Dive Brief:

• The talent supply-and-demand gap is so wide that organizations are outsourcing the recruitment process to bolster hiring, Everest Group said in a release. The recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) market has grown over the past four years, and it grew more than 20% in 2018, Everest's 2019 Recruitment Process Outsourcing Annual Report found. The report showed that RPOs have expanded geographically and been adopted by large and small companies across industries.
• Outsourcing providers are responding to employers' recruiting needs by offering consulting on training, reskilling, outplacement and "best fit" practices, the report said — and they're providing value-added services such as workforce planning, employer branding and career transition. Based on the report's findings, RPOs are investing in technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, analytics and robotic process automation, to cut recruiting costs and improve the hiring experience.
• "Enterprises today are facing unprecedented challenges in talent acquisition," Everest Group Practice Director Vishal Gupta said in the release. "Enterprise pain points include forecasting workforce requirements, adapting to the changing nature and demands of the candidate base, developing effective branding, and responding to rapid developments in technology. The RPO market is expanding rapidly as RPO service providers are seizing the opportunity to help enterprises meet recruitment challenges with industry-specific expertise, innovative offerings, next-gen technologies, and a willingness to put more skin in the game with metric-driven service level agreements."

Dive Insight:

Recruitment is in such a critical state that a Gartner report released earlier in the year found that the talent shortage is emerging as a top risk for businesses.

The findings of a Kronos study released in April also concluded that hiring has become harder and costlier. Kronos and The Human Capital Institute found that, as a result, more than half of HR leaders in the study plan to revamp their talent acquisition (TA) strategies during the next two years. Thirty-six percent of respondents said openings take longer to fill, which drives up cost-per-hire. Seventy-three percent raised pay for salaried positions, while half have increased hourly wages to attract talent.

To beat the TA disruptors, employment experts said companies might want to be more rigorous about providing what employees value, such as exceptional branding​, better training and development opportunities, state-of-the-art technology and consistency in all operations. Josh Withers, founder of True Search, previously told HR Dive that companies "should spend more time and resources on employment branding." He said a company's website, office design, tech tools and methods of communication all impact how it's perceived and its ability to attract, retain and engage talent.