There are plenty of preconceptions in the world of outsourced recruitment. In my last blog, which you can read here, I touched on three of the main ‘myths’ I encounter in my day-to-day role. I’d like to dig deeper into one of those myths – that fully outsourcing recruitment only works for huge organisations.

Of course, many large, multi-national corporations have outsourced their recruitment over the years. And they’ve had great success. But it’s not just large companies who can harness the benefits of outsourcing.

RPO for smaller companies

When Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) first emerged, it involved working with a full-time, dedicated team. They would work onsite with one specific client, often in the guise of the organisation themselves rather than the provider.

That was 20 years ago. Whilst this same model still works today, things have changed. Or, should I say, evolved since then. Over the last two decades, many providers have learnt from their successes and their failures. As a result, they’ve formulated alternative ways of operating; experimented with different delivery models; and have even built infrastructures to allow for more flexible RPO solutions. All this has meant that RPO has moved on.

Consequently, nowadays, companies with much smaller workforces are harnessing an Agile RPO solution. This affords all of the benefits of a standard RPO – increased process efficiencies, improved candidate experience, greater profitability, etc. However, there are two key differences: flexibility and scalability.

“What if I told you…”

Now, if I’m any judge, you’re probably thinking: “ok, that’s great and all that, but it won’t work for us”.

The truth is it can work for anyone. Let’s take a fast growing technology company as an example. They only had 500 employees, but their business was growing very quickly. With new product launches on the horizon, the (already stretched) HR function was under pressure to make an additional 100 hires this year alone. They knew that 90% of those hires would be from specialist recruitment agencies, each charging a 20% fee. With an average salary of £40,000, this recruitment spend would top £720,000 this year alone.

At the risk of sounding like Morpheus out of The Matrix, “What if I told you…” that this tech company could reduce this spend, consolidate the supply chain, improve candidate experience, improve candidate quality, improve time-to-hire and improve employer brand perception through an RPO solution? Again, like Morpheus, it’s time to ‘free your mind’ to the possibilities. An RPO for smaller companies is a real and viable option.

This is exactly what ManpowerGroup Solutions has been doing for years. We partner with organisations of all sizes to plan, design and implement outsourced recruitment and workforce management programmes that meet a diverse range of business challenges.

And we’re good at it. In fact, we’re the world’s number one. Think of us as the Novak Djokovic of the RPO world. But don’t take my word for it, take Nelson Hall and Everest Group’s word for it – they’ve named us the biggest and the best respectively for the last five years.

Find out more about our Recruitment Process Outsourcing solutions on the ManpowerGroup Solutions website.

Now in its fourth year, the Rising Stars competition identifies future HR leaders in public service and gives emerging HR talent a platform to showcase their practical, creative solutions to the big issues currently facing the sector.

At Manpower, we’re proud sponsors of the competition, encouraging public service employers to look beyond short term challenges and think about who will be leading their organisations in ten years’ time.

Identifying and empowering future HR leaders in public services

As an Assistant HR Advisor at Bristol City Council, Ashleigh Richards was crowned the Rising Star of 2016 in recognition of her dedication to promoting apprenticeships in Bristol. She has been instrumental in championing apprenticeships in the city, by encouraging both employers and young people to get involved in a scheme. Ashleigh’s contribution, along with that of her colleagues in HR, has seen the number of council apprentices double over the last two years.

In a press release from Bristol City Council, Ashleigh said: “This recognition represents many years of hard work that I and my colleagues have put in to raise awareness of apprenticeships and what these schemes can do for business and individuals.

“I was given an opportunity at a young age to forge a career and develop my knowledge and skills. I’m so very grateful for that chance and am thrilled to be in a position to now help others along the same path.”

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “I am delighted for Ashleigh and her colleagues. Their hard work in championing the value of apprenticeships is helping to drive a new sense of opportunity amongst young, unemployed people in the city.”

Nick Heckscher, Director at Manpower said: “The Rising Stars finals always manage to simultaneously develop and recognise great talent in public service HR by blending learning and competition. Ashleigh presented with personality, passion and persuasiveness to deservedly win the award.”

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Find out more about the competition by visiting our PPMA Rising Stars webpage.

We interviewed 19,000 Millennials as part of our recent report Millennial Careers: 2020 Vision, and found that they are surprisingly upbeat about their future careers. Two-thirds are optimistic about their immediate job prospects. Added to this, 62% are confident they could find equally good, or better, employment within three months, if they lost their main source of income tomorrow.

However, 12% told us they didn’t think they would ever be in a position to retire. They have a career ultramarathon ahead of them – and they know it.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that they’re planning for the long-haul. As a result, they’re looking for work that increases their long-term employability. They’re not the job-hoppers some would have us believe. Given the chance, they will move on and move up, but more often than not they expect to advance with the same employer.

The New Millennial Mindset

So what is the new Millennial mindset, and what does the future world of work look like for this generation? Take a look at the below infographic to find out, or click here to view the infographic as a PDF.

 

Read the full report in Millennial Careers: 2020 Vision.

As demand continues to intensify, skills shortages are making it increasingly difficult for the logistics sector to keep up with demand. One of the problems facing employers in the logistics sector is perception. Talk to someone about working in logistics, and often they will assume that you’re only talking about driving jobs.

Mick Skerrett, Driver Development Manager at Manpower, said: “Drivers are just one of the groups of people who keep the UK’s logistics industry moving forward.

“But there’re far more jobs involved in it than that. There are the technical coordinators who keep track of goods and vehicles. The software designers who implement the back office systems required to make sure all drivers are compliant. And the financial analysts, to name just a few.”

Shifting the image of working in logistics

At Manpower, we’re working to redefine the perception of working in the logistics sector, through our support of the industry-led initiative Think Logistics.

Mick continued: “Through Think Logistics, we’re partnering with other organisations within the logistics sector. We aim to increase the awareness about the different career pathways available within the sector. By going into schools and deliver workshops, we show young people that logistics really isn’t just about trucks – it’s a diverse, fast-paced industry that keeps the entire country moving. We demonstrate that virtually everything around them – from the chair they’re sitting on, to the food they ate for breakfast – could only be there thanks to the logistics sector. The feedback we’ve received from the young people themselves and their schools has been fantastic.”

Think Logistics was founded by Abbey Logistics and is supported by Career Ready. This is a Government-funded body that supports vocational training in schools. The success of the initiative has been recognised by the 2016 Motor Transport Awards. At these awards, Think Logistics was a finalist in the Partnership Award category.

The search for future logistics talent

Anne Spackman, Chief Executive at Career Ready, said: “Manpower is at the forefront of the search for future talent. As a leading supporter of our Think Logistics project, the team has set an excellent example for colleagues and other employers through their enthusiastic promotion of careers in logistics to young people, delivered at Think Logistics workshops.”

Neil Caldwell, Think Logistics Project Manager, concluded: “Think Logistics owes its success to the energy, enthusiasm and commitment that our supporters deliver to the project. Manpower has delivered all of that and more. The team engages at every level and takes a lead in raising awareness of careers in logistics. We can only build on our great relationship with Manpower.”

If your organisation would like to join Manpower in supporting Think Logistics, you can find out more by emailing: [email protected].

The new P3 Leaders Model from Right Management identifies leadership traits and practical solutions to predict, develop and measure leadership effectiveness. Following it’s launch, we spoke with Ian Symes, Right Management’s General Manager, UK and Ireland to learn more about how the model can help organisations identify and develop their leaders.

Firstly, please could you talk us through what the P3 Leader Model is?

Right Management’s P3 Leader Model stands for People, Purpose, and Performance. From our point of view, these are the elements that organisations need to drive leader effectiveness in today’s world of work. The model provides a systematic way for organisations to build strong leadership pipelines by identifying talent with the greatest potential for success, helping them develop a focused set of capabilities, and managing their performance by measuring and rewarding relevant outcomes.

Why the need for a new leadership model?

We believe that existing methods of identifying and developing leaders are not working as they should. Our research shows that 40% of company leaders are unprepared to meet the business issues they will face over the next three to five years, and only 20% of managers identified as high performers successfully advance to higher levels of leadership.

Many existing models were developed for more stable business times. However, changes in the world of work are accelerating at a pace and scale never seen before. The challenges facing businesses today demand increased agility and a new set of criteria to identify and prepare leaders to navigate the challenges, risks and opportunities ahead. Our Leader Model has been specifically designed to respond to today’s uncertain and dynamic world of work.

How does Right Management’s approach differ from existing models?

Our approach differs in three key areas: business outcomes are defined not only in financial terms but also in metrics that measure the impact on human motivation; inherent enablers are aligned to the challenge of leading in times of certain uncertainty; and coachable capabilities are narrowed to those that matter most to deliver the desired outcomes.

Right Management was also determined to develop a methodology that is practical for businesses to use. Our model was relentlessly refined to arrive at a highly focused set of components that enables organisations to realise maximum business impact with a realistic investment of resources. We have distilled and simplified what leaders need to focus on to be effective.

Please could you talk us through each of the three key areas in more detail?

Let’s start with ‘Business Outcomes’. As talent is the most valuable asset in organisations today, we believe it should be reflected in leadership performance metrics. Measuring a leader’s impact on talent-focused outcomes is just as critical as evaluating financial metrics. Leaders should consider implementing KPIs to drive: an individual and organisational sense of purpose, an increased level of engagement, meaningful career management, and a more humane organisational culture.

What about Inherent Enablers?

These are an individual’s attributes that help predict future success and lay the foundation for the development of leadership capabilities. In assessing these traits, you are essentially putting the individual’s leadership DNA under the microscope. Enablers are what the person is and how they are hardwired. The P3 Leader Model assesses four key enablers: drive, adaptability, brightness, and endurance.

And what are Coachable Capabilities?

These are the actions a leader takes to help the organisation succeed. In contrast to Inherent enablers, they are highly teachable. The core capabilities within the Right Management P3 Leader Model are focused squarely on accelerating an organisation’s ability to compete in a dynamic global marketplace. To be effective today, leaders have to: accelerate performance, dare to lead, and unleash talent.

What challenges does the P3 Leader Model help clients solve?

The P3 Leader Model is rooted in world of work trends, and connects to key issues that concern our clients while providing a straightforward framework to build their leadership pipelines that other models don’t provide. The P3 Leader Model helps clients to clarify their leader development and cut through all the industry ‘noise’ found in competing models. We’ve minimised complexity by focusing on a small number of high-impact attributes and capabilities, rather than the lengthy and complicated models of the past. Last but not least, this model offers a single, comprehensive system that aligns and connects all elements – from candidate assessment, to capabilities, to outcomes measurement – whereas competing models assess only one or two leadership elements.

And finally – who can benefit from the P3 Leader Model and why?

The Right Management P3 Leader Model is a framework that organisations can use to support the
identification and development of their leaders by helping them to: identify talent with greater potential for leadership effectiveness; focus development time and resources on nurturing capabilities; create a culture of career to ensure a pipeline of leaders at all levels; hold leaders accountable for outcomes that impact profitability, growth and career development; and realise a greater return on investment and faster time to value.

Find out more about the P3 Leader Model on the Right Management website.