts that understand people and organizational psychology, creative communicators who can help identify and amplify a company\u2019s unique employer brand and value proposition, and analytical and proactive account staff that can look across a client\u2019s business as well as network and share with their peers to identify opportunities or challenges and offer suggestions for solutions.<\/p>\n

Given the dynamics of hard to find skills and the geographic differences in labor markets, companies are looking for specific talent acquisition focus and sophisticated expertise, including in new technologies.<\/p>\n

Second it\u2019s the availability of the technology solutions themselves, particularly social media sourcing and passive talent community development, because firms are no longer simply filling reqs, but supporting the complexities of matching the right people to the right roles at the right time, which is much less of a transaction and more of an on-going supply chain and relationship development set of issues.<\/p>\n

Of note, this has meant some early multi-HRO players with administrative transactional models are opting out or just catching up in the Talent Acquisition Services marketplace, while others have successfully doubled down and are being recognized for developing talent strategies and changing outcomes, not just doing support tasks.<\/p>\n

Yet new entrants are also emerging specifically to deliver technology-enabled talent acquisition services that support overall talent management objectives like engagement or retention. They don\u2019t even use the term \u201coutsourcing\u201d to describe themselves really, it\u2019s just good service delivery.<\/p>\n

So which providers are leading this emerging new Talent Acquisition Services market space? <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Companies in the Winners\u2019 Circle were those that have aggressively targeted providing progressive service delivery as we define it and incorporating the use of new sourcing methods and technologies, specifically:<\/p>\n