{"id":1674,"date":"2010-05-22T13:03:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-22T13:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/sue-marks-052210\/"},"modified":"2010-05-22T13:03:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-22T13:03:00","slug":"sue-marks-052210","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/sue-marks-052210\/","title":{"rendered":"On your Marks, get set, RPO…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue Marks, Chief Executive Officer, Pinstripe Talent Acquisition Solutions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Without any doubt, the best known figure in the world of Recruitment Process Outsourcing is the all-tweeting, i-pad-wielding, champagne-supping, serial entrepreneur herself, Sue Marks, CEO\u00a0of high performance\u00a0talent acquisition solutions firm, <\/em><\/strong>Pinstripe<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As we ready ourselves to produce the results of our new RPO study in conjuntion\u00a0with <\/em>Human Resources Executive magazine<\/em><\/a>, who better to have a conversation about the future state of RPO than Sue herself?\u00a0 \u00a0So we sent our roving HRO analyst, Mindy Blodgett, out to\u00a0 catch\u00a0up with Sue the other day…<\/em><\/p>\n

Here at Horses, our research reveals that C-level executives are showing heightened interest in the potential of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). \u00a0Prior to the deep economic downturn, many enterprises resisted handing over their recruiting functions to a third party to manage – many saw recuiting as something they could manage better themselves.\u00a0\u00a0However, the demands of a fast moving, post-recession economy are nudging business leaders towards\u00a0exploring RPO as a means to add talent acquisition expertise and flexibility in a fast, cost-effective way.\u00a0 Many are faced with the need to scale their operations faster than they had envisaged, and they simply to do not have the internal resources to cater for these requirements in this market.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, misconceptions about what RPO actually is<\/em> continues to muddy-up the marketplace and confuse the buyer. We talk with Sue Marks, the CEO of RPO provider Pinstripe, about trends in this slice of the HR universe and whether it might even be time to retire the phrase \u201cRPO\u201d in favor of something that might better describe what companies get when they outsource their recruiting process in all or in part.<\/p>\n

An unabashed workaholic and gadget geek (she loves her new iPad, we at Horses can attest to that) \u2013 Sue Marks is the founder and CEO of Pinstripe, Inc., a privately held, venture backed HR and Recruitment Process Outsourcing firm serving large and mid-sized domestic clients, as well as the Global 5000. She sits on several profit and not for profit boards and is President of Competitive Wisconsin, Inc. She literally grew up in the recruiting business, as her Dad was a recruiter for Management Recruiters (now MRI). She is an evangelist for the RPO model, a thought leader and frequent speaker and can honestly be called one of the industry\u2019s pioneers. Take it away Sue!<\/p>\n

Mindy Blodgett: Is the increased interest in RPO due to the new realities of the financial explosion and the slow recovery?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sue Marks:<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly a big factor. What we are experiencing now is a period of relentless change. This economy compels organizations to adopt very agile structures. I think that when you dissect some of your functions into components, and are able to plug those pieces into a service delivery model, you can be more flexible and scalable \u2013 up as well down.\u00a0 This allows the operating cost structure to better align to the customer\u2019s business needs.\u00a0 You can also respond better to market forces That is what well-designed RPO does the best \u2013 rather than being a monolithic outsourcing model that does not allow users to use the pieces they need, when they need it \u2013 a good RPO deal,provides flexible, scalable components.<\/p>\n

Mindy Blodgett:\u00a0 While there is increased interest in RPO, there is also a good deal of confusion out there about what RPO means and what it does. Why is that?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sue Marks:<\/strong>\u00a0What we call RPO (and what I like about the term) is that it distinguishes us as firms that are reengineering the process with technology, rather than just providing volume recruiting services. Unless the combined BPO and technology piece is there, it\u2019s not truly RPO. A lot of people confuse RPO with volume recruiting. In reality, though, I think we should be talking about HR and Talent Acquisition Service Delivery Models that are architected to be \u201cplug and play\u201d, or componentized, both domestically and globally.\u00a0\u00a0 Because in today\u2019s world of relentless change, we have to be architects of flexible, rather than one sized fits all, monolithic service delivery models.<\/p>\n

This gets me back to the right \u201ccomponents\u201d of a company\u2019s Talent Acquisition Service Delivery Model. I think the suppliers who will be successful in this RPO space are those that have flexible modules with some capacity for customization. One size doesn\u2019t fit every client but there has to be an effective way to customize within that service delivery platform while also retaining consistency at a high level.<\/p>\n

Mindy Blodgett:\u00a0 Back to the term: RPO\u2026should we be coming up with a better phrase or acronym?<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sue Marks:<\/strong>\u00a0I am hearing more strategic thinking on the part of companies looking at their recruiting needs. It\u2019s not just about \u201cthis project\u201d and the need to get human resources support\u2013 it\u2019s about \u201cresourcing\u201d and the supply chain of talent. Perhaps we could call it Human Capital Supply Chain or Talent Sourcing Supply Chain\u2026 but then you wouldn\u2019t have RPO fitting nicely in with the other \u2018O\u2019s\u2019.<\/p>\n

Mindy Blodgett:\u00a0 What else are you thinking about these days?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sue Marks:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m disappointed by little process improvement has occurred in our space.\u00a0\u00a0 Think about recruiter requisition loads \u2026 most people I talk to still have about 20 reqs per recruiter as their standard.\u00a0 If American manufacturing and service industries had spent the last decade with zero productivity gains, we\u2019d be at the bottom of the global food chain.\u00a0 If you think about HR and look at \u201cbroadbanding\u201d in terms of talent acquisition, that may help.\u00a0 You also have to look at the entire system and not just the applicant-facing pieces of it. How do you reduce demand on the system the way you reduce pressure on a call center by not having software that breaks down? We need to be working on these things.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also hearing a lot of \u201cchange fatigue\u201d from all levels of staff.\u00a0 The best organizations are really worried about how they can help their employees to recharge.\u00a0 This gets us back to the pace of relentless change: how do you help your organization regenerate now that things seem to be improving? People are also talking about the \u201cinvisible competition\u201d, which refers to the unpredictability of competitive forces in every aspect of our profession and our business.\u00a0 One of our roles is to help our clients \u201cthink around the corner\u201d to be anticipatory, rather than reactive.\u00a0 To get ahead of the wave, instead of being drowned by it.\u00a0 It\u2019s what keeps me up at night on one hand, and keeps me excited and optimistic about our business and our future on the other.<\/p>\n

Mindy Blodgett:\u00a0 Thanks so much for your time, Sue.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sue Marks (pictured above) is Chief Executive Officer for Pinstripe.\u00a0 You can access her <\/em>full bio here<\/em><\/a>, and follow her on Twitter at @SueMarks<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

If you’re an HR practitioner with recruiting responsibility, your opinion is vital for our research. Horses for Sources and HRE have teamed up to run the following survey assessing whether HR departments are using RPO, your current experiences and attitudes towards RPO, and whether you plan to explore RPO as a recruitment enabler in the future.\u00a0 Please click\u00a0on the following link\u00a0to share your views and experiences with us:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Recruitment Process Outsourcing in the post-recession economy: is now the time to try it?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
‘<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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