What is the meaning of innovation in RPO and how can the market become more innovative? New research from Capita seeks to find out what innovation means to resourcing leaders. The research provides an in depth insight on how RPO models can be better configured to realise the benefits from innovation. Research participants included HR directors and resourcing leaders from large enterprises, with the likes of Arup, BSkyB, The Cooperative Banking Group, Lockheed Martin, TalkTalk, Thales and Virgin Money, among others. Most of the respondents felt that the sector needed to improve on how it engages with candidates and hiring managers, and improve its capabilities around candidate sourcing. There was a strong sense of a need for research-led RPO, which could help improve conversations with active and passive candidates as well as boost the development of talent pipelines and pools. Some respondents reflected challenges back on themselves; for instance, respondents linked several shortfalls to their organisations’ tendency to contract on cost alone, a failure to challenge how resourcing was perceived as a business discipline within their own organisation, and a lack of both focus and investment in workforce planning and talent management. The Innovation in RPO white paper proves to be an interesting and upfront read. Its frank and honest view of the state of RPO comes with recommendations for driving positive change.

1. Putting
Innovation
at the Heart
of Recruitment Process Outsourcing
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

2. Contents
About Capita
page 3
Executive Summary
page 4
Introduction: the State of the Market
page 6
• Key market trends
Research Findings
page 9
• What is innovation and how can the market become
more innovative?
• What adds value?
• How can resourcers become more strategic?
• What do clients want recruiters to do?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of RPOs in adding value?
What role can they play in innovation?
• A third model?
Capita’s View
page 12
• Our objectives
• Our solutions
• Our conclusions
Appendix
page 17
• About the authors
• Contributors
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

3. About Capita
Capita Managed Services is the strategic
resourcing business within Capita plc.
Our teams work across the UK commercial, regulated
and government sectors – creating tailored solutions in
permanent and contingent workforce recruitment.
Over the past 15 years, we’ve built client retention by
placing collaboration at the heart of every relationship.
We foster genuine partnerships which develop the
maturity and impact of resourcing activity –
our ultimate goal is to align talent acquisition
strategies directly with strategic business goals.
page 3
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

4. Executive Summary
The latest research from the Everest Group on
the global RPO market suggests that despite
12% growth in the market, the large providers
have not increased their market share.
Instead the sector has seen an increase in the number of
small specialist suppliers, often operating alongside bigger
partners, fulfilling specific requirements within particular
service segments. Everest Group suggests that this is a
result of larger suppliers’ failure to provide full, end-toend resourcing solutions that are sufficiently creative and
innovative to deal with emerging business needs.
The issue of innovation in RPO is a complex one.
Practically all invitations to tender suggest that
innovation is critical to contract award but our
questioning around what this means to clients, in
practice, often produces different answers.
Why and how we undertook this research
We decided to carry out research to explore the notion
of innovation in RPO and to work with a diverse group
of buyers to understand how RPO models can be better
configured to realise the benefits from innovation.
We undertook interviews with senior resourcing
managers in 21 blue chip organisations. Our questions
focused on buyer perceptions of innovations in resourcing
(i.e. what innovation means to them), the role that
innovation plays in adding value, their views on the
optimum model for resourcing (i.e. outsource, insource or
rightsource) and whether they believe there are possible
new, innovative models of delivery yet to be discovered.
page 4
What we discovered
The research paints a picture of an industry that is at a
crossroads, with an evident disconnect between suppliers
and buyers which is stifling business development
and innovation.
The respondents were particularly critical of the sector’s
failure to really engage with candidates and build
relationships with hiring managers, believing some of the
problems to lie with technological innovation which has
impacted negatively on personal interaction.
They were also critical of the quality of staff on many
accounts and their inability to act as ‘talent advisors’ rather
than recruitment process operators. Problems were also
linked to contract governance, with an over-emphasis
on outputs rather than outcomes. Linked with this is
the inflexibility of some providers who appear intent on
providing a ‘one-size-fits-all’ process rather than a solution.
Some of the respondents reflected these challenges
back on themselves. Several were linked to their habit
of contracting on cost alone, a failure to challenge how
resourcing is perceived as a business discipline within
their own organisation, a lack of focus and investment in
workforce planning and talent management.
Perceptions of RPO providers
Ultimately the research establishes that RPO providers
are mainly viewed as volume processors and not strategic
resourcing partners with the capacity to add value. There
is a tendency for them to over-sell and under-deliver.
Their attempts at innovation are ‘noise’ and reinvention
rather than true innovation that has the potential to
create new ways of working and better solutions.
As a result, many of the respondents felt that they would
only engage with RPO providers to manage ‘the churn’
while the added value elements stayed in-house.
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

5. Need to connect resourcers and clients
The research proved challenging reading, but by
exploring the disconnect between resourcers and buyers,
the study provides clarity about the nature and scope of
the challenges and what needs to be done to overcome
the problems.
Through better pre-tender engagement there is scope for
developing superior commercial models and solutions
that will support joint working and solutioning and
therefore value adding. To realise the benefits from
this we agree that there needs to be a different cadre
of staff involved in the account who can solution
and find new, creative ways of working. These people
need to be professionally educated in resourcing and
better supported by knowledge, evidence and market
information – including being kept up to date with
innovations and new practices. RPO providers should
act as ‘brokers’ to introduce the latest technologies and
solutions from specialists to their clients.
Resourcing must be more highly valued
Rigorous adherence to processes needs to be replaced by
mechanisms for business unit adaptation and solutioning
and the development of partnership working with hiring
managers. Working together, RPO providers and their
clients need to move resourcing up the value chain
and encourage senior managers to support workforce
planning and longer-term engagement strategies. This
would enable organisations to more effectively build and
maintain their branding conversations with prospective
hires and create better talent pipelines.
The research has demonstrated that real innovation can
be found in partnership working and not technology
or new processes which are merely the tools that are
developed to achieve innovative practice.
page 5
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

6. Introduction:
the State of the Market
The global RPO market can be characterised
as follows:
n 2012, it grew by 12%, despite a decrease in hiring
I
volumes. This suggests that the sector is still buoyant
and competitive.
There has been a period of consolidation with several
large-scale mergers and acquisitions. However, the
large providers have not significantly increased their
market share.
The
market remains fragmented with a large number
of suppliers operating in buyer segments differentiated
by geography, technology solution or job family.
It is difficult to create an innovative, one-size-fits-all
solution due to so many niches in the market. Instead,
small specialist and innovative providers fill the gaps.
Gaps in the market might arise as a result of emerging
technologies (such as cloud-based solutions and
mobile technology), new ATS platforms (such as
those that integrate with social networking sites), and
predictive analytics for workforce planning or improved
data mining technologies capable of handling big data.
Setting the Context:
the Changing RPO Landscape
What will clients demand from their RPO
providers in the immediate future?
If we look at the US market, which is about 3-5 years
ahead of the UK’s, we can get a good sense of where the
UK market is heading. We have identified the following
trends and issues in the US provider and customer
landscapes (sources include) RPO Association, Everest
Group and Bersin by Deloitte.
What are the key market trends?
Trend 1: From monologue to dialogue
T
he approach to connect with candidates has become
more complex. Previously, there was a relatively
small number of channels under direct control of
the recruiter. Now there are many channels and
stakeholders, each with their own voice.
I
t is no longer enough to have a monologue with
candidates based on a simple narrative that reflects
the brand ambitions and static EVPs. Resourcers must
engage in a dialogue with both active and passive
candidates, which takes longer.
R
esourcers also need to use a greater number of
channels to target and communicate with different
audiences.
T
he use of social media as a recruitment tool must
become more sophisticated. Despite the hype,
scepticism has grown over recent years over how
effective this technology is within the industry.
page 6
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

7. Trend 2: Market segmentation
T
he US market has become more segmented.
Mergers and acquisitions have consolidated the market
and there are a glut of new entrants specialising in
specific niches.
Trend 4: Conflict between cost and value adding
I
n the US, there has been very limited growth in full
life-cycle RPO deals.
T
here is a disconnect between what resourcers
and clients believe should be at the heart of the
recruitment process – a positive candidate and hiring
manager experience, quality candidates, fit with
employer brand, zero-time recruitment based on
better talent pooling – and the emphasis on driving
down costs.
C
o-sourcing is now common, with more than one RPO
provider being invited into the organisation to work
collaboratively on end-to-end needs.
R
esourcers are recognising that clients are driven
by value and the total employment experience for
candidates, rather than by cost.
P
roject RPO and point of service RPO deals are
growing. Here, specialist providers are asked to
complement the services of either in-house or other
outsourced providers.
T
here is still too much emphasis on cost reduction
in big contract awards. This is one of the reasons the
experience for candidates and hiring managers has
shown little improvement over the past 10 years.
T
hese new boutique providers – many of which
originated outside of resourcing – are bringing new
thinking and technologies to the sector. This is resulting
in more flexible solutions, in contrast to those generated
by the business models of some of the big players which
are based on generating economies of scale.
Trend 3: Bespoke solutions –
using technology to add value
T
here is growing acceptance that technology can
speed up the development of effective solutions but
not at the expense of the ‘personal touch’.
R
esourcing is, fundamentally, a people business and
therefore the most creative developments are those
that enable people to deliver better, more personalised
solutions rather than those that try to automate how
services are delivered.
J
oel Capperella, vice-president of the RPO Association
and CEO of Yoh, an emerging US-based RPO provider,
emphasised this when he said:
The real opportunity is the creation of value and
creating competitive advantage through people.
page 7
Trend 5: The importance of talent pipelines
A
ttempts by recruitment agencies to create costeffective talent pipelines have met with limited
success. In many cases talent pools have merely
become databases of names.
R
esourcers are making slow progress in developing
better solutions with pre-screened and pre-assessed
candidates. Obstacles include unsophisticated
workforce planning that fails to support confidence in
predicted hiring volumes.
T
here is still too much emphasis on past data and
historical patterns of recruitment instead of predictive
analytics and scenario planning.
M
any resourcers are hesitant to develop talent
pipelines without guaranteed job openings. Investing
time and resources in candidate engagement presents
a risk, especially in today’s uncertain economic climate.
R
esourcers believe the talent pipeline market will
become a breakout segment of its own which will
intersect with RPO, but not necessarily be a part of
it. This could attract new, risk-taking, market entrants
able to build pipelines that will create a new hiring
process for many roles.
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

8. Trend 6: Clients want a broader set of
added-value solutions
C
lients are not afraid to negotiate many contracts
with different resourcers.
They seek more value in terms of strategy
and solutioning.
T
here is growing demand for the resourcer-client
relationship to become more partnership-led and less
contractual. However, many RPO models do not allow
for this.
O
ur research suggests that top quartile performers are
significantly better at relationship management than
their lower performing peers.
To be effective, innovations must do the following:
H
elp improve conversations with active and passive
candidates and develop a better way of engaging with
the next generation of worker.
P
rovide very targeted point-of-service solutions
throughout the recruitment cycle.
S
upport an excellent candidate experience, without
becoming impersonal.
B
oost the development of talent pipelines and pools
and reduce time to hire.
A
dd value to the process for the client (extending into
wider areas of talent management.
page 8
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

9. Research Findings
How can resourcers be more strategic?
T
ake a more advisory role
What is innovation and how can the market
become more innovative?
F
ocus on talent planning
One respondent said:
I
ncrease convergence with HR and the wider
business (eg the relationship between customers and
candidates)
Innovation simply means removing the stuff that
doesn’t add value and adding the stuff that does.
Some respondents feel that the ‘stuff that has been
added’ by the suppliers in recent years has actually set
the industry back.
The emphasis has therefore been on:
D
eveloping processes to support sophisticated
ATS systems.
B
lindly pursuing social media strategies without any
real sense of how these things benefit either the hiring
manager or the candidate.
What adds value?
When asked this question, respondents mentioned
the following:
T
otal workforce planning
B
randing and consistency
B
uilding communities and networks (channels rather
than job specs and adverts)
D
irect sourcing
B
eing a true advisor to the business
A
ccount managers that provide solutions rather than sell
B
eing more strategic.
One respondent commented:
It should be more about strategic planning and a voice
at
the top table. The concern I have is that recruitment
is just seen as a transactional model. Who is sitting
down with the managers and working with them as
‘business partners’?
page 9
E
ngage with candidates personally
B
alance candidate personalisation with technology
G
ive hiring managers more control.
What do clients want recruiters to do?
U
se technology only as a tool to support true
innovation and build relationships
Many resourcers feel they are being innovative simply
by using the latest mobile and CV mining technologies,
online assessment and social media tools. But in the
sector these are not always seen as having the potential
to make a big difference.
One respondent said:
We are all far too easily distracted by the noise that
considered innovative.
is
R
eturn to old-school techniques
Recruiters must see their role as one of ‘relationship
builder’ with both candidates and hiring managers.
B
e true talent advisers with real business acumen.
Respondents almost universally agreed that this is lacking
in the sector (both in in-house and outsourced models)
and this is hampering real innovation at a grass-roots level.
R
e-focus on outcomes instead of outputs
Use approaches which allow the candidate experience
to be ‘authentic’. The hiring manager experience should
be simple but with enough control that they can be
confident in the quality of candidates.
B
e flexible and scalable
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

10. Clients appreciate resourcers that look outside of onesize-fits-all processes and are willing to adapt solutions to
different divisions and business circumstances.
Many in-house teams struggle to deal with the peaks
and troughs in demand – having a flexible resource
of contract professionals to boost teams would be an
attractive proposition.
C
hange the business model
Respondents disagreed over whether better commercial
models should be developed based on centralisation
and economies of scale. Some felt that, instead, models
should balance the need for cost efficiency with
responsiveness to candidates and ‘closeness’ to line
managers. Two respondents believed the latter might
remove the need for HR/resourcing business partners
which would make a considerable difference to the HR
cost-base.
Only one respondent said that detailed, documented
processes with quality MI/reporting – with clear roles and
responsibilities between recruiters and hiring managers –
were important and relevant.
W
orkforce planning
Many view this as the ‘missing link’ in the resourcing
process. Workforce planning facilitates the development
of pipelines and enables better engagement with
prospective staff. Some respondents also linked this
to better management of permanent and temporary
resources, with some alluding to the challenge of
developing ‘total workforce solutions’ across all groups
including permanent, fixed term, temporary, consultant
and statement of work contractors.
B
randing
This was mentioned by a number of respondents who
felt that there was scope for improved brand activity to
help attract talent that ‘fits’ with the organisation’s needs
across all businesses and divisions.
page 10
Adding value
What are the strengths and weakenesses of RPOs in
adding value? What role can they play in innovation?
R
PO providers excel in handling volume and
temporary recruitment
Their model can fit a number of sectors and positions –
they are really geared towards the volume in common
job categories. They are a one shape fits all type of
business.
I think they are really good in the volume space.
They can scale up and down with regard to volume
related activities.
R
PO providers are less useful for permanent hires,
especially senior and professional roles
Respondents suggested the following reasons for this:
T
hey lack innovation.
T
hey try to ‘tie down all details in the commercials’,
which results in a lack of flexibility.
R
ecruiters are more likely to be accepted by the
business as advisers if they are part of an internal team.
T
he cachet of your own brand means you can get
better quality recruiters if you hire directly.
T
hey are more concerned with selling many services
than getting the basics right.
T
hey are “not as strategic as they think they are and
there is a lot of chatter and sales bumpf”.
W
ith senior posts, organisations want to keep control
and “make sure it is done properly”.
T
here is a cost advantage in using the supplier for the
process but the key thing is never to outsource the
decision – just outsource the heavy lifting.
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

11. Resourcers lack knowledge of the organisations they
are hiring for
M
any respondents questioned recruiters’ ability to
truly understand the problems and challenges facing
an organisation and to create innovative solutions.
F
or some, the fact that the outsourced partner
could not provide anything that they could not do
themselves meant that there was no clear business
case for outsourcing.
T
his leads to lack of trust, which hampers efforts at
developing relationships and supports the idea that
recruitment to business-critical roles should never be
outsourced as there is too much at stake.
Resourcers offer generic rather than tailored solutions
R
esourcers typically try to sell ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions
instead of consulting with the client on specific
problems and challenges and responding with
something that will work for that organisation.
A third model?
Is there a ‘rightsource’ model that sits somewhere
between outsourcing and in-house recruitment?
The almost unanimous view is ‘yes’ – although there was less
consensus about the form that such a model might take.
Suggested features include:
S
pecialist niche providers that offer a range of services
from talent pools of pre-screened and pre-vetted
candidates.
T
eams of contract recruitment consultants hired to
meet peaks in demand.
S
pecialist search providers that provide quality
longlists at a lower price than the traditional
headhunters.
A
‘total workforce solutions’ model that builds
workforce planning and forecasting into the process.
E
ffective relationship management at its core.
E
xperts from outside the business that fill the gaps
where internal teams cannot deliver.
S
olutions tailored to the specific needs of the business.
H
ybrid model or a ‘blended solution’ in which some
elements are kept in-house while others, starting with
volume processes, are increasingly outsourced as trust
and relationships are built.
A
‘fluid relationship’ approach, with emphasis on
working in partnership, might be more appropriate
than a model.
page 11
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

12. The State of the Market:
Capita’s View
Industry at a crossroads
Although there has been a lot of talk in the past few years
about the global RPO market maturing, there are conflicts
between recruiters and clients in the RPO space which are
preventing business development and true innovation.
A case for outsourcing
The fact that, globally, the industry continues to expand
means that there is still a strong business rationale for
outsourcing. However, because the benefits of doing so
are often not realised, perceptions of the RPO industry
are not where they should be. Resourcers are typically
perceived as organisations able and willing to take on the
‘churn’ end of the recruitment process, which adds little
value to the organisation.
Sustainability of current model is questionable
The growth in use of specialist niche providers to provide
specific point-of-service solutions suggests that clients
are not confident that large RPO providers are developing
the right kinds of creative solutions across the resourcing
life-cycle.
Engaging on cost and asking suppliers to provide a highvolume, low-value service on tight margins means that
even the biggest players are making little money. Without
moving up the value chain their future is uncertain.
Our objectives
We want to be an added-value RPO provider across the
public and private sectors and we want to develop the
best resourcing solutions by taking an innovative and
creative approach. We are sure this is little different to the
objective of our leading competitors. What is preventing
us all from achieving this and providing clients with the
high-touch, value-added and innovative solutions that
buyers are demanding?
The challenges of a flawed model
1. The tendering process
We believe this research has shed light on the problems.
At its heart is the tendering process and the requirements
which are set out for suppliers. We are asked to respond
to a range of issues about how we could add value (which
we do based on our centralised capability within our
business). At the same time, we are asked to show how
we will save the client money and drive down costs.
In some bid models we are evaluated against our peers
through prescribed transactional cost models which
means we have little flexibility to demonstrate alternative
approaches to delivering the best solutions. On paper, we
may appear to be over-promising, as we paint a picture
of what we could deliver in an ideal world. When the
commercial reality takes hold, bidders rush to the bottom
with their cost calculations in an effort to win the contract.
2. Inexperienced client-facing staff
Contracts which are secured in this way offer tight profit
margins which mean that incumbents are then under
pressure to cut costs and find additional income streams
through selling in added-value services.
This results in relatively junior staff on the ground
attempting to open the doors for more experienced staff
and specialists to come and discuss added-value services
and creative solutions. The reality in some contracts,
however, is that the junior staff ‘set the tone’ and the
lack of trust in their strategic and innovative abilities
can prevent clients from seeing the depth of knowledge,
expertise and innovation that the company can offer
through its central teams of experts.
page 12
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

13. 3. Lack of engagement
Missing from the process, more often than not, is an
extended period of pre-engagement and/or competitive
dialogue. Through this we can help shape request for
proposal requirements and tailor commercial solutions
in ways which have been prescribed by the resourcing
managers that took part in the survey.
Contentions that providers are selling ‘off-the-shelf’
products and services are therefore true at the point of
tendering, as our bids reflect what we have delivered
elsewhere rather than tailored solutions for specific
clients. Without meaningful dialogue and a period of time
to ‘get under the skin’ of the organisation, the prescribed
solutions are generic rather than differentiated. This
shapes what happens in the ‘transformation phase’ after
a contract is won, if time and resources are not dedicated
to solution design.
In the absence of this consultation the transformation
teams will refer back to the bid documentation and
probably spend too much time putting systems and
processes in place to deliver the prescribed generic model
rather than take time to really engage with the client and
listen to their needs. Consequently, post-contract award
dialogue is frequently missing.
Our solutions
McKinsey Company’s report, False Summit: The
State of Human Capital (October 2012) contained the
following suggestion:
The Human Capital function needs daring to create
real and lasting change in how top talent is recruited,
engaged and retained.
1. New approaches for developing creative
business solutions which go beyond traditional
RPO models
Organisations must take more time to evaluate their
aspirations for resourcing and where their current models
position them against these aspirations. This information
should be used to shape conversations about contractual
models and how solutions can be tailored to meet the
needs of the business and of individual business units.
page 13
These approaches need to be more methodical and analytical,
so that good practice happens as a result of planned strategies
and tactical actions with clearly defined metrics and predicted
outcomes. This means developing division-specific
solutions and, perhaps more importantly, spending more
time discussing the needs of different parts of the business.
This way, tactics can be developed to meet requirements
that diverge from the norm and new, innovative practices
introduced to realise particular outcomes.
2. Professionalisation of the RPO industry
We hear what the sector is saying about the quality and
competency of staff and concede that in contracts where
the margins are tight there is always a need to balance
the cost of staffing the operation against the predicted
margin. However, we believe there are wider issues at play
here: the overall quality of staff across the industry. Part of
this is to do with the fact that there are limited professional
qualifications in resourcing and many individuals stumble
into the industry by accident rather than design.
Resourcing is possibly in a similar situation to that of
project management 10-15 years ago. Businesses are
recognising the ‘mission-critical’ role of resourcers but
the lack of professionalism in the sector makes it difficult
to find people capable of delivering high quality, strategic
solutions. There is a need for the sector to work collectively
to develop more industry-standard qualifications and
development pathways.
3. Introduction of a solutions development team
The standard staffing model – which involves operational
recruiters ‘on the ground’ at the client organisation and
centralised specialists – results in a lack of strategic and
innovative thinking in day-to-day operations, which is
precisely where innovation and creativity is required.
As well as upskilling on-site teams, we need to identify
bridging mechanisms that place central expertise at the
heart of day-to-day solutioning.
A dedicated solutions development team would offer
clients advice on emerging technologies and innovative
solutions. Using an information cascade from the central
team through account directors and account managers
would allow people on the ground to keep up with
innovative developments and technologies. It is also
possible to partner with specialist providers to secure
the right solutions. Many of the newest innovations have
originated outside of resourcing.
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

14. 4. Moving resourcing up the value chain
As the first resourcing business in the UK to secure the
BS 11000 partnering standard, we fully understand the
challenges of building and maintaining relationships
with our clients and other stakeholders in the resourcing
process. We do not underestimate the time and resources
it takes to develop relationships and build trust.
There are, however, some elements of governance which are
outside of the control of the RPO provider and require action
from the client. Without clear channels of communication
to and from the C-suite it can be hard to be creative and
innovative in developing solutions or working outside of
traditional cost models and business structures.
Educate senior managers
There is a need for senior managers to ‘champion the
cause’ to effect meaningful change. It is clear that
some of the senior resourcing professionals we spoke
to recognise this and believe that part of the ‘dumbing
down’ of resourcing as a business function stems from a
lack of senior management understanding that human
capital is a strategic asset.
A key challenge, therefore, is educating senior managers
about resourcing and helping to move resourcing, as a
discipline, up the value chain. It is arguable that outsourcing
partners could play a role here in supporting resourcing
professionals by demonstrating (through case examples
and more proactive thought leadership) the value attached
to better strategic management of resourcing.
Invest in better engagement
While these things are outside of the direct control of
RPO providers, without them some of the ‘innovative’
challenges outlined by managers in our survey cannot
happen. It is not possible, for example, to pursue a
strategy of engagement with passive candidates and
brand building without an allocated budget for indirect
communication. Similarly it is not possible to build talent
pools and move towards models of zero-time recruitment
if there is no workforce planning evidence on which to
make decisions.
Strengthen the resourcer-client partnership
There are issues and challenges on both the supplier
and buyer side of the resourcing landscape. We have yet
to develop an approach which provides the potential
for resourcing to move up the value chain to become a
strategic business solution for optimising human capital.
In many cases it is disconnected from wider thinking in
terms of talent management and it is not always seen
by senior executives as adding any real value to the
organisation. We would like to see a new ‘model’ (or
framework approach) which would enable suppliers and
buyers to work together more effectively to raise the
status of resourcing and give it the strategic position in
the business it deserves.
Our model for resourcing innovation
The model proposed overleaf has at its core a newly
defined contracting phase which unites the resourcer and
client to develop the right business models before tender.
There is also a secondary phase of solutioning built in
post-contract award to ensure that the approach is
properly tailored to the needs of the client.
It’s important to understand the new challenges of
engagement (multi-channel dialogue with both active
and passive candidates which needs to take place without
always producing immediate results):
T
he importance of investment in workforce planning
(from a developmental/retention perspective and a
recruitment viewpoint).
T
he role of the employer brand and EVPs (including
linkages between product/service brands and the
employment proposition).
page 14
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

15. The main delivery mechanism is divided into two parts:
1. An engine room of delivery which focuses on
developing relationships with hiring managers and
candidates. This part of the process is heavily reliant
on having a properly skilled workforce supported
by recognised qualifications and training. It relies
on a continual feed of knowledge and information
about new developments and innovations from the
solutions design team and specialists and is able
to introduce partner organisations to the client to
effect innovation in key niche areas.
2. A strategic knowledge hub that supports
branding, talent pooling and creative selection and
assessment. This strategic unit (which is typically
part of the central business hub of the RPO provider
but not necessarily seen ‘on the ground’) needs to be
costed in at the outset to ensure that the addedvalue benefits are fully realised.
Clients can purchase some or all of these elements.
The model also works within a ‘blended solution’ where
internal teams may be retained to deliver some elements
with the RPO provider supplying teams of expertise to
fill other aspects of the ‘delivery machine’ and ‘strategic
think tank’.
All of the above is supported by flexible processes
rather than rigid process maps which assume a onesize-fits all solution. There is also a clearly defined
partnership management and governance approach.
Better governance will also stem from having the ‘right’
management information which focuses on outcomes
of the process (including quality of hire, candidate
satisfaction, hiring manager satisfaction, strength of talent
pools) rather than just the outputs.
Thought leadership and engagement with senior executives to support the development
of human capital as a strategic asset
Pre-engagement/
competitive
dialogue to design
the business model
and solution
Delivery ‘Machine’
Supporting Processes
High quality managers operating as solution design specialists.
Qualified through the Academy and feeding on the knowledge
and expertise of the Solutions Design Team and specialists.
Build effective relationships with hiring managers
Tendering on value,
outputs and quality
of experience
(hiring manager
and candidate)
Post-tender
transformation
phase based on
User-Centric
Design approach/
tailored solution
page 15
Back-office
processing team
supported by
solid technology
platforms
Resourcers building
relationships with
candidates.
High-touch
approach
Partner
organisations
providing innovative
solutions in
niche areas
Strategic ‘think tank’
Continual horizan scanning and knowledge sharing to challenge
‘best practice’ and evolve the model. Working with the client to
ensure continued understanding of changing business needs
and market forces
Brand champions
who develop and
manage the dialogue
through multiple
channels
Talent managers
who build and
manage pools of
talent in key
areas of demand
Resourcing business
partners providing
creative support in
selection and
assessment
MI that measures outcomes not outputs
Support
Partnership management based on BS 11000 principles
Delivery
A flexible process that is adaptable to different business needs
Contracting
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

16. Our conclusions
Although the findings of the research proved challenging
reading, they have provided us with a much better insight
into the disconnect between buyers and suppliers.
We are pleased that we didn’t pre-suppose what the
sector might consider to be ‘innovative’, as the research
has demonstrated that the buyer community think it
has far less to do with technology and social recruitment
(which are the things that suppliers typically allude to
when talking about innovation) and much more to do
with effective business models for providing strategic
resourcing solutions.
End transactional costing to reach common goal
In essence, we both want the same thing: a high-touch
customer-centred process (candidate and hiring manager)
that adds true value to the organisation in terms of
extending talent capacity. We are not so naïve as to
think that we can achieve this with limitless resources,
but transactional costing models are holding back the
innovative and creative potential of both outsourced
suppliers and in-house teams.
Through better engagement and partnership
development – commencing even before managers
have put pen to paper to outline their requirements
within a Request for Information document – there is
scope to find a better solution and model that is more
consultative, responsive, creative and innovative. The
scope of what is possible will always be based on cost
but there is already expertise within our business that
can help organisations achieve some of the innovative
solutions outlined by the resourcing managers in our
survey. We simply need to find business models that
allow us to put these strategic solutions at the centre of
our service design rather than treat them as an ‘add-on’
to the conventional transactional model.
We are confident that through better
partnership working we can effect a stepchange in the development of resourcing as a
strategic business discipline and we are excited
by the challenge identified by this research.
This cost-based culture is commoditising a business
service which shouldn’t be a commodity: it should be a
value-adding business function based on a consultative
and solutions-based model. The real value, therefore, lies
as much in the knowledge, expertise and solutioning (and
ability to draw information on best practice from work
with other clients and business partners across the whole
provider landscape) as in the ability to generate scale
economies and therefore reduce costs.
Professionalise and partner
We hear clients when they say that the quality of staff
is not high enough to provide the advisory solutions
being sought. While some of this can also be linked to
transactional cost models, Capita should be championing
professionalisation of resourcing as a career so that we
can attract and professionally train the next generation of
recruiters and resourcers.
page 16
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.

17. Appendix
About the authors
Mike Ruddle
Mike has worked in the recruitment
industry for 15 years for several marketleading staffing organisations in the UK and
globally, with a specific focus on the MSP/
RPO sector since 2002.
He has consulted with HRD and board-level sponsors
within many large private and public sector organisations
to design and implement tailored strategic staffing
solutions, encompassing a broad range of MSP, RPO and
blended recruitment outsourcing programmes.
As part of the senior leadership team, Mike is ultimately
responsible for the direction of strategic business
development including new client acquisition, talent
consulting, thought leadership, and new product and
service innovation.
Kate Harper
After 10 years working at the University of
Bradford as a lecturer in International Business
and European Management and chair of its
part-time MBA, Kate embarked on a career in
resourcing as a research-led consultant.
Contributors
We would like to thank contributors from the
organisations listed below:
Arup
BskyB
The Cooperative Banking Group
Thales
Vodafone
Virgin Money
Lockheed Martin
CareUK
G4S
British Telecom
CH2M Hill
Morgan Sindall
Atos
Ernst Young
Legal General
Ace Group
KPMG
Nationwide
TalkTalk
Barclays
Sodexo
After working for Havas People (formerly Riley) and
Tribal, Kate set up her own business, CEH Works
Solutions, which focuses on supporting organisations
in improving their resourcing and talent management.
Her research and consulting experience covers a broad
range of resourcing themes including employer branding,
workforce and talent planning and skills mapping, and her
projects have involved working with employers, their staff,
candidates and outsourced partners.
Kate has helped a variety of in-house and outsourced
resourcing teams across the private and public sectors
to optimise their business models. She has developed a
sound knowledge of best practice in resourcing and talent
management business solutioning.
page 17
True Partners.
Trusted to deliver.