Employers are going to be looking forward to 2025 with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. The last few years have been full of uncertainty, a stop-and-start economy and plenty of political upheaval. The hope is that 2025 will be substantially different – at the very least, easier to plan for. For many, RPO is emerging as a crucial strategy to navigate this uncertainty.
Planning has been the biggest challenge for many organisations. The reality of a stop-and-start economy is that it is usually more ‘stop’ for organisations – even when the conditions for growth are right, it can be difficult to accelerate quickly enough. Add in the fact that the last few years have presented many barriers to recruitment, such as critical skills-shortages, increasing salary expectations and it offers a clear picture: organisations are cautious about planning for growth, because they don’t know how long each growth period will last and finding the talent to support that growth is difficult. Plan for growth over the last few years, and you had better also plan for a big increase in your recruitment budget – because you may have to overspend to find the right talent.
Rock. Hard place. Nice to meet you both.
What’s going to change?
You’d have to be foolish or reckless to try and make predictions. But there is a clear trend among RPO providers that employers should not ignore. Increasingly, the best RPO providers are adapting their offer to suit a more uncertain climate. Less of the process, more of the partnership.
It’s true to say, that when employers suffer, RPO providers suffer too. It’s also true to say, that in the past, there’s not been too much that RPO providers can do about it. The tap runs hot or cold.
How RPO providers react now can determine how successful they are in 2025. They can continue as they were – waiting for the market to improve – or they can be part of a new way of building client relationships, working in partnership with in-house teams and delivering a multi-faceted, multi-service solution that enables clients to adapt easily in an ever-changing landscape.
A more strategic approach
The key to choosing an RPO provider in 2025, therefore, is identifying the capability to plan, adapt and grow. Does your RPO provider give you the agility you need to ramp recruitment up or dial down when you need to? Is there flexibility around cost and resource? When you are ready to grow, can your RPO provider move quickly enough to support you? How do you work around skills shortages and a scarcity of talent?
If you are looking forward to 2025 and trying to work out the best model to support your in-house team, here’s six ways that an RPO could help tackle the challenges you face.
#1 RPO helps you do more with less
For the last couple of years, many talent acquisition teams have had their budgets reduced and seen their in-house team reduced in headcount. As the organisation needs to grow in 2025, how will TA teams deliver what the business requires? Now is the time to identify an RPO partner who will not only help you to recruit when you need to – but who also has the capabilities and expertise to build strong hiring manager relationships, deliver process improvements and work as a seamless extension of your team. The additional benefit is that this extension to your team should come with a variety of additional skills, services and ideas that you can draw on, as and when you need them.
#2 Address skills shortages
Wouldn’t it be great if 2025 could be the year when everyone stopped talking about skill shortages and began talking about growth again? Perhaps it will be a more positive outlook in some industry sectors. But for others, there will still be certain skill sets that are difficult or expensive to bring into the organisation.
In 2025, it is important to find an RPO provider that can help to mitigate the risks around skill shortages. This could mean offering the capability to provide useful market insights and focused talent intelligence. It could mean thinking differently about costs, in terms of a blend of management costs and fee-based hiring. It could mean bringing a more expansive view to the table and helping you work towards a total talent solution.
#3 Enhance D&I through RPO
Diversity & Inclusion is always a part of the overall talent acquisition conversation. 2025 should see a more integrated view of D&I with recruitment, with organisations formulating a clearer strategy on how D&I supports their need to recruit and retain high performers. A more integrated approach calls for an RPO provider who understands it, supports it and can help to deliver it. Can your RPO provider deliver insight into D&I? Can they be part of the conversation around high performance? Are they ready to help you build a more diverse talent pool, through innovation in talent attraction and employer brand?
#4 Drive technology adoption and improved data
The move towards total talent solutions is driven by new recruitment technology platforms alongside a need for organisations to focus on skills-based hiring. RPO organisations should bring the strategic thinking and broader expertise to play an instrumental role in a total talent solution, promoting the adoption of new technologies, streamlining processes and ensuring better quality candidate data at every stage of the recruitment process. Better data creates better decision-making earlier in the hiring process, and forward thinking RPO providers can help guide organisations towards better practice around recruiting contingent/alternative workers, as well as sourcing permanent staff.
#5 Access a global talent pool with RPO
The growth of the contingent workforce is rapid and one aspect of talent acquisition that will not change in 2025 is the increasing complexity of the market. As remote work and global talent sourcing continue to expand, accessing the global talent pool now requires a depth of expertise in identifying talent, as well as understanding payroll, benefits, legislation and compliance. This is where RPO providers can step in, further enhancing your capabilities.
Conclusion
Employers are hoping that 2025 is going to be different. RPO providers, likewise. But there are no guarantees. Creating better experiences throughout the recruitment process means RPO providers and their clients working in closer partnership, engaging in more strategic thinking and shaping solutions rather than simply filling openings.
Can RPO providers evolve quickly enough to meet the challenges? It is unlikely that all of them will – and that’s why choosing the right provider in 2025 will be a critical decision with wider implications for productivity, budget management and business growth.