3 Strategies for Solving Hospitality Recruitment Challenges with Technology

Posted on October 5, 2023March 12, 2024 by nfuqua

Amongst travel and hospitality recruitment challenges is a clear and persistent issue: staffing shortages. Talent leaders are struggling to fill empty roles amid low unemployment rates.

According to a 2023 survey by Deloitte, more than half of hotel executives (53%) say their properties have between 25–74% of the workforce they had in 2019. The situation at airports is even tighter with 62% of executives saying their workforce is half its prepandemic size or smaller.

On top of this, the unemployment rate sits at 3.8% in the U.S., 4.3% in the UK and 3.7% in Australia. The travel industry also saw a massive exodus of workers. In 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported record quit rates during the Great Resignation, with the quit rate in leisure and hospitality jumping by a percentage point to 6.4%. So, how can talent leaders hire hospitality and travel workers when the available pool is smaller?

Luckily, the right technology solutions deployed at the right times during the recruitment process can help talent leaders source, attract and screen candidates to find the best talent more efficiently and effectively. In this article, we’ll cover three technology interventions that talent acquisition teams can put into place to tackle hospitality recruitment challenges.

Hospitality Recruitment Challenge No. 1: Our open positions receive few applicants, and many of those who do apply do not have the background or experience needed to succeed in the role.

Solution No. 1: Invest in artificial intelligence sourcing technology to fill the top of your funnel.

Amongst common hospitality recruitment challenges that we see is finding talent with a wide variety of specialized skills across diverse and distant geographies. There is no one-size-fits all approach to hiring travel and hospitality talent. Finding a chef for a luxury property in Lake Como, Italy will look very different from a search for housekeeping staff at a family resort in Orlando, Florida. Finding a flight attendant looks very different from filling a baggage handler role.

With such a tight talent market, employers must target passive talent. During the Great Rehire talent leaders focused on filling roles as quickly as possible, but now they need to focus on finding and hiring more experienced workers.

An AI-enabled candidate sourcing tool can identify passive candidates with the right experience for specific roles and can even identify which candidates would be most likely to leave their current employers. Within seconds, recruiters can build a list of these candidates and share the opportunity. PeopleScout’s talent acquisition suite, Affinix^TM, includes the AI sourcing feature, Talent Finder, which can connect employers with millions of passive candidates.

Consider the following best practices for using an AI sourcing tool:

Before searching for candidates, make sure you have a thorough understanding of the technical and soft skills needed to be successful in the role.
Use features, like PeopleScout’s Diversity Boost, that can identify candidates from underrepresented backgrounds to help meet your DE&I goals.
Blend AI with the human touch. By having a recruiter reach out to a sourced candidate with a personalized message, employers can create a positive experience.
Make sure a human makes all final hiring decisions. AI can make the process more efficient, but hiring managers should make the final call.

Hospitality Recruitment Challenge No. 2: Candidates drop out of our process before reaching the offer stage, either by abandoning the application or ghosting the interview.

Solution No. 2: Improve the candidate experience by making the process quick and easy by embracing tools like SMS or virtual interviews.

Hospitality employers must ensure that their candidate experience sets them apart from other employers at every stage of the candidate journey. For candidates, how they’re treated during the hiring process is a preview of what their experience will be as an employee.

PeopleScout research shows that the hospitality industry has a lot of room for improvement in this area. In our analysis of the candidate experience of more than 215 different organizations, the hospitality sector came in last overall with the lowest average scores in every stage except Follow-Up (in which it was second to last). While hospitality organizations effectively showcased their diversity and inclusion efforts on their career sites, only half gave candidates the opportunity to register their interest.

Your candidate experience should be unique to your brand and help you distinguish yourself from other employers hiring for similar roles or skills. Many talent acquisition teams don’t appreciate that candidates don’t perceive the recruitment process as a funnel. They’re the main character in their own story, and they expect to be treated that way. Candidates want to engage in their job search on their own terms. So, anytime they encounter a roadblock to getting the information they want, especially if they don’t know what to expect in the next stage, they’re more likely to drop out of your process.

There are several ways to leverage technology to make the process easier for candidates. First, start with a shortened application. According to PeopleScout research, nearly 40% of organizations asked candidates to duplicate information that was already contained in their resume or CV. Make sure your application only collects the information that is most critical for determining who moves along to the next step of the process.

From there, other technology solutions can be used to gather the additional information necessary to make a hiring decision. SMS can be used for an initial text screening, and virtual interviews, like those available in Affinix, allow candidates to answer additional questions at their own pace while feeling as though they’re driving the process.

Finally, automated communication can keep a candidate engaged in the process. The right technology platform can help by sending automated messages to candidates, via email or chatbot technology, updating them on their application status. You can even craft messages letting a candidate know if they did not get the job, so they aren’t left wondering if you ghosted them.

Consider the following best practices for using technology to improve your candidate experience:

Make sure your application is mobile-friendly and can be filled out in 10 minutes or less. Test your current application to see how long it takes to apply.
Provide candidates with the opportunity to opt-in to receive text messages or emails from your organization to remain in compliance with local spam laws.
Tailor the type of virtual interview to the type of role. While video interviews may be appropriate for customer-facing roles, others may prefer the opportunity to answer questions with recorded audio.
Make it simple for candidates to understand where they are in your process; this can be something as simple as a progress bar.

Hospitality Recruitment Challenge No. 3: Our assessment process isn’t effective at identifying the candidates most likely to succeed in the role, leading to increased turnover, reduced productivity and disengaged employees.

Solution No. 3: Assess candidates for passion, purpose and mindset.

The travel and hospitality industry is all about guest experience, and hotels, airlines, restaurants and theme parks differentiate themselves with the unique experience that they provide. So, talent leaders need to find candidates who not only have the right skills and experience but also a deep understanding of the brand and how it is reflected in the service provided.

For example, in a major city, you may find three hotels on the same street, one catering to a high-end luxury experience in a historic building, another geared toward young travelers with bold art and hit music playing in the lobby, and a third designed with business travelers in mind—with a large business center, meeting rooms and plenty of quiet spaces for someone to plug in their laptop. Many hotel brands even have this variety of styles within their own portfolios. The service provided in each hotel looks different, and a person who excels at a luxury property may not thrive in a trendy hotel.

By selecting the right assessment tool, employers can go beyond looking at just capability, behavior and results but also determine whether candidates align with their organization’s purpose, have passion for the work they would do and whether they have the mindset to adapt to new environments.

By building an assessment during pre-screening that accounts for passion, purpose and mindset in addition to the standard skills and experience, employers can use technology to shortlist candidates based on several different attributes at the same time. This way, employers can get a clear picture of the different strengths and weaknesses of candidates in order to make informed decisions about which candidates are best to bring forward to the interview stage.

By identifying candidates who match well with an employer’s brand of guest experience, talent leaders can reduce turnover and build a happier, more engaged team. In turn, that leads to better customer experience and a better bottom line.

Consider the following best practices for building an effective assessment for hospitality talent:

Identify the essential behaviors for the role to separate those who will actually be successful from those who simply present well during an interview.
Build assessment tools around your organization’s vision and values so applicants have a chance to form a connection to them from the start.
Self-evaluation tools can also be used to help applicants consider their own strengths and whether the role will offer sufficient opportunity to use and demonstrate them.
Distinguish between good candidates who meet the criteria and great candidates who will take an organization further.

Finding the Right Talent Technology for Hospitality

The travel and hospitality industry still faces an uphill climb in returning to or even exceeding their prepandemic staffing levels, but talent leaders have additional and improved tools available to help identify, attract and screen candidates. However, in a full marketplace, finding the right tools can be a challenge. Consider partnering with an RPO with expertise in technology that can help identify the most impactful ways new tools can solve your most pressing hospitality recruitment challenges.

Get more strategies for attracting and hiring hospitality, travel and tourism talent, with our Recruitment Handbook for Travel and Hospitality.

Debunking RPO Myths: How Savvy Talent Leaders Separate Fact from Fiction

Posted on September 22, 2023July 23, 2024 by akessler

In the ever-evolving landscape of talent acquisition, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) has emerged as a go-to solution to help organizations redefine their recruitment strategies. However, many employers shy away from engaging an RPO provider because of common misperceptions. If you’re a talent acquisition leader stepping into the world of RPO for the first time, get ready to separate fact from fiction as we dismantle RPO myths.

Myth 1: Outsourcing Means Losing Control Over the Hiring Process.

Let’s set the record straight from the get-go: RPO doesn’t mean relinquishing control. You’re not sending your recruitment program into a mysterious void.

In fact, reputable RPO providers thrive on collaboration. You maintain oversight, make strategic decisions and keep your finger on the pulse of the recruitment process. Your RPO partner should provide you with regular reports so you can track metrics and SLAs against your hiring goals.

It’s like having a co-pilot who respects your position in the driver’s seat.

Myth 2: RPO is Expensive.

There’s a notion that RPO will drain your coffers faster than you can say “ROI.”

With an ever-widening skills gap and climbing hiring costs, organizations are looking for recruitment solutions to reduce overhead and improve outcomes while reducing risk. By streamlining your hiring process, reducing time-to-fill and minimizing administrative burdens, RPO creates substantial value, particularly for high-volume or hard-to-fill specialty roles. While RPO may not be the cheapest option, a good RPO, and the technology they bring to the table, improves efficiency and delivers results.

Think of it as an investment that not only bolsters your team but also your bottom line.

Myth 3: RPO Only Works for Large Companies.

You might be thinking, “RPO? That’s only for the large enterprises with deep pockets.”

Not so fast! RPO isn’t an exclusive club for corporate giants. It’s an adaptable strategy for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a startup looking to scale or a mid-sized enterprise seeking an edge, RPO can be tailored to fit your unique needs.

In fact, according to Everest Group, smaller organizations made up 43% of RPO of news deals in 2022, up from 23% in 2017, as they increasingly turn to RPO to help scale and reduce risk in an uncertain labor market. RPO helps these mid-sized and small organizations scale up their hiring efforts without the costly commitment of building talent acquisition teams in-house.

Myth 4: RPO Takes a Long Time to Implement.

With the economy see-sawing post-pandemic, we’ve seen our clients shift their focus to agility and speed with an increase in urgent hiring projects. Organizations often think that RPO is not a viable option in these situations due to the misperception that it takes 12 to 16 weeks to ramp up.

While an RPO engagement can certainly be a long-term strategic partnership, there are also solutions for short-term recruitment projects where speed is the priority. For example, we developed PeopleScout Accelerate, a tech-powered, ready-to-go recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solution that combines PeopleScout’s deep recruitment expertise and a pre-configured Affinix™ talent acquisition technology suite—implemented in just two weeks.

Myth 5: RPO is Only for Filling Volume-Based Positions.

Your talent needs are unique to your organization and the right RPO partner will know that a one-size-fits-approach isn’t effective. Don’t let the myth of “volume hiring only” keep you from experiencing the benefits of RPO.

While RPO is an ideal solution for high-volume hiring in which many hires for similar job families are made annually, it’s also perfect for hard-to-fill specialist professional roles. With their networks, resources and expertise, RPOs have the ability to attract candidates from all corners of your industry.

One huge bonus of the long-term relationship you build with an RPO partner is their ability to create talent pools. Having a pool of active and passive candidates speeds up time-to-hire by giving you fast access to qualified candidates when a new vacancy opens. Plus, RPO providers have access to leading technology featuring AI matching tools that can identify and source strong passive and active candidates within seconds of an open job requisition.

Myth 6: RPO is Exclusively Cost-Cutting, Not Quality-Improving.

Quality over quantity, right? Absolutely. And guess what? RPO providers are on the same page.

Unlike working with a staffing agency, which is often a transactional relationship, an RPO partner won’t flood your inbox with résumés that miss the mark. Instead, they use targeted strategies to find the ideal candidate who aligns with your values and vision.

RPO providers can help you develop and implement effective selection and assessment processes to identify high-performing candidates with the right skills and experience for the role. Plus, with their tech know-how, RPOs can help you leverage predictive analytics to gain a better understanding of the behaviors of top talent and predict factors such as cultural fit, willingness to change companies and future tenure potential.

With RPO, quality isn’t compromised—it’s elevated.

Myth 7: RPO is a One-Size-Fits-All Solution.

While some providers have gained reputations for making their clients follow a rigid process, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Good RPO partners are chameleons, adjusting their approach to your shifting hiring needs. Whether you’re gearing up for a hiring spree or scaling down temporarily, your RPO provider should deliver custom solutions based on your industry, job types, hiring budget and goals.

And remember, you don’t have to outsource your entire full-cycle, end-to-end recruitment process. Look for an RPO partner that offers partial-cycle, project-based and even modular RPO solutions to help you scale your recruitment function to meet your needs—from talent mapping and sourcing to designing assessments and onboarding. In the fast-paced world of talent acquisition, flexibility is your secret weapon. An RPO partner should provide you with the agility you need to weather the ups and downs of the economy.

Myth 8: RPO Providers Only Cover Recruitment.

While RPO is focused on improving recruitment processes, it can also include other HR functions such as employer branding, talent management and workforce planning. RPO providers can offer a range of services that can be customized to meet the specific needs of the organization.

RPO partners are increasingly offering a range of value-added services to meet the demand for proactive, innovative candidate experiences. When you partner with a leading RPO provider, you also access:

Talent acquisition consulting and best practices
Technology consulting and implementation
Passive candidate engagement
Market insights, talent mapping and analytics
Recruitment marketing and candidate attraction strategies
Employer branding and employer value proposition (EVP) development
Assessment design and execution
Diversity, equity and inclusion consulting

When considering potential RPO providers, make sure they can provide you with value-added services that will optimize and streamline each phase of the recruiting process.

Myth 9: RPO Replaces Your Internal HR Expertise.

Your internal talent acquisition expertise is invaluable—and it’s here to stay. RPO isn’t about replacing your team; it’s about augmenting their strengths.

Organizations often struggle to invest in growing the number of talent acquisition and HR resources required to keep up with the rate of change. RPO providers take on time-consuming, but necessary, recruiting activities such as sourcing and candidate engagement. This frees up internal HR staff to focus on higher value activities.

Plus, through working across many clients and industries, RPOs have their finger on the pulse of what’s going on the labor market and can share best practices and insights to help you make informed workforce decisions.

Consider your RPO team your ally, enhancing your internal capabilities and helping you and your team shine even brighter.

Myth 10: RPOs Don’t Care About Your Company Culture.

Your company culture is your crown jewel, and you’re not about to let it fade away in the name of outsourcing. Fear not! Reputable RPO providers understand the value of cultural fit.

Your RPO team integrates your values, purpose and employer brand into every candidate touchpoint. An RPO provider can help you amplify your employer brand by leveraging your established candidate attraction assets in targeted recruitment marketing campaigns. Utilizing job postings, social media posts, your career site and email campaigns, your RPO provider will carry your carefully crafted employer brand to candidates, providing them with compelling reason apply to your open positions.

It’s like having a partner who not only respects your company culture but actively works to preserve and enhance it.

If your organization is looking to develop an employer brand from scratch or update your current one, a leading RPO partner can provide you with employer branding services to complement your recruitment strategy ranging from creative support to full-scale employer value propositions (EVP) development.

From debunking misconceptions to revealing the true essence of RPO, you’ve now navigated through the labyrinth of misperceptions to arrive at the threshold of transformation. With RPO, you’re not just recruiting—you’re building a workforce that will grow your business for years to come. So, it’s time to shatter RPO myths and embrace the potential of of this powerhouse solution.

The Synergy of Workforce Planning and HR Analytics

Posted on September 20, 2023April 11, 2024 by akessler

Strategic HR management has become a crucial aspect of organizational success. Hence, HR analytics and workforce planning have significantly influenced the rapidly evolving recruitment industry in the past few years. These approaches provide insights and tools that help organizations optimize workforce solutions, shape decision-making processes and drive the overall growth of the business.

This article delves into the complexity of HR analytics and workforce planning, the benefits and risks as well as real-world workforce planning examples and HR analytics applications.

What are Workforce Planning and HR Analytics?

Workforce planning is a methodical process that organizations implement to ensure they have the right mix of talent with the appropriate skills to meet current and future business objectives. It involves forecasting future workforce needs, identifying gaps in skills and competencies, as well as designing strategies to address those gaps. Workforce planning aims to align the company’s strategic goals with its human resources.

On the other hand, HR analytics involves the use of data analytics to provide organizational leaders with actionable insights on recruitment, performance management, employee engagement and more. It helps organizations to gain a deeper understanding of workforce dynamics, identify trends and predict future outcomes. Leveraging HR analytics tools can aid Human Resource professionals in developing better, well-informed strategies that boost the overall employee experience and contribute to the company’s future success.

Although workforce planning and HR analytics share a common goal of enhancing human resources management, these approaches provide varying degrees of information.

Workforce planning tends to focus on the macro-level view, addressing questions like:

What are the hiring needs for the upcoming quarter?

What kind of skills will be crucial in overcoming current growth challenges?

Are there skills gaps in our teams?

On the contrary, HR analytics delves into micro-level insights:

Are there specific patterns in employee engagement and productivity?

What are the factors causing high turnover in a particular department?

What is the most common reason for high performers to resign?

Whilst workforce planning takes a more strategic approach, HR analytics contextualizes information to support data-driven decision-making. Leveraging workforce planning and HR analytics together helps promote engaged and productive teams.

Benefits of HR Analytics and Workforce Planning

Whilst the benefits of taking a data-forward approach to talent strategy are numerous, here are the top three benefits:

Improved Resource Allocation

Workforce planning aids in allocating resources effectively by ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right time. HR analytics enhances this process by providing insights into individual and team performance.

Strategic Decision-Making

Workforce planning supports long-term goals, while HR analytics facilitates swift decision-making for immediate concerns.

Proactive Problem Solving

Workforce planning identifies potential gaps and challenges in advance, allowing organizations to take action before issues become critical. HR analytics offers the ability to identify and address emerging employee-related problems promptly.

Real-World Application of Workforce Planning

A financial services organization engaged PeopleScout and our Talent Mapping solution to unlock their talent segments and provide enhanced workforce planning data that would help streamline the client’s global contact centers into multilingual hubs. Within two weeks, PeopleScout delivered comprehensive insights into:

Size and language skills of the customer service workforce in several countries
Additional salary expectations for specific language abilities
Age, gender, diversity data to aid DE&I efforts
Candidate preferences to inform market messages
Optimal platforms for recruitment advertising in each area
Desired recruitment process for better candidate experience
Regional variations based on location-specific data

PeopleScout’s findings were summarized into easily understandable reports for each country. These insights guided the client in assessing locations for their multilingual centers, refining their value proposition, designing talent attraction strategies, and structuring compensation packages. The solution enabled informed decision-making and optimized recruitment efforts.

Real-World Application of HR Analytics

A leading credit reporting company struggled with increased staff turnover, prompting the need for action. The HR department collaborated with the internal specialists who formulated the credit scoring model. Using a similar approach, the team was able to create a predictive employee turnover model. The model provided a risk score for each employee using diverse data sources and alerted managers about the potential turnover risks at various role levels. The model was based on roughly 200 variables that were likely to influence an employee to seek opportunities elsewhere, including aspects like team dynamics, supervisor performance as well as commute length.

The new approach was rolled out globally and has provided valuable insights for decision-making and workforce planning in the longer term. For example, it was evident that turnover in each region was affected by a unique set of factors.

The model’s implementation led to a 3% decrease in attrition over 18 months, translating to a £8 million business saving. The rollout’s success was attributed to leadership endorsement of analytics and a collaborative approach between the analytics and HR teams to ensure action based on predictions and continuous improvement of the model.

Navigating Risks in Talent Analytics

Whilst the use of data insights as part of workforce planning and HR analytics initiatives is appealing, this promising approach comes with potential risks. These challenges include data privacy and data quality risks, interpretational biases as well as data collection pitfalls. Navigating these hurdles is crucial in ensuring that the use of data in building HR strategies is effective and ethical.

Talent analytics relies heavily on employee data, including personal information, which can lead to concerns around data privacy and security. Employers must prioritize data protection and compliance to prevent data breaches.

Low quality data can lead to misleading conclusions and negatively impact decision-making. Well-designed data collection processes ensure that the records are complete and provide enough information from which to draw conclusions as well as to test hypotheses on multiple data samples.

In the modern business world, the synergy between HR analytics and workforce planning is undeniable. By leveraging them effectively, organizations can stay ahead in dynamic business environments, promoting a culture of adaptability, efficiency, and innovation. By aligning strategic goals with workforce planning and leveraging data-driven insights, employers can navigate the complex HR landscape with confidence and foster business growth.

6 Benefits of Modular RPO in a Challenging Economy

Posted on September 6, 2023March 11, 2024 by akessler

By Jo Taylor, Head of RPO, EMEA

Amidst a tumultuous economy, employers continue to face challenges in talent acquisition and are seeking nimble solutions that allow them to address hiring needs quickly. Despite layoffs in some sectors, job openings surpass pre-pandemic levels in nearly every industry—averaging 31% more vacancies than in 2019. This is compounded by three million people having dropped out of the labor force.

Many organizations lack the in-house recruitment resources—in terms of personnel or technology—to respond to fluctuations in a volatile talent market. Plus, with skills gaps growing, internal talent acquisition teams are too stretched to effectively manage the candidate lifecycle. Consequently, employers experience dwindling talent pipelines and an increase in drop-offs and ghosting between offer acceptance and onboarding.

No wonder 91% of hiring managers say they’re experiencing hiring challenges and 45% say they’re struggling to find qualified workers for open roles at their companies. Many organizations are seeking recruitment support in the form of modular RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) as a cost-effective way to augment their recruitment capabilities where they need it most.

That’s why we’re thrilled to announce our new suite of modular solutions, Amplifiers. Amplifiers has a solution that can help augment your team to meet your short-term talent needs—while providing lasting business value.

What is Modular RPO?

Modular RPO, or variable RPO, is a strategic approach to managing the recruitment process in an ultra-focused manner. It involves outsourcing specific components of the recruitment process to an RPO provider, or as a supplement to an existing outsourced recruitment engagement, providing quick access to targeted and customized recruitment support. With a modular or à la carte approach, you choose from a range of services based on your requirements.

Our Amplifiers include:

Talent Mapping
Talent Sourcing
Recruiter On-Demand
Assessment Transformation
Talent Diagnostic
Sure Start: Retention and Onboarding Support

Modular RPO vs Full End-to-End RPO

Modular RPO differs from traditional enterprise RPO in that it allows businesses to select and customize the specific recruitment services they need, rather than outsourcing the entire process.

The main differences include:

Scope: Modular RPO focuses on specific parts of the recruitment process or short-term initiatives, while end-to-end RPO can cover the entire recruitment function.
Duration: Modular RPO engagements are typically short-term, while end-to-end RPO is a long-term strategic partnership. However, many of our RPO partnerships at PeopleScout have started as short-term engagements.
Technology Integration: End-to-end RPO often involves more extensive use of technology, including integration with other HR systems as well as customization.

The decision between modular RPO and a full RPO engagement depends on various factors, including organization size, hiring volume, budget and strategic workforce planning. It’s essential to assess your specific needs and evaluate the benefits and trade-offs associated with each approach before making a decision.

6 Benefits of Modular RPO

Here are six key benefits of a modular approach to RPO.

1. Cost Optimization

Modular RPO gives you greater control over your recruitment costs. You select specific recruitment services based on your challenges, enabling you to allocate your budget more efficiently by avoiding unnecessary expenses for unused services. In uncertain economic times, this is a more cost-effective approach that still lets you benefit from the expertise of an RPO partner.

2. Scalability and Agility

The business landscape is unpredictable, which can cause your hiring needs to fluctuate rapidly. Modular RPO provides the agility to scale your recruitment capabilities up or down based on demand. You can quickly adapt your recruitment efforts in response to market conditions, ensuring you have the adequate resources during high-demand periods and avoiding unnecessary expenses during slower periods. Plus, some of our clients have added Amplifiers onto their full RPO engagement—whether they’re partnered with PeopleScout or another RPO—when an extra boost is needed.

3. Customization and Control

Some organizations prefer to maintain a certain level of control over their recruitment process, particularly during uncertain economic times. With modular RPO, you can customize your recruitment process according to your specific requirements. Select the services you need, such as candidate sourcing, screening or onboarding support, while retaining oversight of other aspects of the recruitment process. This level of control allows companies to align the outsourced services with their internal hiring strategies and maintain greater mastery of their talent acquisition function.

4. Strategic Focus

By outsourcing specific recruitment functions to an RPO partner, you can free up your internal HR teams and hiring managers to focus on core business activities, such as talent development, workforce planning and organizational restructuring. By opting for a modular approach, organizations can collaborate with their RPO partner to design a solution that addresses their specific challenges and aligns with their strategic goals.

5. Access to Technology

RPO providers have access to advanced recruitment technologies and tools. Even with modular RPO, you can leverage these technologies for specific recruitment functions without investing in them for internal use. This is particularly beneficial in challenging economic environments where capital expenditures are carefully managed.

6. Risk Mitigation

In uncertain economic climates, modular recruitment solutions are a great option for organizations who are new to RPO. By opting for a more targeted and flexible approach, you can evaluate the effectiveness and value of the outsourced recruitment partner before expanding the engagement further.

PeopleScout’s Amplifiers offer you the ability to optimize costs, maintain agility, streamline recruitment processes and focus on strategic priorities—while still benefiting from our 30 years of expertise as an RPO partner. The benefits of modular RPO align your organizational needs with our current economic realities.

MODULAR Recruitment SOLUTIONS FROM PEOPLESCOUT

AMPLIFIERS: SCALABLE. FLEXIBLE. AGILE.

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PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis – August 2023

Posted on September 5, 2023December 4, 2023 by nfuqua

U.S. employers added 187,000 jobs in August. This is slightly higher than analysts expected and shows that the Federal Reserve’s plan to slow growth may be working. The unemployment rate rose to 3.8%. Year-over-year wage growth fell slightly to 4.3%.

The Numbers

187,000: U.S. employers added 187,000 jobs in August.

3.8%: The unemployment rate rose to 3.8%.

4.3%: Wages rose 4.3% over the past year.

The Good

While 187,000 jobs would have been a standard month of growth in 2019, in 2023, it shows signs that the labor market is slowing. As the Wall Street Journal reports, August’s report reflects a cooling job market in a strong economy, which is what the Federal Reserve has been hoping to see. Job growth was led by the education and health services sector, and leisure and hospitality saw continued strength. The increased unemployment rate was caused by more Americans looking for work, but the job market has remained tight, with more employers choosing to slow their hiring rather than opt for layoffs.

The Bad

Wage growth is slowing, but not as quickly as the Fed would like to see. Yearly wage growth fell to 4.3% in August, slightly lower than the previous month. However, wage growth has remained stubbornly higher than 4%. As the New York Times reports, Fed officials believe high wage growth could make it difficult to return to their long-term inflation goal of 2%.

The Unknown

The big question for analysts is whether or not the Fed will raise interest rates at its next meeting in September. According to MarketWatch, the latest report shows enough of a slowdown that could convince officials to hold the interest rates steady. Over the past year-and-a-half, the Fed has increased a key short-term interest rate from near zero to 5.5% in an attempt to slow inflation. At the same time, they want to avoid raising interest rates too high, which could trigger a recession.

August’s jobs report is also typically one of the trickiest of the year to interpret. Fewer businesses than usual respond timely to the monthly questionnaire as many people take summer vacations. Additionally, the strikes in Hollywood and the bankruptcy of a large trucking company could make hiring numbers appear to be artificially lower.

The Power of Predictive Analytics in High-Volume Recruitment

Posted on August 30, 2023September 3, 2024 by cevans

By Amelia Krol, Business Analytics Lead

While navigating through high-volume recruitment processes, organizations often find themselves overwhelmed by the number of applications for a multitude of positions, ranging from entry-level roles to specialist positions. This can be a costly and time-consuming process that can damage the candidate experience and doesn’t guarantee candidate quality. This is where predictive analytics steps in, transforming the recruitment landscape.

Driven by advanced data analytics techniques and machine learning, predictive analytics offers a strategic advantage in managing high volumes of roles as well as ensuring the right fit.

How Does Predictive Analytics in Recruitment Work?

Predictive analytics involves the use of historical data, such as applicant resumes, interview feedback, performance data, and employee tenure to create models that predict future candidate success. Predictive analytics finds patterns and correlations within this data to identify characteristics that lead to successful hires. These indicators could include specific skills, educational background, work experience, and even personality traits that align with the company culture. This data-driven approach ensures a higher standard of candidate quality, as recruiters are guided towards individuals whose attributes align seamlessly with the organization’s culture and role requirements.

Furthermore, this strategic deployment of predictive analytics doesn’t merely benefit the organization; it elevates the candidate experience by matching applicants with roles that resonate with their skills and aspirations. As a result, candidates feel more engaged and valued throughout the recruitment journey, culminating in enhanced hiring outcomes and a positive brand reputation.

Predictive analytics presents itself not as a solution, but rather as a dynamic framework for continuous improvement. Organizations can leverage powerful analytics to determine fundamental employee attributes for specific roles, effectively managing the hurdles of volume hiring and retention. This involves harnessing predictive analytics insights to craft bespoke pathways that foster workforce growth.

Predictive Analytics in Action

In late 2021, one of our hospitality clients, Merivale, faced the challenge of recruiting 800 roles within six weeks. Partnering with PeopleScout, they turned to Affinix™, our proprietary talent acquisition suite with includes Affinix Analytics. PeopleScout’s strategy involved deploying Affinix to swiftly source and categorize applicants based on role streams. To ensure quick turnarounds, a tech-powered approach was implemented, utilising video and phone interviews. Leveraging Affinix’s real-time analytics dashboards, candidate responses were screened using built-in AI-powered tools to dynamically filter them into qualified roles. Referrals from current staff were also encouraged through Affinix CRM tool. Despite the challenging talent market, PeopleScout achieved remarkable results a time-to-offer of just 3.36 days and a time-to-fill of 5.5 days. The collaboration’s success continues as they meet the client’s ongoing talent needs, emphasising the transformative role of Affinix’s analytics in the current market.

Several tools are employed for predictive analysis in recruitment, leveraging data-driven insights to enhance hiring decisions. Affinix seamlessly integrates AI, machine learning, digital interviewing and more. It’s a comprehensive solution for streamlining recruitment and enhancing candidate experience. Affinix encompasses various features, including AI Sourcing, which identifies passive candidates for each job posting. CRM optimisation and requisition management enable enhanced communication and talent pool creation based on skills and other factors. Moreover, Affinix Analytics provides job seeker analytics and operational metrics to understand the end-to-end recruitment process. The platform’s integration with HR technologies solidifies its holistic approach to talent management.

Making Informed Decisions about Predictive Analytics

Although promising, predictive analytics, and AI in general, can be perceived as being risky. The key concern is the potential of creating biased algorithms, which can limit diversity in the hiring process and create inequalities. Bias might be present in the historical data fed into the model, from which the algorithm learns. Additionally, the accuracy of predictive models could be compromized due to the constant changes in the recruitment industry as well as evolving organizational needs.

Moreover, the complexity of machine learning algorithms can decrease transparency in decision-making, which would make it challenging for candidates to understand the reasoning behind rejections. Furthermore, quantifying skills and abilities could be difficult for certain roles.

In 2018, a leading retailer released the results of hiring software that was developed internally. The AI scored female candidates lower than male candidates due to bias in the data used to train the model. The model was trained using the company’s historical hiring data, which mostly consisted of men. As a result, AI saw male candidates as preferable to female candidates.

Organizations considering using predictive analytics in recruitment should keep these issues in mind, particularly as they gather data that the models will use. If any bias is discovered by the predictive model, it’s an opportunity for you to introduce (or update) unconscious bias and diversity training to your hiring managers.

Changing the Recruitment Landscape with Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics in recruitment is a powerful force in changing the landscape, particularly in the context of high-volume hiring. The integration of historical data with cutting-edge HR technology optimizes the recruitment process, enriches the caliber of selected candidates and ensures that talent acquisition supports the strategic objectives of the organization. However, balancing the benefits and limitations of this approach is crucial for a responsible and effective application of predictive analytics in high-volume recruitment.

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Green Jobs, Green Skills: Hiring for a Renewable Future

Posted on August 4, 2023September 6, 2024 by nfuqua

The future of work is green. According to the United Nations, the global economy is undergoing a “greening,” as industries like energy, transportation and construction adopt more sustainable practices. That process could create 24 million more jobs globally by 2030, putting workers with green skills in high demand.

However, supply has not kept up, even as the need for green skills spills into other industries like economics and finance, security, market and geopolitical analysis, communications, social sciences, and legal.

In this article, we’ll explore the drivers for green jobs and the need for green skills, which green skills are in the highest demand and how employers can find and hire top green talent.

What are Green Jobs?

So, what qualifies as a “green job?” According to the International Labor Organization, “Green jobs reduce the consumption of energy and raw materials, limit greenhouse gas emissions, minimize waste and pollution, protect and restore ecosystems, and enable enterprises and communities to adapt to climate change.”

Demand for green skills is outpacing the supply. According to LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report, between 2022 and 2023, job postings requiring at least one green skill rose 22.4% while the share of green talent in the workforce only grew 12.3%.

What’s causing the shift? According to the World Economic Forum, many countries are working to achieve net zero by 2050. This means that both governments and businesses are driving the green transition.

So far, the majority of green job growth has come in some of the highest polluting industries, such as energy and transportation, and in some of the countries that produce the most greenhouse gases.

The U.S., Germany and India, countries that emit some of the highest amounts of greenhouse gasses, are leading the way in green jobs. According to the World Economic Forum, Germany is adopting more green skills in the manufacturing industry, and the U.S. and India are outpacing other countries in both oil and gas and mining.

120

For every 100 workers who leave the renewable energy sector, 120 join. (LinkedIn)

10X

There were 10 times the number of green jobs in the U.S. compared to the fossil fuel industry by 2019. (Source)

16.5M

There are now 16.5 million electric vehicles on the road. (LinkedIn) — (Source: LinkedIn, Global Citizen, LinkedIn)

But the need for green jobs goes beyond installing solar panels and building electric vehicles. According to LinkedIn, one of the most important sectors in sustainability is finance, and it is lagging behind. In the fight against climate change, huge investments will need to be made in things like wind farms and electric vehicle charging stations, and financial professionals will be in the spotlight. Despite that, only 6.8% of finance workers globally have green skills. However, there are signs of change. Between 2021 and 2022, the percentage of green jobs in finance grew 17%.

With increasing competition for green talent, employers need to have an in-depth understanding of the most in-demand green skills and how to attract, hire and train top talent.

What are Green Skills?

It is easy to mistakenly associate certain green skills to specific industries. Unlike the ability to set a broken bone, which will qualify a worker for a job in healthcare but isn’t relevant if they’re applying for a role with a law firm, green skills are different. Think of green skills more like tech and digital skills in their ability to be applied across a wide range of industries. For example, carbon accounting, or estimating the carbon footprint of different organizations, can play an important role in a variety of industries, from consulting to waste management. While there might be a concentration of workers with green skills in green industries, those skills are in demand across the global economy.

According to LinkedIn, the fastest growing green skill in the EU is climate action planning. A climate action plan is “a framework document for measuring, tracking and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adopting climate adaptation measures.”

Climate action plans exist for a variety of organizations. For example, they exist at the government level, including for U.S. states, for international organizations like the World Bank, Fortune 500 companies and more. This means employers are competing for candidates across industries.

There are many green skills that are required for jobs in industries not considered green. For example, according to LinkedIn, a knowledge of energy efficiency could be necessary for roles like a plumbing engineer, utilities manager, vice president of facilities or HVAC specialist.

So, what are the most in demand green skills? It depends on where you are. In the U.S., carbon accounting, drinking water quality and energy engineering are seeing some of the fastest growth. While in the EU, sustainability education and carbon emissions round out the top three after climate action planning.

fastest growing green skills in the eurpean union

fastest growing green skills in the u.s.

How to Hire for Green Skills

To meet their own hiring and sustainability goals, employers need to understand where to find candidates with in-demand green skills, how to attract them and how to train green-adjacent workers to help fill skills gaps. Here, we cover three options for employers struggling to fill green roles.

1. Skills-Based Hiring

Skills-based hiring sounds simple—hiring people based on skills rather than previous job titles. However, according to SHRM, it requires a commitment to change. Traditionally, many jobs list requirements like specific degrees or years of experience that are used to determine if candidates are ready to take on a role.

According to one survey, more than 80% of employers believe they should prioritize skills over degrees. Yet, 52% are still hiring from degree programs because it’s considered a less risky choice. This means that especially in entry- and mid-level roles, candidates with the right skills could be overlooked for failing to meet these specific requirements.

Research shows that adopting a skills-based hiring strategy can yield significant improvements to an organization’s talent acquisition program—increasing quality of hire, expanding the talent pool, increasing diversity and improving employee retention.

Transitioning to a skills-based hiring process requires a culture change, a transformation in thinking from the top down—from senior leadership to hiring managers—andupdates to many aspects of the recruitment process.

One of the most important steps is updating the screening or assessment process. Rather than eliminating candidates who lack certain degrees or years of experience, develop criteria and assessments that objectively measure the skills necessary for the job. Then, screen candidates in rather than screening them out. An RPO provider with talent advisory capabilities can assist organizations moving to a skills-based screening and assessment strategy.

2. Green Adjacent Skills and Gateway Jobs

Additionally, employers can build gateway jobs and look for candidates with green adjacent skills.

Gateway jobs are roles that can serve as steppingstones and give workers the opportunity to gain the green skills they’ll need for a green career. According to the LinkedIn report, one example of a gateway job is in supply chain management. As the industry looks to reduce its carbon emissions, workers are developing the green skills to do the job, even though they may not have had them when they were hired. In fact, 41% of workers who move into gateway jobs have no prior green experience.

An effective strategy for hiring candidates for these gateway roles is looking for green adjacent skills. These are skills that don’t necessarily fall under the green umbrella but would give the candidate the ability to do many functions related to the role. For example, candidates with STEM and digital skills can go a long way toward helping an organization reach its sustainability goals. Also, experience in industries currently undergoing a green transformation, like utilities, mining, transportation and agriculture can be applied to green jobs.

How much more (or less) likely are workers who move into green and sustainability-related jobs to have certain skills?

To find these candidates, employers need a robust souring strategy to identify those with adjacent skills. The right technology solution can identify both active and passive candidates with specific skills, expanding the talent pipeline and predicting factors such as cultural fit, willingness to change companies and future tenure potential.

3. Reskilling and Upskilling

When hiring candidates with adjacent skills, employers must implement reskilling and upskilling programs to fill the skills gap.

According to the World Economic Forum, nearly half of young workers believe they don’t have the right skillset to guarantee them an adequate job over the next decade. On top of that, sustainability transformations happen quickly, and without ongoing training, older workers could be left behind. The good news is that according to PwC, 77% of employees are ready to learn new skills or completely retrain in response to new technologies in the workplace.

Reskilling and upskilling can happen at a few different levels, from government programs to higher education and private employers. However, organizations shouldn’t just rely on external programs. By building effective reskilling programs, businesses invest in services tailored to developing their own workforce while also assisting the global need for more sustainable work.

A Renewable Future

Setting up a green, sustainable future is everyone’s responsibility. As the demand for green skills increases, employers need effective solutions for finding, hiring and training top green talent. RPO providers, especially those with talent advisory services, can be a valuable resource for talent leaders looking to revamp their recruiting programs for a renewable future.

For more insights on green skills in the energy sector, download our ebook, The Recruitment Handbook for Energy and Utilities.

PeopleScout Expedites Access to Talent with Launch of Accelerate—a Tech-Powered RPO Solution with Two-Week Implementation

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by akessler

RPO provider’s newest recruitment solution combines speed, agility and technology with over 30 years of market experience and insights

CHICAGO — August 1, 2023 — Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) leader PeopleScout is proud to introduce Accelerate, the latest addition to their tech-enabled solutions, designed to meet the unique talent needs of their clients. This turnkey RPO solution promotes agility, streamlines recruitment processes, and delivers an exceptional candidate experience.

Powered by PeopleScout’s award-winning Affinix™ talent acquisition technology, Accelerate features pre-configured modules and can be implemented in just two weeks—allowing organizations and talent acquisition leaders to move at lightning speed. Accelerate features everything employers need to attract, engage and hire talent, including career site hosting, CRM, passive candidate sourcing, mobile-first quick apply, screening, interview self-scheduling, analytics, and of course, PeopleScout’s team of recruiting professionals.

“Today’s market demands a more agile approach to recruitment, and speed of implementation is critical in connecting our clients with the talent they need,” said Rick Betori, President of PeopleScout. “Accelerate pairs that speed with PeopleScout’s 30 years of expertise to deliver a recruitment experience that is unparalleled in the industry.”

PeopleScout Accelerate delivers a variety of benefits to clients, including:

Faster time-to value, delivering the right talent in weeks and avoiding costly, time-consuming implementations
Greater candidate flow through a seamless, modern, consumer-like experience powered by Affinix talent technology
Expertise and insights from PeopleScout’s recruitment experts, with the ability to respond to changing market conditions

Accelerate is an ideal solution for many types of organizations, including:

Businesses who need immediate recruiting support and lack the necessary technology to help them compete for today’s talent
Start-ups or spin-offs from larger corporations who can’t wait for a world-class candidate experience to be built as they ramp up their talent acquisition efforts
Enterprise organizations requiring rapid, project-based recruiting support through a frictionless process without the traditional time-consuming integration into existing technologies

Learn more about PeopleScout Accelerate here.

Press Contact
Taylor Winchell
Senior Manager, External Communications
pr@trueblue.com
+1-253-680-8291

[On-Demand] Ready-to-Go RPO: Introducing PeopleScout Accelerate

Posted on July 31, 2023September 6, 2024 by mrehmann

[On-Demand] Ready-To-Go RPO: Introducing PeopleScout Accelerate

Unpredictable hiring peaks. Talent gaps. Lack of insight. We know organizations are struggling to hire talent and stay agile while facing these challenges in today’s tumultuous market. 

That’s why we’ve developed PeopleScout Accelerate—to optimize your recruitment funnel, enhance your candidate experience, maximize ROI and ensure your workforce success—now and into the future.

PeopleScout Accelerate is a tech-powered, ready-to-go recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solution that combines PeopleScout’s deep recruitment expertise and a pre-configured Affinix™ talent acquisition technology suite—implemented in just two weeks.

In this Talking Talent webinar, PeopleScout Senior Vice President of Business Development Jessie McGowan and Vice President of Global Product and Implementation, Mark Fita, take a deep dive into what PeopleScout Accelerate can do for you. Jessie and Mark dig into how you can leverage PeopleScout Accelerate, specific use cases and its benefits, including:

Faster Time-to-Value
Accelerate your ROI. Amplify your agility. This stress-free RPO engagement is ready to deliver the right talent in just two weeks.

A Recruitment Experience Your Candidates Will Love
A pre-configured Affinix recruitment tech stack powers a modern, consumer-like journey that candidates have come to expect.

Recruitment Experts on Your Side
With over 30 years of industry expertise, we provide know-how and market insights to augment your team and bring your talent acquisition program to the next level.

Ready-to-Go RPO: Introducing PeopleScout Accelerate is available on-demand now.

Navigating the Transition to Green Energy: Recruitment Trends for Energy and Utility Employers [Infographic]

Posted on July 21, 2023March 11, 2024 by nfuqua

The energy and utilities industry is in the process of a massive transition as providers move to green and renewable energy sources and adjust to changing energy use patterns across the globe. In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, which increased the incentives for energy-transition-related investments and core renewables. In EMEA, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has spurred a faster transition to renewables, according to the UK Climate Envoy.

This growth has left a massive talent gap, especially in an industry with an aging workforce. Talent acquisition leaders in the energy and utilities sector need to understand the forces shaping the recruitment landscape to remain competitive.