Jan Karel Sindorff (Cooble): ‘RPOs should keep doing what they do best’

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With two decades of experience in talent attraction, Sindorff knows his stuff. In the past ten years he has held leadership roles at several large Dutch corporates including ING and ASML. There he often dealt with RPOs that worked in partnership with talent acquisition. He thinks it’s only in specific situations that outsourcing or partnering with an RPO is a smart move.

“I think they add value when future demand is uncertain and you need a model that is scalable”, he says. “There is also value in them building operational excellence, when a company says ‘we’re going to make a move’.” At that point hiring an RPO can also be an easier decision to make since discussions in organisations about adding people are often more difficult than reserving a budget for a project.

“The reality is that you’re not outsourcing recruitment. What you’re outsourcing is the operations, the filling of vacancies.”

However organisations should be conscious what it is they are burdening themselves with when hiring an RPO, he adds. “As an organisation you should have very tight processes and procedures. At companies where a process description is seen as a guideline it will be very difficult for an RPO to be successful. The reality is that you’re not outsourcing recruitment. What you’re outsourcing is the operations, the filling of vacancies. That’s a part of the recruitment function The filling of vacancies is the end result of a number of other processes.”

RPOs ‘overpromise’

Solving questions that go beyond the operational, are not typically part of the service offerings of RPOs, in Sindorff’s experience. He recalls difficult discussions he had with the different RPO suppliers he has worked with. “Of course we argued about numbers, the qualitative side of the contract, but also about my, and ultimately also their frustration that they were unable to deal with certain issues we had. One of my learnings about RPO is that in some cases they will overpromise on what they are able to deliver.”

“It doesn’t fit the model to put in place senior people that are really capable to deal with the more tactical and strategic recruitment elements or step into non-operational business issues.”

This is in his view a result of the nature of the RPO model. “You see that the operational people have subject expertise, these are not know nothings. But it doesn’t fit the model to put in place senior people that are really capable to deal with the more tactical and strategic recruitment elements or step into non-operational business issues. That’s way too expensive.”

‘Keep doing what you do best’

This is why Sindorff thinks RPOs would be wise to think very carefully about their role and business proposition. “I understand they want to move up a level. Ultimately that creates a bigger dependency on the side of the customer. But they are very good and more than capable in running the recruitment engine and supplying quality recruiters with a focus on the process and the administrative part of recruitment. I would say keep doing what you do best and tell your clients to hire one or two strategic recruitment experts as recruitment account managers or recruitment business partners. This will create a win-win for client and supplier and will lead to hyper focus and more success and mutual understanding.”

Bio: Jan Karel Sindorff

Sindorff is recruitment. His background shows years of recruitment experience at cutting edge organisations like Mars, Vanderlande, VodafoneZiggo, ASML and ING. His main focus is on building and developing a future proof recruitment solution and team.

Sindorff also owns and runs a boutique coaching practice and is managing partner at Cooble, a Netherlands-based full-service sourcing and recruitment agency. With a clear vision of his profession he sets out to build a leading and game changing recruitment department that adds real and visible value to the business. To him, recruitment is a profession for the future and a key activity for organisations that want to become and stay successful over a longer period of time.

As a recruitment professional, Sindorff will always work towards a solution that is able to address all sorts of staffing related questions that need to be handled. A recruitment function that delivers on current demand and, at the same time, is working on the future organisational need, always trying to find the right talent.

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This interview is part of a series of interviews our reporter Djaja Ottenhof has recently conducted about the value of the RPO market in Europe in 2021. Sign up for the ToTalent Newsletter to receive the full white paper The Value of RPO in Europe 2021: How RPO expands in an emerging market upon release.

Rachid Schmitz (Randstad Sourceright): ‘We give clients something that’s difficult to reproduce’

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“The standard metrics will always be there”, says Rachid Schmitz, the company’s Managing Director continental Europe, reflecting on the future of RPO. However, because of the rapid developments in data and automation, Randstad Sourceright is able to give clients much more insight in how their talent acquisition functions are performing.

Schmitz gives an example how that works in practice. “When a vacancy is open for a very long time, we can do a deep dive based on the data to see what’s causing that. It could be that you have a hiring manager that’s less responsive, or that you’re recruiting for a certain skillset that’s not available anymore in the area where you’re looking. In this case time to hire becomes a different item in a different context. We will call the metric the same, but the underlying data that we’re looking at is completely different. That’s why data becomes so important in the service offering that we bring to the clients.”

Three trends enhancing RPO delivery

The combination of automation, data and employer branding is rapidly changing the RPO model, Schmitz continues. These three trends are enhancing the RPO delivery model and are being embedded in almost every program that Randstad Sourceright brings to the market.

“In the old days, you would go on LinkedIn, post your vacancy and pray and hope that you’d get enough candidates.”

Particularly in programmatic advertising, data is playing a key role. “In the old days, you would go on LinkedIn, post your vacancy and pray and hope that you’d get enough candidates. Now, when after forty-eight hours we see that LinkedIn is not giving us the right volume of candidates, we move to Facebook. We continuously, programmatically push through different channels. There is much more of this kind of automation that used to be manual work for a recruiter. I think that’s where the big change is clicking in at the moment.”

Holistic approach

Schmitz sees employer branding becoming much more multifaceted as well. “In the past, the employer brand would be used only for talent attraction. Now, we’re looking at it with a more holistic view. Yes, it’s important for talent attraction, but also for retaining existing employees, and even for alumni, since they might return at some time in the future.”

“We’re giving them something that’s very hard for them to reproduce on their ownand that will have a lot of value in the future.”

Furthermore the availability of data allows for acquiring critical insights that help clients position their brands as well. All this raises the value an outsourcing partner like Randstad Sourceright can deliver. “Realtime access to supply and demand data is a resource that is not at the fingertips of most leaders within talent acquisition. We’re giving them something that’s very hard for them to reproduce on their own and that will have a lot of value in the future.”

The more holistic approach to recruitment Schmitz describes is also the essence of the total talent model, encompassing both RPO and MSP. In continental Europe this is becoming more and more popular. “We see more leaders being proactive and saying ‘the end game is total talent management, how do we get there?’ Since they see the benefits, they are already including all of the things needed to get to total talent management faster.”

Fast movers in continental Europe

Traditionally the market in continental Europe is underdeveloped compared to, in particular the UK market. The total talent model can help develop this, Schmitz expects. “We see some people jumping over steps that they were unable to jump over before. The Netherlands is now catching up quite significantly, Germany is picking up and we as a company are putting more focus on France. The UK is still quite a bit ahead in these solutions compared to the other countries, but these are the fast movers in continental Europe.”

Bio: Rachid Schmitz – Randstad Sourceright‘s Managing director, Continental Europe and Strategic Sales

As managing director of Continental Europe and Strategic Sales, Schmitz provides the strategic direction to expand global, regional and national services and oversees the build of processes and solutions that refine the customer experience across Europe. Joining Randstad in 2012, Schmitz is passionate about talent innovation and creating best-in-class solutions. Schmitz frequently delivers thought leadership to help companies shape their talent strategies and realise their overall company objectives.

Want to learn more about the RPO market?

This interview is part of a series of interviews our reporter Djaja Ottenhof has recently conducted about the value of the RPO market in Europe in 2021. Sign up for the ToTalent Newsletter to receive the full white paper The Value of RPO in Europe 2021: How RPO expands in an emerging market upon release.

Flexible job app NOWJOBS eyes unicorn growth after launching in France

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2017 marked the year NOWJOBS was launched in Ghent, the largest city of the East Flanders province in Belgium. The project was initiated by Belgian-based fast-growing multinational House of HR, known for several hugely successful European sister companies, such as Covebo and Abylsen. With its brand-new application, they built a platform to be able to serve both job seekers and organisations who needed workers now.

In just a few years, the app was able to match a whopping 251.000 temporary job seekers with a grand total of 10.000 companies.

NOWJOBS proved to be particularly fruitful for those in the catering, event and retail industries — whose livelihoods often depend on the ability to scale quickly, based on demand. After two years the app proved to be hugely popular among Belgian users. In just a few years, the app was able to match a whopping 251.000 temporary job seekers with a grand total of 10.000 companies.

It is a revolutionary system ensuring the job application process is swift, easy and transparent.

On the organisational side, the app works as a 24/7 one-stop-shop, wherein they solve all paperwork and payment. On the job seeking side, people are able to create a profile, and apply for jobs solely digitally — without any type of job interview. Job seekers are able to choose where and when they want to work — and in an attempt to be fully transparent, are able to see what their net income would be. It is a revolutionary system ensuring the job application process is swift, easy and transparent.

Taking Europe by storm

After serving thousands of organisations and job seekers successfully — NOWJOBS opened up for business in the Netherlands toward the business end of 2019. Now, just five years after its launch, the company will attempt to match both job seekers and companies in yet another European company. As of June 2021, NOWJOBS is officially available for both companies and candidates in France.

“France is already outpacing Belgium and the Netherlands in the first month of candidate acquisition, customer activation and revenue.”

NOWJOBS is steadily increasing its grip on the European quick job market. “France, with an interim market of 26 billion, should be able to double the success of Belgium in half the time”, says Frédéric Pattyn, NOWJOBS’ Co-Founder and International Product Manager. “It is already outpacing Belgium and the Netherlands in the first month of candidate acquisition, customer activation and revenue. The Belgian launch has been a huge commercial success in terms of user adoption, technological innovation and shattering commercial milestones before COVID hit.”

Turning COVID-19 into a motivator

Frédéric Pattyn

Of course, with the coronavirus pandemic, many sectors were forced to shut down their recruitment practices completely. Retail, hospitality and event sectors had to close their doors — and as a result, their candidate-intake. “When they closed their doors, it essentially meant NOWJOBS had to close its doors”, Pattyn says. “This turn of events got us back in touch with our fighting mentality which we felt during the early start-up days.”

“We kept believing in our vision of growth — we kept working on getting the platform ready for the launch of NOWJOBS in France.”

“We had to force ourselves to overcome hurdles by finding creative solutions and new opportunities”, Pattyn continues. “It meant coming together as a team and tackling new markets such as e-commerce (packaging) and logistics (bikes and drivers). That’s how we were able to sustain the COVID-19-related lockdown pressures. And at the same time, we kept believing in our vision of growth — we kept working on getting the platform ready for the launch of NOWJOBS in France.”

“We fully bounced back from a 90% revenue decline. That in itself is a remarkable achievement and a great show of team resilience.”

With more countries lifting restrictions, NOWJOBS is steadily seeing its loyal customers return to the platforms — while many new ones join in too. “They are mainly turning to the application to find new flexible staff for the upcoming summer holiday”, Pattyn says. “To make sure they make the most out of it. In all, we fully bounced back from a 90% revenue decline. That in itself is a remarkable achievement and a great show of team resilience.”

‘We want to be a unicorn’

As far as NOWJOBS’ end-goal goes, Pattyn pulls no punches. “Our mission is to become an HR-tech unicorn”, he says. “After being founded from within the ninth ranked HR company in Europe, House of HR, we took the opportunity and ran with it. With the amazing support of Rika Coppens, its CEO, we can keep dreaming and building our platform across Europe towards our shared mission. With the incredible people working at NOWJOBS, and growing bigger and stronger every day, I have no doubt we’ll achieve this milestone.”

Paul Storimans: ‘European mainland is a difficult market for RPO’

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Storimans has visited the UK many times and is always struck by the level of maturity of RPO he finds there compared to his home country, the Netherlands. “In the UK you see organisations that have twenty recruiters working for a single client. In the Netherlands you’re happy when you have four people working for one account. Occasionally we see bigger ones, but these are very volatile, going up and down which is very difficult from a business perspective.”

“In the US it’s pretty common to stay just fourteen months in a job. But in Europe there are still a lot of people for whom it’s normal to stay at one employer for four or five years.”

There is a number of reasons for this. First, the volume in vacancies in mainland Europe is smaller because of the makeup of the labour market. European employees have longer tenures than their US or UK counterparts. This means there will be less mobility and therefore less vacancies. “In the US it’s pretty common to stay just fourteen months in a job. That’s changing in Europe, and increasingly we see shorter tenures, but there are still a lot of people for whom it’s normal to stay at one employer for four or five years”, Storimans says.

Moreover, European businesses are less inclined to embrace a single business process and force the whole organisation to adopt it. This results in there always being hiring managers who refuse to work with the centralised recruitment process making the position of talent acquisition as well as an RPO tenuous and complex.

Patchwork of different countries

Another important consideration is that though Europe is often seen as one market, it is a patchwork of different countries with their own rules and regulations as well as their own languages, Storimans adds. “Take for example Germany, the Netherlands, and France, these countries all have different job marketing channels.” That makes it very difficult to take a single approach and apply it everywhere. The result is that reaching a certain level of scale that is needed to run an efficient operation is difficult.

“Europe is often seen as one market, it is a patchwork of different countries with their own rules and regulations as well as their own languages.”

Nonetheless, RPO players are giving it their best shot, he sees. The major American and British companies are growing their presence. “Take AMS in the Netherlands. While they maybe had a handful of people seven years ago, nowadays they have a serious number of recruiters. Typically these companies ride along with their existing client base. When those clients open new locations, they follow suit.”

“As long as you get high quality candidates through job marketing, it works out. But when it doesn’t work and you don’t have enough quality applicants, it becomes difficult.”

In order to be able to reach a stable and efficiently run their business, they try to work across borders. “You see examples of them servicing the Dutch market with an English speaking team from Belgium. However the inside knowledge they have of the local labour market will be much less detailed. As long as you get high quality candidates through job marketing, it works out. But when it doesn’t work and you don’t have enough quality applicants, it becomes difficult.”

Need for direct sourcing

Ultimately local expertise is critical for talent acquisition to be successful. “To be able to fill niche roles, you need to do direct sourcing. To do that, you need experienced recruiters who are able to find interesting candidates based on things like what university someone visited, what projects they worked on for whom, or who their peers are. That’s knowledge that you’re going to miss when working across borders and that’s something that’s being underestimated.”

“For me it’s about three different dimensions: lower volumes, differences in service model, and differences across borders.”

It adds up to a number of fundamental, or structural issues impairing the development of the RPO market in mainland Europe Storimans, concludes. “For me it’s about three different dimensions: lower volumes, differences in service model, and differences across borders. That combination results in a much smaller capability to work at scale.”

Bio: Paul Storimans

Paul Storimans has almost two decades of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in recruitment and HR. Currently his focus is on investing in and supporting the growth ambition of HR & Recruitment Technology companies. Earlier he was general manager at Dutch RPO Sterksen.

Want to learn more about the RPO market?

This interview is part of a series of interviews our reporter Djaja Ottenhof has recently conducted about the value of the RPO market in Europe in 2021. Sign up for the ToTalent Newsletter to receive the full white paper The Value of RPO in Europe 2021: How RPO expands in an emerging market upon release.

Craig Sweeney (WilsonHCG): ‘RPO as a strategic partner is a growing area in Europe’

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While in the US it’s been common for RPOs to work in a partnership with internal talent teams, in Europe oftentimes companies had either fully outsourced recruitment, or worked exclusively with their own in-house teams. This has been changing, Sweeney says. “I think one of the growing areas across Europe is internal teams using RPO as strategic partners. Organisations build an internal function that can manage fifty percent of what they see as business as usual, and then they bring in a partner for the rest. Across Europe we’re seeing this happen much more often.”

“It’s about tapping into the knowledge, capability and insights from a partner that has tools that you may not want to invest in, as well as the ability to scale those tools.”

This is as much about the ability to scale up as it is about technology, Sweeney explains. “For us it’s easier to redistribute some of our resources for a short-term project within the context of a broader solution partnership than it is for organisations to do themselves. But it’s also about tapping into the knowledge, capability and insights from a partner that has tools that you may not want to invest in, as well as the ability to scale those tools. Doing that with a partner is just easier.”

Pandemic accelerating trends in TA

The pandemic has accelerated these trends in different ways. Many companies are seeing a surge in applications from people that have lost jobs or are on benefits while organisations themselves often have to increase hiring after a temporary freeze. “They don’t have the infrastructure to support that”, Sweeney says. “They have neither the people nor the technology. What we’ve seen so far this year is a huge upswing in the amount of consultancy projects that we’ve been requested to support organisations on.”

“You can go and find that talent anywhere, but you need the right tools to understand where that might be.”

On top of that, working from home is changing the talent pool. Geographical limits that would hamper talent sourcing in the past have rapidly melted away. To take advantage of this development requires specialised knowledge and tooling, says Sweeney. “Talent is now available wherever for whoever wants to go and find it. You are no longer limited to a small number of cities in which you have a physical presence, you can go and find that talent anywhere, but you need the right tools to understand where that might be.”

‘Not everyone can have a specialist in-house’

RPO-providers can help out to accomplish this. WilsonHCG has invested heavily in innovation teams that have expertise with the many technologies in the marketplace. Sweeney adds that this goes beyond just the implementation.

“As internal functions have got smaller, the ability to have the luxury of a specialist who knows the area has become far more challenging.”

“When I think about the capability that’s needed internally to manage that effectively, it’s not just understanding how those technologies work, it is about how do those technologies actually mesh together”, he says. “And again, as internal functions have got smaller, the ability to have the luxury of a specialist who knows the area has become far more challenging.”

RPO: a growing capability

Ultimately, organisations will have many different reasons for working with an RPO provider. For some it’s about scale, for others about the capabilities, Sweeney concludes. “Or it’s about just not seeing themselves as experts when it comes to hiring because their specialism is their own market.”

“They would rather focus on their own business and have somebody come in whose business it is to do hiring really well, and build that function for them. I think the trend in Europe reflects what we are seeing everywhere and that is that RPO is definitely a growing capability.”

Bio: Craig Sweeney – SVP Global Strategic Talent Solutions at WilsonHCG

Craig Sweeney is Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Talent Solutions, at WilsonHCG. He leads new client development across North America, as well as the EMEA, APAC and LATAM regions. Since joining WilsonHCG, Sweeney has been instrumental in the company’s international growth, ensuring the global solutions WilsonHCG delivers are tailored to the needs of each region. He spends a lot of time consulting with clients and works alongside his team of regional leaders and global subject matter experts to develop innovative talent solutions to ensure customers have diverse and passionate people to support their business goals.

Want to learn more about the RPO market?

This interview is part of a series of interviews our reporter Djaja Ottenhof has recently conducted about the value of the RPO market in Europe in 2021. Sign up for the ToTalent Newsletter to receive the full white paper The Value of RPO in Europe 2021: How RPO expands in an emerging market upon release.

John Dreessen (ASML): ‘Stop calling it RPO, it’s RPP’

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John Dreessen has been in his role at ASML for over eight years, a period during which it needed to rapidly expand its workforce. He’s built up a talent attraction team that numbers about a hundred and fifty people at five locations across the globe.

In Dreessen’s view the essence of good recruitment is that it has the potential to transform an organisation. While changing culture through training or teambuilding can be burdensome, one replacement in a team can make a big difference. “When you have a vacancy, you have the ideal opportunity to pull an organisation in a certain direction. In this way recruitment can help to adjust the DNA.”

‘Unable to leap to transformational’

ASML has been working with different RPO providers. Dreessen has noticed that ultimately it’s very difficult for them to be transformational in the way he describes it. For many RPO providers it is difficult to really understand their client’s DNA and what it needs from its future workforce. This requires a different mindset.

“We’ve noticed the RPO formula was very good in the transactional part but was unable to make the leap to the transformational.”

“It’s about whether you’ve found the right person, and if you haven’t found that person whether you’re willing to continue the search”, Dreessen says. “Or even better, whether you already have pre-invested in shaping the right talent communities. Then you serve the organisation’s interest, but it will take more time. When you get a certain fee per hire, you don’t want difficult searches so I think many RPOs are programmed in the wrong way. We’ve noticed the RPO formula was very good in the transactional part but was unable to make the leap to the transformational.”

Because of this, Dreessen has come to the conclusion that ultimately recruitment should not be outsourced. “Outsourcing means you’re putting the responsibility somewhere else and ask them to decide how they’re going to do it. You’re putting the whole DNA of your organisation in their hands. I would never do that, I would always want to keep ownership.”

RPO and client roles

That doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t work with RPOs. There is a lot of potential value in striking partnerships with RPOs. He proposes a hybrid model with a core talent acquisition team hiring outside help and expertise when needed. “It does depend on size and maturity of the organisation what shape and form this partnership should take”, he adds. “There is no one size fits all. We’ve done a tendering process last year and we saw a number of different providers. I’ve seen that the hybrid model requires a tailor made approach. You have to look very carefully what everybody’s role in the bigger picture is going to be.”

“Do you pay anyway, or is that part of the RPO’s business risk? You can’t define everything up front, so you have to be flexible.”

Moreover there are many practical situations for which it’s difficult to agree on the terms and conditions beforehand. Examples are referrals by existing employees, campus recruitment or, of course, the pandemic last year. “That gave rise to the question who was going to pay for the recruiters while all vacancies were closed. Do you pay anyway, or is that part of the RPO’s business risk? You can’t define everything up front, so you have to be flexible.”

Recruitment Process Partnership

Dreessen thinks RPOs would be smart to think carefully about their role and maybe even consider a change in how they brand their services. “I’ve told our partner many times that they should stop calling it RPO or BPO. We’re building a future-proof organisation , that’s not something you would want to outsource. So they should call it Recruitment Process Partnership. That’s what I proposed to them: stop calling it RPO, it’s RPP.”

Bio: John Dreessen – Head of Global Talent Attraction ASML

John Dreessen has been ASML’s Global Talent Attraction for over eight years. During this period the company experienced rapid growth. With his team John enables 10-20% annual growth throughout Asia, Europe and the USA. Before joining ASML John held different recruitment leadership positions at Océ/Canon and DAF trucks, among others.”

Want to learn more about the RPO market?

This interview is part of a series of interviews our reporter Djaja Ottenhof has recently conducted about the value of the RPO market in Europe in 2021. Sign up for the ToTalent Newsletter to receive the full white paper The Value of RPO in Europe 2021: How RPO expands in an emerging market upon release.

Jon Mannall (Hays): ‘RPO can be a catalyst for change’

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The core value of the talent acquisition services Hays offers is ultimately very simple, Mannall comments. “I see customers working with Hays because we are able to help them meet their objectives: the right calibre of talent at the right price, in the right place, at the right time. That may sound oversimplified, but fundamentally that’s what it comes down to.”

To support these objectives, Hays invests a lot in technological development. The area Mannall sees the most advancement happening now is in data analytics. Hays has made heavy investments that are positively impacting the delivery of their services across the region. “Regardless of whether the service we deliver is an RPO or MSP, we’ve been able to integrate various data flows throughout the processes we operate for our customers and create real-time analytics dashboards that our account teams use to proactively manage our service levels.”

“I think the more technology you try to integrate, the more you can lose sight of the fact that recruitment is about an organisation engaging with people on behalf of other people.”

“The goal of having technology that makes this possible, is to optimise the customer experience, he stresses. “I think the more technology you try to integrate, the more you can lose sight of the fact that recruitment is about an organisation engaging with people on behalf of other people. So, I think it needs to be human centric in the way it’s designed and deployed.”

Talent advisory services that assure hiring success

On top of their strengths in optimising the delivery of recruitment, Hays adds real value for its clients by being an advisor that provides insights around the strategic choices they face about how to get work done, and the location of work. “Delivering on the requirements of a set of open requisitions in a particular location is a given, a basic expectation of any good service provider, and this is an area where our teams excel. You should expect to work with a partner that can hire the staff that you want to hire.

Where Hays adds real value is when we validate the overall strategy for any given project, and work with our stakeholders to identify the right location for the skills they need to hire, to refine their branding, compensation structures and employee value proposition, so that they position themselves in the market in the right way to attract and retain the talent needed to successfully deliver their business objectives”, says Mannall. An example of this is the latest Tech Talent Insights reports from Hays that deliver real insights and data on the tech talent market across Europe, he adds.

Traditional metrics often overlook its strategic value

Is it possible to quantify added value? It’s a tough one if you only look at transactional metrics, he responds. “It’s very easy to look at a set of metrics and highlight when something’s gone right or wrong, but the true value of an RPO to the organisation is often linked to the quality of the business outcome not to a transactional metric.”

“Does what we recommend drive an improvement to the customer experience or the candidate experience? If we recommended changes to the tech stack does it become an easier process, a more engaging process?”

An alternative way of looking at value is by determining whether the advice Hays gives is delivering a positive impact. Mannall: “Does what we recommend drive an improvement to the customer experience or the candidate experience? If we recommended changes to the tech stack does it become an easier process, a more engaging process? Did the changes we propose to the cash or non-cash compensation impact the success of building out capabilities in a new location? Improving these outcomes delivers real strategic impact to the client, which is over and above whether the time to hire or the cost per hire was met or not.”

RPO has a place as a partnership with TA

In the future Mannall thinks Hays and other RPO players will be delivering this value in a partnership model with TA, rather than solely via a full outsourcing model. He thinks the industry is moving away from the question of either RPO or in-house. “Whilst full outsourcing is the path chosen by some organisations, the trend is definitely seeing a blended strategy to the way organisations deliver their permanent talent acquisition needs.”

“I honestly don’t see RPO becoming the dominant delivery model.”

“I honestly don’t see RPO becoming the dominant delivery model”, Mannall continues. “I still see customers wanting to retain a level of strategic control over their brand and over their value proposition in the market. RPO partners whose deep knowledge of TA is used as the catalyst to improve the way that organisations approach talent acquisition will prosper in this environment. I believe RPO has now proven the strategic value it adds and so we will see it form part of many more TA strategies across the region in the years ahead.”

Bio: Jon Mannall – EMEA Managing Director & Global Head of Sales at Hays

Jon Mannall is MD EMEA at Hays. This division offers both RPO and MSP services and has a workforce of about three hundred people. It serves twelve different countries, covering Southern Europe, the Benelux and CEE regions in Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa.

Hays Talent Solutions is the workforce management division of Hays PLC, providing Managed Service Programmes (MSP), Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Services Procurement and Direct Sourcing solutions to deliver better, faster and more cost-effective access to talent. With a network of over 250 offices around the globe, Hays Talent Solutions advises on, creates, and delivers Total Talent Management solutions to progressive organisations seeking to optimise how they access skills.

Want to learn more about the RPO market?

This interview is part of a series of interviews our reporter Djaja Ottenhof has recently conducted about the value of the RPO market in Europe in 2021. Sign up for the ToTalent Newsletter to receive the full white paper The Value of RPO in Europe 2021: How RPO expands in an emerging market upon release.

 

 

More transparency = better candidates: why career sites should include reviews

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It all starts with online behaviour. Whether it’s Amazon, BookDepository — or AliExpress. How ofter do you buy a product without knowing what to expect? In other words: how often do you buy a product before reading at least four or five different reviews? As 21st century customers have grown fully accustomed to a world wherein they check everything — a similar movement needs to happen within the world of recruiting, says Andreas Eisemann, VP of Sales for German recruitment software provider Softgarden.

Taking the e-commerce route

From Softgarden’s point-of-view, the idea is simple: value-added communications means you provide as much information as possible. “So why wouldn’t organisations integrate reviews on their own career site?”, he asks. “From everyday behaviour in e-commerce, customers check the delivery time, who’s delivering the product to in-depth analyses on the actual product. If it’ll be delivered by UPS, and I had a bad experience with them — I will go to a different store for an equal product and buy it there.”

Softgarden’s Andreas Eisemann.

“As a job seeker, I will take a decision on where to apply based on reviews from applicants and current employees.”

“We have the same idea in recruiting”, Eisemann argues. “We have hundreds of companies offering fairly similar jobs. Sometimes even identical positions. So as a job seeker, I will take a decision on where to apply based on reviews from applicants and current employees. You want to know: how long will it take before I get an interview? How big is the possibility that I’ll get a job offer? If you provide that information — candidates can take a much better decision.”

Treating candidates like customers

It seems the easiest thing in the world — yet it isn’t. “8 out of 10 people look for more info on your company”, Eisemann says. “And according to our research, 59% of candidates would directly apply for a job on a career page that has reviews. Why would you send them to a review portal like Glassdoor, but not show those reviews on your own website?”

“Why should I bring them into a recruitment process without them knowing what salary they can expect to earn?”

Therein lies an opportunity to treat everyone who visits a career website like a potential customer.  “74% of people say they would directly apply to a job ad that has salary information”, Eisemann says. “So why shouldn’t I be transparent about something like salary? Why should I bring them into a recruitment process without them knowing what salary they can expect to earn? Why should they have to get to an interview to be able to get that information?”

More information = better candidates

Eisemann’s conclusion is a simple one: the more transparent you are, the better your candidates will be. “No one is perfect”, he says. “And with transparency, it doesn’t matter if you’re perfect or not. But the candidate will know what to expect from your company. He or she decides to apply — or not to apply. That’s the right point to make that decision, rather than hiring the wrong person and 3 or 4 months down the line, they want to leave.”

“Start managing expectations on both sides, and start using your KPI’s in your recruitment for external purposes — not just internally.”

Companies can base those reviews on a multitude of things, including simply asking candidates and employees about their perspective post-assessment, and three months after they started working. “The more transparent you are, the more candidates will know what to expect from your company, and the better they will suit your organisation. Start managing expectations on both sides, and start using your KPI’s in your recruitment for external purposes — not just internally.”

https://youtu.be/QtfhFXIGjtw

Softgarden is one of the premier talent software providers in the world. Whether it is application management, employer branding or HR marketing, its the Talent Acquisition Suite improves performance in recruiting.

From Wall Street to Lebanon: Roy Baladi’s mission to create equal job opportunity for all

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After Lebanon was hit by a financial crisis in 2019 — Roy Baladi couldn’t help but feel drawn to the situation. Baladi, a native Lebanese who moved to the United States aged 17, began building an online employment search site called Jobs For Lebanon. Powered by the expertise and platform-building abilities of SmartRecruiters, the site started amassing thousands of visitors and, more importantly, applicants. Within weeks, the site was listed as the #1 option on Google for every search result including ‘jobs’ and ‘Lebanon’.

Then, on August 4th, a devastating explosion rocked Lebanon’s largest city and capital, Beirut. Jobs For Lebanon quickly came with a fundraising option for its growing network — amassing $400k in donations — and serving as a middleman for the distribution of supplies being flown to Beirut. The role Baladi’s new-found organisation plays in the rebuilding of Beirut — both physically and economically — is insurmountable.

The role Baladi’s organisation plays in the rebuilding of Beirut — both physically and economically — is insurmountable.

Just give them a chance

But Baladi wasn’t satisfied in just helping those from his native country. On March 22nd, he launched yet another initiative: Jobs for Humanity, with which he seeks to help underserved job seekers everywhere. “There are so many communities in the world that need the kind of support we’re offering”, Baladi told ToTalent.eu. “But we chose six causes as the starting point: black leaders, the blind and vision-impaired, the neurodivergent, refugees, returning citizens and single mothers.”

“Try Googling jobs for the blind; there are barely any. For this community, unemployment is at 38 percent.”

When asked for a reason behind each target group — Baladi cites unemployment rates that are worrisome to say the least. “Try Googling jobs for the blind; there are barely any. For this community, unemployment is at 38 percent — six times the national and global average. And on earth, almost 1 billion people are neurodivergent, a term that refers to a variation in brain composition that affects things like learning, sociability and mood.”

Whether it’s the 88% of single parents who are moms, raising children on a single income or refugees with marketable, valuable skills, Baladi’s mindset is simple: “Just give them a chance.”

Among those who were neurodivergent — Einstein, Newton and countless other geniuses. “For this community, the underemployment rate is a whopping 80 percent”, Baladi says. And whether it’s systemic racism preventing more black leaders, or the formerly incarcerated who work hard on making amends. Whether it’s the 88% of single parents who are moms, raising children on a single income or refugees with marketable, valuable skills, Baladi’s mindset is simple: “Just give them a chance.”

From the mountains of Lebanon to Wall Street

After graduating from Virginia Tech in computer science, math and finance — Baladi took his talents to Wall Street, attempting to make it as a financial broker. Which he did — even after the ’08 crash. “Twice, the teams I was a part of were all let go, and we had to rebuild during unbelievably tumultuous times”, he says. “I survived the crash, but wondered why I was in this field in the first place. I loved computers, I enjoyed building things, none of which I was really doing.”

“Twice, the teams I was a part of were all let go, and we had to rebuild during unbelievably tumultuous times. I survived the crash, but wondered why I was in this field in the first place.”

Slowly, but steadily, Baladi’s career veered towards recruiting technology. In 2012, he co-founded FreshGrad, an algorithm that helped thousands of students with their job search. The company didn’t quite make it, but it all led up to Baladi’s new-found career, at the intersection of algorithms, tech — and helping people. Later, he joined SmartRecruiters in a full-time capacity as Product Manager and later as the General Manager of SmartRecruiters Foundation.

“My penchant for social work stayed with me in every job I did.”

“My biggest inspiration in life comes from seeing people succeed”, Baladi tells ToTalent.eu. “Especially when they come from difficult circumstances. The experience I look up to most in my childhood was seeing my mom and dad build a boarding school in the mountains of Lebanon. Later in life, I had a chance to do the same in Puerto Plata, a city in the Dominican Republic. My penchant for social work stayed with me in every job I did.”

‘Productive employment and decent work for all’

As for the short-term goals, Jobs for Humanity hopes to simply make its early customers successful. Among them: Nielsen, Spectrum, Checkr and others. “As an employer, Jobs for Humanity makes it easy for you to connect with qualified candidates from any of six under-represented communities”, he says, “and the coaching to interview, hire, and create an enjoyable workspace for them. Our goal is to ensure they hire qualified candidates who thrive in their organisation. Our top focus is delivering hiring success and seeing success stories in each community.”

“By 2030, when world leaders reconvene to see how they performed, we plan to be a or the leading producer for Goal #8: productive employment and decent work for all.”

In the long run, Jobs for Humanity seeks to be a frontrunner for the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals. “We are motivated by the promise world leaders made back in 2015 towards a more sustainable and fairer world”, Baladi says. “By 2030, when world leaders reconvene to see how they performed, we plan to be a or the leading producer for Goal #8: productive employment and decent work for all.”

Jobs for Humanity is a volunteer led global movement of job creation for historically underrepresented communities. You’re welcome to join if you feel inspired to volunteer, refer candidates, or invite your organisation to participate. You can also reach them at contact@jobsforhumanity.com.

Vessy Tasheva: ‘The inclusive leader gives empathy, hope and stability to employees’

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As diversity continues to rank highly on the list of priorities for talent leaders worldwide — another question arises: how can we avoid a wide scale diversity washing? A situation wherein organisations continue to make statements that look great, but don’t actually showcase, or have, anything to back it up. It’s something that worries Vessy Tasheva, who works as a diversity and inclusion consultant for various international clients.

“I help my clients adopt OKRs (objectives and key results, red.) in D&I. We can make impact and we can show that impact.”

“Most organisations don’t measure their D&I work”, she says. “I’m not talking about representation stats, but anything that shows what objectives have been achieved and what key results back them up. That’s why I help my clients adopt OKRs (objectives and key results, red.) in D&I. We can make impact and we can show that impact. Listing something as a priority doesn’t even scratch the surface.”

‘Intersection of mental health and D&I’

Tasheva was named as one of 2019’s most influential D&I global leaders by Hive. Born in Bulgaria — she blazed a trail for others, after coming out publicly in the 2007 Magazine of the American University in Bulgaria. Subsequently, she founded the university’s first gay-straight alliance in 2009 — and has since then excelled at working at the intersection of mental health and diversity & inclusion. “My mission is to remove internal and external barriers”, she says. “So people live happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives.”

Vessy Tasheva is one of the keynote speakers at ToTalent Live: The European Recruitment Leadership Event. Sign up here to claim a free ticket to this three-day event starting March 23rd. 

The need for diversity among recruiters

This past summer, our research showed that BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) recruiters are strongly underrepresented in the Netherlands. Tasheva sees a similar problem happening in Ireland — where she is based. “Most recruiters are white female Irish employees, predominantly straight”, she says. “If someone is even just from another nationality, they can already feel like an outsider on their own team.”

“Why join a company where the people team can struggle to get your perspective?”

“We need to be strategic with the recruitment teams we build – they need to reflect the talent we want to attract and retain”, she continues. “Race-related incidents at work, for example, are underreported in Ireland because it’s harder to explain how you feel excluded or discriminated because of your race to a white-only team. So why join a company where the people team can struggle to get your perspective? If you could, you’d naturally go for a company with a people team with more diverse perspectives.”

It starts with leadership

Tasheva sees three key factors where people base their stay-or-leave decisions on. “Autonomy, flexibility of the remote working (geographies, period of time, salary formula), and inclusive leadership are becoming the key factors”, she says. “My advice? Move away from silos and towards autonomy, put the infrastructure in place that allows you to hire people anywhere in the world, and ensure your leaders are inclusive – trained, open and curious to work with and mentor people from various backgrounds.”

“The inclusive leader gives empathy, hope, stability to the employees.”

As part of the solution towards more inclusive leadership, Tasheva sees a real opportunity for one-on-one coaching sessions. “Yes, the leader needs to want this, for real”, she says. “This is the space where they can share their biases, experiences and questions without worrying about their reputation so we can safely examine them one by one. That’s where the education needs to start. The inclusive leader gives empathy, hope, stability to the employees. They know how to be playful at times or introduce play to processes. They also know how to practice self care.”

Want to hear more from Vessy Tasheva?

ToTalent Live 2021 is the first ever European Recruitment Leadership Event. On March 23rd, 24th and 25th, hosted by Hung Lee, we’re taking three strategic topics and presenting you with some of the very best insights you can think of. Vessy Tasheva will take the virtual floor on the first day of our three-day event. Don’t miss her incredible insights and sign up now. 

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How ‘Recruitment Evangelist’ Danny Stacy aims to tackle unconscious bias

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Unconscious bias, also often described as implicit bias, is often defined as a sort of prejudice or unsupported judgments in favour or against a thing, a person or group — drawing an immediate comparison to another thing, person or group. In other words: it is usually a process based on completely unfair, yet subtle discriminations. Naturally, for the recruiting and acquisition of diverse talent, it’s a problem.

“Recognising and removing unconscious bias needs to be naturally embedded into our thoughts and decision-making processes – where your focus goes, your energy flows.”

Danny Stacy, Senior Recruitment Evangelist at Indeed, thinks it will be impossible to ever fully avoid it in recruitment and TA processes. “Rather we must acknowledge and challenge it, in ourselves and in others”, he says. “The work is never done. Recognising and removing unconscious bias needs to be naturally embedded into our thoughts and decision-making processes – where your focus goes, your energy flows.”

Sign up for ToTalent Live 2021

‘An ever-evolving journey’

Indeed’s Danny Stacy

Whereas many organisations may end up recruiting more diversely — the manner in which they retain those employees is still problematic. “Without a truly inclusive environment where a sense of belonging and equity is fostered, top talent (diverse or not) will become disillusioned, frustrated and seek pastures new”, Stacy says. “Seeing Diversity and Inclusion as a “goal” to be achieved is very different to building it into the foundations of your organisational culture.”

Rather than going for quick-fixes, Stacy views the tackling of unconscious bias as an ‘ever-evolving’ journey. “The important thing to remember is that whether we are early in the journey or are further along, challenging it at every level of our hiring and retention process, there is always more that can be done”, he says. “From the “low hanging” fruit of removing biasing information from CVs through to implementing a thoroughly transparent, fair and modern recruiting process and facilitating company wide town hall meetings allowing marginalised groups to share their stories.”

One small step…

While the journey may outlast many of those currently working within TA and recruiting, the current leaders have a unique opportunity to be the frontrunners for change. “It is a long journey, but small steps build up to big changes”, Stacy says. “I’d argue very few, if any, talent leaders are seeing dream-worthy Diversity and Equity results. And if they are, then perhaps that comes down to their measures of success. True north must be equity for all and no one should be content until we reach that goal.”

“Future leaders must ensure Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging are rooted within all levels of decision making.”

In order to take those steps toward a broader goal, Stacy will do everything within his power as an evangelist to help other become as interested and invested in the topic as he is. “Future leaders must ensure Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging are rooted within all levels of decision making”, he says. “Not only because it is proven to provide commercial results, nor because it leads to better talent applying and staying, but because it is the right thing to do.”

Want to learn how to tackle unconscious bias?

On March 23rd, 24th and 25th, we’re hosting ToTalent Live 2021, the first ever European Recruitment Leadership Event. Danny Stacy will take the virtual floor on the first day of our three-day event. Don’t miss his insights on how you can tackle unconscious bias: sign up now. 

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The ToTalent Recruitment Masterclasses from Silicon Valley: introducing Jim D’Amico

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Q: Mr. D’Amico, thank you for your time. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? How did you end up being one of the leading and smartest voices in recruitment?

“Thank you, that’s very kind to say.  My background, like many, isn’t a straight path into Talent Acquisition.  Early on, I was a soldier in the US Army, and a graduate of Military College with a degree in Secondary Education. I was neither a great soldier, nor really inclined to be a history teacher, so I began pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. Contrary to what I believed at the time, that was not the high paying glamorous job I envisioned, so to make ends meet, I began working for a Recruiting Agency, and I was hooked!”

“I spent several years on the agency side, which included building one of the first RPO’s. Upon selling that business, I shifted to in house roles, building best in class TA functions for large complex companies.  In 2015, my team at Spectrum Health was named the best large recruiting organisation by ERE.  For the past 4 years I’ve led the Global TA for a Fortune 500 Chemical company, Celanese and served as an advisor for several exciting TA Tech start ups, and have served as President of the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals (ATAP) for the last year and a half.”

Q: Has talent acquisition always been in your blood? 

“I think solving problems has always been in my blood, and to me that’s the essence of Talent Acquisition. I’ve always run towards chaos, and have had a passion for solving complex problems, which is what I do everyday in TA.  I think that passion has kept me engaged and excited every day for the last 25 years!”

‘I’ve always run towards chaos, and have had a passion for solving complex problems, which is what I do everyday in TA.’

Q: It’s been a tumultuous year for recruiters. What do you think has been the biggest thing to come out of 2020?

“Last month I delivered the State Of Talent Acquisition address for Global TA Day.  2020 was a year no one predicted and has created an unprecedented level of uncertainty and highlighted a great deal of division in the world, and kept many of us physically separated from friends and loved ones.  Contrary to all of that, I think the biggest thing to come out of 2020 is our connectedness.  2020 wasn’t a gradual change into isolation and fear, it was sudden, allowing no time for evolution, but instead leading to revolution, a revolution where our true north became our care and concern for each other.”

‘I think the biggest thing to come out of 2020 is our connectedness.’

We (TA) immediately rallied around our peers that needed our support, whether it was in finding new roles or just reaching out and talking.  For all of the difficult news of 2020, this stands out to me: relationships built and strengthened!  This serves all of us well.  For as long as I can remember, TA functions have been too isolated from each other, often trying to solve the same problems independent of each other, and now, through our forced isolation, we are more connected than ever before and discussing and solving problems as a group, leveraging all of our unique experiences.  In 10 years when we sit down and look back at 2020 (hopefully in person and over a well aged Scotch), the two words that will fill our conversations are Covid and Zoom!

Q: You have been active in on one of the most admired areas in the world: Silicon Valley. For those that haven’t been in and around The Valley in the last few years, how would you describe that particular area of the world in a few sentences?

A: As an advisor to several star ups, Silicon Valley is concentration of intellect and willingness to take risk that is rivalled nowhere else.  It is an experimental playground, that feeds improved execution in TA around the world.  

‘Silicon Valley is concentration of intellect and willingness to take risk that is rivalled nowhere else.’

Q: Your masterclass on November 11th will be all about a subject close to our heart: storytelling. What are some of the key benefits of a successful strategy based around storytelling?

A: Storytelling is powerful if done right. It creates lasting engagement, and relationships. It allows us to communicate with authenticity that resonates with candidates that are inundated with yoga babel and corporate doublespeak from recruiters constantly.  Additionally, a compelling and interesting story will be retold, and candidates become evangelists for our brand as well.  This increases our reach without extra effort on our part, and increases high quality referrals.

A compelling and interesting story will be retold, and candidates become evangelists for our brand as well.

Q: Finally, without giving away too much, what do you think will be the biggest takeaway for recruitment or those working in talent acquisition on November 11th?

A: How to leverage what we learned from a Hollywood screenwriter to create compelling and authentic stories in a serialised fashion.  Believe me it’s been a gamechanger for us, and has been to easy to implement and see immediate benefits.

Do you want to learn from Silicon Valley’s leading recruitment experts? This is an exclusive opportunity to attend 3 masterclasses with John Sullivan, Kevin Wheeler and Jim D’Amico. Sign up here.