Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

Exploring the Veteran Talent Landscape: Why It’s Time to Focus on Turning Veteran Jobs into Veteran Careers

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There are plenty of reasons to hire veterans. For companies, it makes good business sense. Veterans make great employees. They’re leaders, team players, disciplined, hard workers, and their military experience makes them quick learners who can perform well under pressure. As civilians, it’s the least we can do. After years of service, as veterans transition into the civilian world, we owe it to them to make that transition smooth.

Falling Unemployment

Over the past five years, the veteran hiring landscape has transformed. In 2011, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans hit a high of 12.1 percent. At the time, the U.S. economy was recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and thousands of veterans were looking for civilian work as the military scaled down operations in the Middle East.

Now, the picture is vastly different. By the end of 2016, the veteran unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent. The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans is about a percentage point higher.

There are several reasons for this drop in unemployment. The U.S. economy has recovered dramatically. As the veteran unemployment rate fell, so too did the overall unemployment rate. Additionally, many companies started veteran hiring initiatives. The Veteran Jobs Mission started in 2011 with the goal of hiring 100,000 veterans. Member organizations have now hired nearly 400,000. Companies like Walmart and Starbucks also made high-profile commitments that have translated into thousands of jobs. According to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study, companies now consider veterans a top three recruiting priority.

New Challenges

Despite these encouraging numbers, veterans in 2017 face a new set of challenges – the biggest is underemployment. Military Times examined this issue, pointing out that many of the jobs offered to veterans making the transition to civilian work fail to take advantage of their unique skill sets.

We can also see this because when it comes to hiring veterans, one of the biggest challenges now is holding on to them. A study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found 44 percent of veterans leave their first civilian job in the first year. Of those who leave, 31 percent say it was because they took that first job just to make ends meet, but it wasn’t actually what they wanted to do. It wasn’t a good fit. Another 30 percent left for a better job with more pay and more opportunities for advancement.

These issues impact some veterans more than others. Post-9/11 veterans struggle more than veterans from earlier periods of service. Most of the unemployed veterans are middle age or older.

Some challenges affect the entire military family. The unemployment rate for military spouses is 18 percent. They face many of the same challenges as veterans when it comes to finding and holding a job, but they don’t have access to the same employment support networks. Hiring Our Heroes is drawing attention to the challenges faced by military spouses. Read more about those unique issues and PeopleScout’s relationship with Hiring Our Heroes here.

Looking Forward

Now, employers have a new challenge. It’s time to focus on placing veterans in the right job the first time and put them on a track to build a civilian career. We need to focus on building company cultures where veterans feel comfortable and where they can advance.

The biggest challenges standing in the way of these goals are that most hiring managers have a hard time reading military resumes and translating those skills to civilian jobs, and most companies don’t have the training or formal programming to build a veteran-friendly culture.

There are steps employers can take to improve veteran hiring and retention. See our list of best practices for companies looking to improve their veteran hiring.

Dissecting the May Jobs Report

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The Labor Department released its May jobs report with the lowest unemployment rate in 16 years but lower than expected job growth. Here’s what we know:

The numbers
138,000: The economy added 138,000 jobs in May
4.3%: The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%
2.5%: Wages went up 2.5% over the last year

The good

The unemployment rate is the highlight of the May report. The Wall Street Journal reports that this is the lowest level since 2001. Broader measures of unemployment and underemployment are also down, and it’s also down from the April jobs report.

The New York Times reports the numbers show we’re nearing full employment, but depending on who you are, that may or may not be a good thing.

The bad

Despite the banner unemployment headline, economists say this report sends some mixed signals about the economy. First, the Wall Street Journal reports the 138,000 jobs added was actually lower than economists expected, and Bloomberg reports the past three months show the slowest job growth since 2012.

Additionally, part of the reason for the decreasing unemployment rate is a shrinking labor force. The New York Times points out that the labor-force participation rate dropped this month to 62.7%, which indicates that workers sidelined during the recession are not rejoining the labor force despite years of job growth and a low unemployment rate.

The 2.5% wage gain has been steady since late 2015, according to the Wall Street Journal. Economists had predicted that would eventually start to increase with the falling unemployment rate, but so far, that hasn’t happened.

The unknown

Economists are debating what exactly these mixed signals mean when looked at as a whole picture. Marketwatch reports that the low unemployment rate will be enough for the Federal Reserve Bank to increase interest rates. However, they also show the report caused the dollar to weaken and the stock market gains were limited.

Read our analysis of the June jobs report here.

PeopleScout 2017 Client Forum Wrap Up

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PeopleScout’s annual Client Forum took place last month in Orlando, FL. We appreciate our clients and partners who took the time to join us to explore topics surrounding the changing world of work. Our time at the forum allowed us to share ideas, gain value insights and enjoy a great opportunity to network. The goal of the forum was to help attendees walk away with actionable ideas for driving escalating value in their organizations. Our keynote speakers and roundtable facilitators armed our attendees with content that is relevant and applicable to take back and consider implementing at their organizations.

Gary Bragar, HR Outsourcing Research Director at NelsonHall, shared an excellent recap of our event on the NelsonHall blog. I encourage you to read the post for Bragar’s take on three areas where PeopleScout is preparing for the changing world of work: global expansion, offering total workforce solutions and an enhanced technology offering.

I’m eager to share an overview of this year’s event. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we look deeper into the topics discussed at the forum, including the future of work, diversity and inclusion, employer branding and Total Workforce Solutions.

Keynote: Talent Solutions for the Changing World of Work

Taryn Owen, President of PeopleScout, and Patrick Beharelle, President and COO of TrueBlue, kicked things off by diving into the changing world of work and sharing how PeopleScout is prepared to respond to industry trends.

From robot bartenders that can mix cocktails and make small talk to driverless car technology that will disrupt many of the 4.4 million long-haul, cab and bus driver jobs, major shifts are happening in the way we do business. Add that to the changing candidate experience, and you’ll see how recruitment must evolve to appeal to candidates as consumers. For example, according to CareerBuilder, candidates are using 16 different resources – including social networks – to research a company before applying!

We are facing a new landscape for talent acquisition due to the rise of the gig economy, increased access to global talent and changing candidate expectations. Beharelle lead us through a discussion of three forces that are disrupting the talent landscape:

  • Technology is disrupting the workforce on a scale never seen before
  • Globalization is changing how we access the workforce
  • Evolving social preferences are transforming how we attract talent

What is PeopleScout doing to stay ahead of the disruption? Owen shared how PeopleScout is innovating for the future of talent. Over the past year, PeopleScout has focused on many initiatives, including integrating HRX, an Australian RPO provider, into the PeopleScout brand by becoming PeopleScout in APAC. We also completed our acquisition of the AON RPO business just more than a year ago, bringing a wealth of knowledge, leadership expertise and robust operational procedures to PeopleScout. With the AON acquisition, we opened five new offices in four countries: Gurgaon, India, Krakow, Poland, Toronto and Montreal in Canada and Charlotte, NC in the U.S.

Most recently, we migrated our MSP division from our sister company Staff Management | SMX to PeopleScout. The integration of MSP services allows us to offer Total Workforce Solutions, creating synergies across our people, processes and technologies and providing our clients more access to expanded expertise across the talent spectrum.
As we look forward to 2017 and beyond, our top priorities center around:

  • The continued expansion of our global footprint to ensure that we leverage talent where it exists
  • Further evolving our total talent solutions offering to make sure we bring the best talent to our clients, regardless of worker type
  • Launching our new technology platform that will provide a competitive advantage for each of our clients in this disrupted talent landscape

We look forward to sharing more with you about our technology roadmap in the coming months.

Keynote: The Future of Work
Author and futurist Jacob Morgan shared ways to challenge the status quo and embrace creativity to attract and retain top talent during his engaging keynote presentation. Morgan focused on three things he believes make organizations a top place to work: culture, technology and physical space.

Culture, Morgan says, makes up 40% of an employee’s overall experience with a company. Although it makes up the largest percentage, it also is the hardest piece of the puzzle for many companies because it’s not tangible. Technology, which includes the systems and tools employees use every day to get their job done, makes up 30% of employee experience. Finally, physical space also makes up 30% of employee experience, and is made up of the actual physical space employees perform their work in, whether it’s a cubical, open floor plan, or a hybrid mix. Understanding, evaluating and investing in these three areas will help organizations win the war for talent.

Keynote: The Disney Approach to Employee Engagement
Carmen Garcia, lead facilitator at the Disney Institute, talked about Disney’s approach to employee engagement and shared how to foster a culture of leadership and service. Garcia shared insights on how Disney created a culture that helps their employees, or cast members, become the best ambassadors of their brand.
One tactic Garcia shared was Disney’s decision to “over-manage” parts of their employee experience. While some may have a negative view of that term, she explained that it means Disney has an intentional thought process behind everything they do; it is designed with a purpose in mind. Throughout the presentation, it was clear that Disney’s focus on over-managing their culture creates high-quality results throughout the entire organization.

Keynote: Industry Disruption and Leadership
Patty McCord, a workplace innovator and leadership consultant, lead a discussion on industry disruption and how to reconsider the idea of best practices. She shared her approach to creating winning teams by changing our assumptions about employees, talent and transformation. McCord ended her presentation by asking the audience to try one new thing and throw away one old thing to see what happens when you challenge the status quo.

Roundtable: Diversity & Inclusion
Dr. Arin Reeves facilitated roundtable sessions on diversity and inclusion. Questions from participants ranged from how to create a balanced strategy to how to integrate diversity and inclusion into a contingent labor practice. A key takeaway she shared is the idea that “the more you retain, the more you attract.” Inclusion programs are essential for retaining diverse hires. The best way to show people that they can be successful in your organization is to have an example of that in place, like diverse employees in leadership roles. Additionally, it’s more cost-effective to focus on retention rather than managing high levels of attrition among diverse employees.
Find out key takeaways from the roundtable in this video:

Roundtable: Employee Engagement
Jacob Morgan facilitated roundtable sessions on employee engagement, encouraging attendees to share challenges they were experiencing or examples of how they dealt with tough situations. One key learning was the lack of effectiveness of annual engagement surveys and reviews. Morgan and roundtable attendees agreed that there were issues with annual reviews. The primary challenge is that they are not frequent enough; results take too long to receive and analyze and many factors can skew the results. Ideas to replace annual surveys include internal social media tools that encourage employees to give feedback daily and engagement surveys conducted on individual teams.

Hear the key takeaways from his roundtable in this video:

Roundtable: Employer Branding
Stacy Zapar facilitated roundtable sessions on employer branding. Zapar discussed where the industry is going in the next three to five years and what organizations can do to prepare for it now. She also shared where companies have room to improve and what they can do to differentiate themselves. Attendees also discussed the importance of giving your employees a voice through social media, videos, blogging and more. Giving employees a voice allows companies to leverage their most connected people as brand ambassadors.
Learn more of the key takeaways in this video:

Roundtable: Total Workforce Solutions
Dana Shaw-Arimoto facilitated roundtable sessions on Total Workforce Solutions. Shaw-Arimoto shared information on the current landscape of Total Workforce Solutions and factors that go into creating an integrated talent strategy. She suggested asking three key questions before starting down a path to a total talent strategy:

  • What is your current state?
  • Where do you want to be?
  • How do you get started?

Attendees shared where they are on the journey towards total talent management and what they are most looking forward to from a total workforce solution, which included competitive advantage, stability and becoming more proactive.
Find out other key takeaways in this video:

Evening Reception
The Client Forum wrapped up with a fun and exciting evening event at Epcot. Dinner at the Living Seas Salon in Epcot followed by a front row seat at the Illuminations Reflections of Earth fireworks show made for great networking and conversation. Our evening was capped off with an exclusive ride on Soarin’.

Thank you again to our clients, keynote speakers and roundtable hosts who made this year’s event so rewarding. We look forward to sharing more insights from the forum over the next few weeks!

Dissecting the April Jobs Report

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The Labor Department released its April jobs report with higher than expected job growth, showing a rebound after a slow March. Here’s what we know:
The numbers
211,000: The economy added 211,000 jobs
4.4%: The jobless rate fell to 4.4%
2.5%: Wages went up 2.5% over the past 12 months
The good
There’s a lot of good in this jobs report. The 211,000 jobs added is more than economists expected according to Marketwatch, and it’s more than double the growth in the March report.
Additionally, the 4.4% unemployment rate is the lowest in nearly a decade. According to the Wall Street Journal, the last time the unemployment rate was 4.4% was May 2007. The last time it was lower was May 2001. The number suggests the economy may be near full employment.
The bad
While not necessarily bad, one of the weaker points in the report is the 2.5% wage increase. According to the New York Times, it’s a sign that the economy hasn’t actually reached full employment. However, Bloomberg reports wage gains should be the next step in the continued recovery from the recession, citing the tightening labor market.
The unknown
The biggest questions out of the April jobs report concern what exactly the results mean for other parts of the government. Marketwatch reports the job growth keeps the Fed on track to raise interest rates again soon.
The April report also clears up some questions after March’s surprisingly low job report, according to Marketwatch. Their analysts say April’s strong numbers show March was likely an anomaly caused by bad weather.
Read our analysis of the May jobs report.

Dissecting the March Jobs Report

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Dissecting the March Jobs Report

The Labor Department released its March jobs report with lower than expected job-growth numbers. Economists are debating what those numbers mean. Here’s what we know.
The numbers
98,000: The economy added 98,000 jobs
4.5 percent: The jobless rate fell to 4.5 percent
2.7 percent: Wages went up 2.7 percent over the last year
The good
The 4.5 percent unemployment rate is the lowest since 2007, according to the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal calls it a signal that the economy is at or nearing full employment, and Bloomberg calls it a “signal of underlying strength.”
Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reports the 2.7 percent wage increase shows wages are rising faster now than at the start of the recovery from the Great Recession – a sign the labor market is tightening.
The bad
The economy added far fewer jobs than economists expected at just 98,000. That’s less than half the number of jobs added in January or February. Additionally, the Labor Department revised its numbers from January and February, indicating employers added fewer jobs than the department estimated a few weeks ago.
Retail was one of the worst performing sectors in the economy, losing nearly 30,000 jobs in March after losing about 31,000 in February.
The unknown
Economists are still debating the reason behind the slowed job growth. The New York Times reports some blame the numbers on a cold and snowy March in some parts of the country after a nicer than expected January and February. However, The Atlantic points out that some of the biggest losses were in retail, which wouldn’t be explained by weather.
This puts more pressure April jobs report. You can read our analysis of the April report here.

The Outlook for Total Workforce Solutions – Why Now?

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Total Workforce Solutions blend Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) capabilities into one integrated program. With Total Workforce Solutions, you’ll add value and reduce risk by gaining valuable insights into your entire workforce, from contingent to full-time employees.

There is a growing global demand to bring together MSP and RPO services for a holistic approach to sourcing strategies. Total Workforce Solutions cover the full spectrum of talent; including employees, independent contractors, temporary workers, part-time workers, seasonal workers, SOW, outsourced services and freelancers. These solutions allow organizations to think about talent as a whole, by incorporating both full-time and contingent workers into their total workforce mix.

Total Workforce Solutions may also enable organizations to address relevant questions around the contingent and full-time employee mix, the real cost of different worker types and what worker types will best maximize productivity and cost-effectiveness. Visibility into the total workforce will help talent leaders understand how to integrate contingent and full-time employees to increase productivity and lower costs.

Talent acquisition professionals are ready to access not only combined MSP and RPO services but also to embrace the benefits that come with a blended approach to recruitment and talent management.

Stay Ahead of Industry Trends

The right strategic workforce for any business may involve a mix of permanent and temporary positions. It can require mass recruiting as well as laser-focused searches, with metrics and analytics to track performance. With so much riding on talent, it’s no surprise that recruitment and employment strategy has become more complex. The changing world of work, talent scarcity, demand for improved analytics and technology and pressure for improved ROI on every recruitment dollar are all drivers in the logical development of blended, or bundled, service offerings.

Research from the Everest Group identified industry trends underpinning the adoption of combined MSP and RPO solutions, which include:

  • Growth in the contingent labor force: A study by Intuit predicts that 43% of American workers will be employed on short-term gigs by 2020.
  • Globalization: Companies require the flexibility to access talent from diverse geographies.
  • C-Suite Focus on Talent: Increased focus means effective talent acquisition is both a high priority and high visibility.
  • Economic forces: Organizations continue to need the flexibility to scale up or down given the volatile nature of the economy.
  • A Unified Strategy: Companies are struggling to integrate different types of workers into a coherent strategy.

Key Drivers of Total Workforce Solutions

The following five factors further explain why Total Workforce Solutions are needed — and needed now.

1. Growth in the contingent workforce makes working with an MSP a necessity.

The gig economy is growing, which means more and more talent will be classified as contingent workers. An MSP program will help organizations ensure they have the right strategy to access that talent. If your company solely focuses on hiring full-time employees to fill your workforce needs, you may miss out on the talent that lies on the contingent side.

2. Continued strategic focus on the contingent side means MSPs must go beyond business as usual.

An Ardent Partners survey showed that 95 percent of organizations perceive contingent talent to be vital not only to day-to-day operations but also to the ultimate success and growth of their enterprise. It is no longer just enough to attract contingent workers; companies must be able to integrate them into their total talent workforce planning strategically.

3. Increased C-Suite focus on talent means talent acquisition is a high priority and that talent acquisition efforts must deliver.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Annual Global CEO Surveys, which gather feedback from 1,400 CEOs worldwide, stresses that talent acquisition and management should remain a top priority. In the 2016 survey, 75% of CEOs listed developing talent as one of the top three priorities of businesses.

These priorities beg the question, is HR equipped to handle evolving talent acquisition and management needs? In 2014, researchers for the Global CEO Survey delved into talent and HR and found a crucial insight: 93% of CEOs said they needed to change strategies for attracting and keeping talent, but only 34% said HR was well prepared.

The increased focus on talent acquisition means that HR, talent acquisition and procurement professionals will need more visibility into their workforce to ensure that they are attracting, hiring and developing the right talent – contingent or full-time – to make the most impact on their organizations.

4. Companies are struggling to integrate all the different kinds of workers into a coherent strategy.

Recent Deloitte research demonstrated that more than 70% of the 7,000 companies surveyed are having difficulty integrating a blended workforce. The need for a blended workforce coupled with the difficulty companies have integrating their contingent and full-time workers creates additional demand for the integrated planning capabilities and enhanced visibility across talent streams Total Workforce Solutions bring.

5. Integrating your workforce into one unified strategy matters.

Blending contingent and full-time approaches mean a more mature talent acquisition function and those mature talent acquisition approaches produce big dividends for their organizations.

According to a study by Bersin by Deloitte, unified workforce strategies are 2.6x more effective on talent acquisition outcomes. Total Workforce Solutions help talent acquisition professional make more informed decisions cross-enterprise, drive worker quality and retention, and reduce costs and risks.

The adoption of blended solutions will continue to increase as talent acquisition professionals look for providers with an expanded scope of services to meet specific program challenges across the entire talent spectrum.

Are Total Workforce Solutions Right for Your Organization?

Implementing a Total Workforce Solution requires a strategic relationship with the right partner to match your company’s needs. That partner should understand your business and the strategic impact of talent – both contingent and full-time – across the enterprise, and have the tools and processes to make a difference in your organization. Furthermore, the partner should understand what top talent can accomplish and identify contingent workers that will make excellent candidates for full-time employees and vice versa.

These needs can be met with a Total Workforce Solutions provider skilled in talent pooling, workforce consulting and data analytics.

Before implementing a Total Workforce Solution, providers must complete a needs assessment to identify the ideal workforce mix for each client. Different factors, such as worker type, geography, assignment duration and more, will change based on each organization’s business goals and objectives. There is no way to prescribe the appropriate mix of full-time and contingent labor across the board; it is important to build a solution around what is best for each client individually.

With Total Workforce Solutions, integrated implementation teams cross-trained in both RPO and MSP programs gives clients the benefit of flexibility and scalability. Allowing for shared learning across teams provides access to the best expertise and processes from both MSP and RPO implementation experience.

Total Workforce Solutions are an emerging trend in talent acquisition that is poised to create an impact in the industry. With the C-Suite placing a high premium on talent acquisition, companies will require greater visibility into their entire workforce to create the most efficient program to meet both recruiting and revenue goals. No matter the maturity level of your current MSP and RPO programs, a holistic view of your workforce through a Total Workforce Solution will help you optimize your talent acquisition program.

Check out our white paper, Total Workforce Solutions: Optimize Talent Acquisition by Blending RPO and MSP, to learn how to optimize your talent acquisition efforts.

Lexicon of RPO, MSP and Total Workforce Solutions Terms

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There is a growing demand from human resources, talent acquisition and procurement professionals for increased visibility into their entire spectrum of talent. Organizations can meet that demand by blending their RPO and MSP programs into one integrated Total Workforce Solutions program. Traditionally, RPO and MSP programs have been siloed. A lack of understanding of the terminology of either RPO or MSP programs can inhibit the collaboration between the two programs. To help ease the transition into a talent acquisition program that attracts and retains both full-time and contingent workers, we’ve put together a lexicon of some of the most commonly used RPO, MSP and Total Workforce Solutions terminology.

ATS: Applicant Tracking System

  • An ATS is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs. An ATS stores candidate data to allow recruiters or hiring managers to search, filter and route applications. ATS software can also be known as Talent Management Software (TMS), Candidate Management System (CMS) or Recruitment Management System (RMS). ATS solutions are often used in conjunction with an RPO program.

Assignment

  • An assignment is a task or project performed by a contingent worker. An assignment may also refer to the length of time a temporary employee will be working for an organization.

Blended Workforce

  • A blended workforce uses both direct hire, full-time employees and contingent, temporary workers. Blended workforce planning uses both RPO and MSP programs. A blended workforce is also known as Total Workforce Solutions.

BI: Business Intelligence

  • BI tools provide powerful analysis of program-specific data and metrics. BI tools are used with RPO, MSP and Total Workforce Solutions programs.

BPO: Business Process Outsourcing

  • BPO uses third-party business services providers to perform business activities or functions for a company. BPO services may include payroll, HR, accounting or customer service.

Candidate

  • A candidate is someone who has applied for a job and is qualified for temporary or full-time consideration.

Consultant

  • A consultant is another term used for temporary employees or contingent workers. Consultants often perform professional work for departments such as IT or engineering.

Contingent Worker

  • Contingent is an overarching term that covers freelancers, independent contractors, consultants or any other outsourced, non-employee workers. They are generally hired on a per-project or temporary basis.

CWM: Contingent Workforce Management

  • CWM is the strategic approach to managing an organization’s contingent workforce.

Contract Worker

  • A contract worker is also known as a 1099 or independent contractor. There are very specific guidelines for classifying workers as independent contractors, including whether the worker controls when and where work is to be completed, if the worker provides their own work equipment and supplies, and how the workers are compensated.

CRM: Customer (or Contact) Relationship Management

  • CRM systems manage a company’s interaction with current and prospective customers or contacts – including employees.

Direct Hire

  • Direct hire positions are permanent, usually full-time with benefits.

Diversity Supplier

  • Diversity suppliers refer to minority, woman, disabled or veteran-owned staffing suppliers.

Employee

  • An employee works directly for an organization in a job with no specific end date. Employees may be full-time or part-time.

Exempt Workers

  • To be exempt, an employee generally must be paid at least $23,600 per year, be paid on a salary basis and perform exempt job duties. Exempt workers are not entitled to overtime pay.

Non-Exempt Workers

  • Non-exempt workers are entitled to overtime pay.

Freelancer

  • Freelancer can refer to almost any independent professional who performs work unaffiliated with a specific employer. Freelancers are typically classified as independent contractors.

Gig Worker

  • A gig worker refers to someone who works on gigs, or small freelance projects. Gigs are typically facilitated through an internet platform or app.

Independent Contractor (1099)

  • The general rule, according to the IRS, is that an individual is an independent contractor if the employer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done. Independent contractors are also known as contractors or freelancers.

KPI: Key Performance Indicator

  • A KPI is a measurable goal that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs to evaluate their success related to specific business metrics.

MSP: Managed Service Provider

  • MSP programs provide end-to-end workforce and vendor management for users of contingent labor.

RPO: Recruitment Process Outsourcing

  • RPO programs provide direct-hire talent acquisition services for professional and non-professional positions that solve compliance, scalability, cost, quality or other recruiting challenges.

SLA: Service Level Agreement

  • An SLA is a commitment between a service provider and customer. Aspects of the partnership – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed upon between the service provider and the service user.

SOW: Statement of Work

  • An SOW is a document that captures the work activities and deliverables to be supplied as part of a contract or project timeline. SOW arrangements are used in contingent workforce programs.

Temporary Workers

  • Temporary workers are generally hired to fill short-term positions or to complete specific projects with a set time frame. Temporary workers also fill positions that have irregular or seasonal work schedules.

Temp-to-Hire Workers

  • A temp-to-hire worker is hired as a temporary worker with the knowledge that the short-term position may transition to a full-time job. Temp-to-hire workers can be managed by an MSP program and then transitioned to the employer once they become permanent employees.

Total Workforce Solutions

  • Total Workforce Solutions blend Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) capabilities in one integrated program.

VMS: Vendor Management System

  • VMS platforms help businesses manage and procure staffing services – temporary, and, in some cases, permanent placement services – as well as outside contract or contingent labor. VMS platforms are generally used with MSP programs.

As RPO, MSP and Total Workforce Solutions continue to mature and evolve, we will make updates to this lexicon. If you would like to see new terms added or share corrections or contributions to the existing list, please send us a note at marketing@peoplescout.com.

Check out our white paper, Total Workforce Solutions: Optimize Talent Acquisition by Blending RPO and MSP, to learn how to optimize your talent acquisition efforts.

Elements of an Effective Talent Acquisition Strategy

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Elements of an Effective Talent Acquisition Strategy
An effective talent acquisition strategy always begins with an overall analysis of HR. Whether HR functions are performed in-house or are outsourced, effective talent acquisition relies on HR functions that are aligned to the overall business strategy. Simply put, HR must recognize, define, and communicate the value of the business to the people via an active agenda that is clearly seen by all existing and potential employees.
To start, a complete understanding of the business and business strategy is essential. Many HR departments, however, are overwhelmed and communication with the business’s executives is limited or in terms with which HR department is not fully familiar. Therefore, a large amount of responsibility rests on the executives’ shoulders for an effective talent acquisition strategy. The most important key factor is the willingness of the business to buy into the importance of the people agenda, and next comes the HR department’s willingness to incorporate the executives’ communication into its procedures and standards. If the HR strategy is not aligned to the overall business strategy, even the best HR leaders will fail.
Now, say you’ve analyzed all of the aforementioned, and you’re looking to measure if a talent acquisition strategy is truly working. How to do this? Between all the communication between HR and business executives, it is easy to get lost in the airwaves and not fully measure effectiveness. Luckily, measuring effectiveness is simple. Successful talent acquisition means that the need for recruiters drops. Over time, if a business sees that hiring needs decline, the talent acquisition strategy may then be labelled effective.
 
It must be noted, however, that good talent acquisition strategies are not one-size-fits-all or something that can be analyzed and implemented just once. Good strategy is never-ending and always in flux to match the demands of the business market. The right technology can assist with fluctuating implementation needs and can additionally free up more of HR’s time, which can then be used to focus on determining the organization’s vision and aligning the people agenda to match. Effective talent acquisition is comprised of many facets and variables, no matter the size or scope of the business. The complexity of talent acquisition may intimidate some professionals, but when positions are filled with top candidates and the need for recruiters drops to a minimum, profitability makes it well worth the effort.
About PeopleScout
PeopleScout, a TrueBlue Company, is a trusted global recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider offering full service support in nearly every industry & skill vertical. PeopleScout provides innovative RPO solutions including enterprise, full cycle, partial cycle & project RPO as well as Recruiter On-Demand™, a contract solution designed by PeopleScout. PeopleScout’s suite of services also includes employer branding, mobile optimization, sourcing, interviewing, Next Level™ candidate care, onboarding, ATS & CRM/Talent Community & reporting & analytics through PeopleScout Higher Insights™ for fully customized solutions. PeopleScout helps our clients make tens of thousands hires annually across a variety of industries & skill sets & improves quality of hire for companies with exempt & non-exempt hiring needs worldwide.