Internal Look

Appreciating the business you currently have is a great way to grow! One of our suppliers had a 50% response rate to the requisitions they were receiving and wanted to know how they could get more business. Imagine how much their business would grow if they were to respond to 80%. Before you can ask for more business, you must be successful with the business you have.

Take a look at each of your accounts, broken out by MSP customer, and review your internal metrics. Are you doing your best? Can you do more? Where are you excelling? Once you have your statistics, evaluate where the issues lie. If you aren’t working the requisitions, then the issue lies within your recruiting team. If you are working the requisitions but not getting placements, then it may be a quality issue.

One of our successful suppliers would schedule quarterly business reviews to discuss all of their accounts. This sales executive knew to come to the meeting prepared with a review of how they did and where they thought they could improve. They were honest with the challenges they were having and asked for advice. And then they listened. They asked for more business in those areas where they were doing well. Where they were failing, they asked for more time to improve with the suggestions I had provided. If you can build a better engine, then ask for time to do so. If you can’t, then respectfully decline the business. It’s vital to focus on the areas where you can contribute and talk about how you can help.

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External Look

Knowing your business is important, but knowing your MSP’s business is critical. If there are industries where you excel, bring this to the attention of your MSP partner and request more clients in those areas. If you have done well in a particular geography, suggest you grow with their clients in those locations.

We had several suppliers who had customers in the San Francisco area, so fitting them to our clients in SF was an easy win because they already had a candidate pool we could tap into. Maybe there is a skill category where you have a large group of resources already sourced and ready to work, or perhaps you have a program set up to train on specific skillsets; suggest these as opportunities for expansion. Again, listening to your MSP’s needs gives you the opportunity to pivot on your approach and find solutions. Many times on client spotlight calls, program teams will share where they are struggling to fill requisitions, so if you are listening closely and know how to ease the stress coming from a client, you will be first of mind to help and top of mind for other clients needing similar support.

Listen, Build, Grow, Repeat

So what’s the secret to growing with MSPs? It starts with listening to their needs.  Once you know their needs and you know if your business can help, you can grow or you have the opportunity to rebuild the areas that need improvement. Grow internally in the programs you have first, then look to grow externally to new programs — and repeat for each MSP where you have a partnership.

The other secret is to be specific in your requests. When suppliers came with their hands out asking for business but didn’t know where they wanted it, our team was so busy putting out fires, we didn’t have time to figure it out for them. In those situations, the supplier was placed on a general waitlist. But when suppliers did their homework and came with a plan on where they wanted to grow, it took all the guesswork out of where we could use their support, and we were able to place them at the front of the right customers’ line — which is where you want to be too.

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While managed service providers claim they can connect agency supply to hospital demand in the fastest and most efficient way possible, any staffing firm forced to work through an MSP-owned vendor management system knows that’s not true. In fact, according to a survey of staffing agencies conducted by Hallmark Health Care Solutions, nearly three-quarters (70.37%) of agencies see less success when an MSP manages recruiting and placements with hospitals. And an overwhelming 82.14% said they prefer not to work with VMS technology that is “owned by another staffing company.”

The more successful alternative is a vendor-neutral solution created, implemented and maintained by a pure technology company that has no investment in the staffing function. In this situation, their sole business model is centered on provisioning technology, so their business incentive is exclusive to serving the agency rather than its own conflicting interests. That alignment of interests yields numerous benefits for the staffing agency.

Part I of this series on why vendor-neutral technology is the business-friendly solution for staffing agencies focused on strengthening the client relationship and technology consideration. Part 2 delves into conflict of interest and operational efficiencies when it comes to selecting a VMS solution.

Eliminate conflicts of interest. There are additional financial considerations that explain why agencies that develop their own VMS’s de-prioritize investments in them. A competitor-owned MSP, for example, is incented to place its own staffing resources first and foremost, even if they’re not the fastest, most cost-effective, or best qualified. Remember, if the MSP with the contractual relationship with the hospital doesn’t fill a significant portion of that hospital’s open needs internally, they will lose money. Thus, they need their own technology to give themselves advantage in the staffing process.

That inherent conflict of interest is why most agencies experience less success in placing candidates when going through an MSP. In turn, avoiding conflicts of interests makes more placements more likely to be successful.

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Reduce workload. In line with the previous point, competitor-owned technologies are not incented to make the staffing process easier for the other agencies that use their solutions. Increasing effort and difficulty often ends up being a feature, rather than a bug, of the experience.

A good example here is communication. A non-neutral solution, in pursuit of its own competitive advantage, wants to control both the flow of information and the nature of the agency-hospital relationship. A vendor-neutral solution simply has no interest one way or the other, but in line with the points made above – driving greater efficiencies and helping the agency be more successful – will focus on facilitating connections, not restricting them.

With a vendor-neutral technology, hospital hiring managers can put comments into the job order that get emailed directly to the agency. No one needs to pick up a phone, email, text, or otherwise hound someone for the information needed to make a successful placement. Instead of gatekeeping, the technology facilitates bidirectional communication between supply and demand. That, in turn, hastens how fast can clinicians get submitted, interviewed, and placed at the bedside.

More placements, more quickly. Eliminate risk of poaching, speed up the whole process, get paid sooner, and facilitate relationship-building: that’s the power of vendor-neutral technology in staffing relationships. The bottom-line is that a vendor-neutral solution is more likely to offer the features and functionality agencies need to have a better chance of placing people into open roles, and to do so faster than when they’re trying to work through a platform owned and operated by a competitor.

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This is beginning to change. According to the Ardent Direct Sourcing Toolkit Research Study, 70% of businesses cited direct sourcing and talent pool curation as their top priorities for 2020 and 45% planned to enable a direct sourcing service within the next two years — although we all know that 2020 threw a fair few curve balls!

Certainly, this fits with what we are starting to see: Organizations want a direct sourcing model with curated talent pools — a shift away from the traditional contingent hiring model.

The reason for this shift is not only the considerable dollar savings that can be made by reducing agency fees and time but also that organizations recognize the importance of selling their brand and using the power of their brand to attract the right candidates. It is a competitive market so using the brand to seek out the best candidates, create talent pools and reduce time to hire are all ways to gain competitive advantage.

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Without a doubt, it is a candidate-led market and whether candidates are looking for permanent or contract roles, they want to know: What is the brand? The proposition? The organization’s culture and values? and how all this fits with what they are looking for. Having a direct sourcing team that can articulate the brand in a positive way builds strong employee engagement and is key to building the best talent pool for your business.

“It is tremendously exciting to see the high level of interest in contingent labor direct sourcing solutions across the Americas,” says Mark Jones, managing director of AMS’ Americas contingent business.  “There is without doubt an education element to bring to life the benefits, but I have yet to find an organization that doesn’t want to at least discuss the concept.”

How to embrace contingent direct sourcing

 In order to maximize the opportunity that directly sourcing contingent workers will bring, there are some key areas to get right.

Capability. Talent acquisition and the make-up of a recruitment teams has become more sophisticated over time and the role of a talent sourcer has evolved into a key role with a defined skillset and expertise. Certainly, within our business we have invested significantly in training programs for talent sourcers and we ensure they are trained in how to use the tools, how to engage candidates and how to use analytics to refine the process. It is important that a sourcer fully understands direct sourcing. 

Methodology/engagement. Gain senior buy in on the concept/benefits and gain excitement using the organization’s brand to attract quality candidates and embedding it into to the overall candidate experience. Be proactive around finding and engaging with talent and create a robust talent pool. Identify what talent the organization needs and engage your diverse candidates. Organizations often have leavers that will return to the business again and a talent pool is the perfect way to capture such workers.

Technology. Technology has come long way in terms of its ability to support the process, and there are really good technology providers that specialize in contingent talent pool management and integration into career websites. Jones states that “Technology providers such as TalentNet are vital to the successful running of a contingent labor solution enabling the sourcing, management and engagement of contractors within one platform and analytics tools that will help the sourcer translate data into actionable insights.” AMS enables a complete end-to-end solution meaning we are accountable for all elements of the service including overseeing the chosen technology platform.

As the dusts settles following the trials of 2020, we feel now is a really exciting time and a big opportunity for organizations to consider how they approach sourcing contingent talent.  Those organizations who embrace their brand in relation to direct sourcing and really engage their candidates are likely to gain a competitive advantage — and ultimately and will win the best talent.

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In part one of this series, we examined how organizations can use a direct sourcing model through their managed service provider (MSP) to develop branded talent pools and gain rapid access to high-quality contingent workers for virtually any project or business need.

But what exactly is the value proposition of having an established, directly sourced talent pipeline, and how can it keep talent engaged and loyal to your company?

SIA’s global survey found that 28% of contingent workforce programs already source some of their talent directly, while 39 percent of program managers are considering doing so, illustrating that more and more companies see the value in investing in a direct relationship with contingent talent.

Branded talent pools that can provide businesses with fast access to talent are a key feature of a direct sourcing recruitment model, but organizations can also expect substantial cost savings with this approach. And while adopting a direct fulfillment model is certainly beneficial to an organization, doing it yourself can be time and resource intensive – often making it a prudent decision to have your MSP provider take the lead. The managed service provider will be responsible for all aspects of recruitment, from job advertising to marketing, applicant screening to interview scheduling, all via an employer branded approach in which the MSP serves as both a supplier and an extension of your business.

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Having an employer branded talent pool at the ready not only lowers talent costs, but creates a robust talent supply chain. For example, with direct sourcing, silver and bronze medalists from permanent recruitment efforts can join your branded talent pool to be considered for future roles, both full-time and temporary. This provides immediate and long-term benefits to your talent strategy by reducing time to deployment in the short-term while providing access to a higher overall caliber of talent.

Additionally, if you already have a strong employer brand in place, why not leverage it to attract contingent talent to your organization. Through direct sourcing, you’re better positioned to achieve a level of engagement and loyalty with your contingent workforce that is not always possible when using third-party suppliers. Your MSP can create a unique talent portal for your business that drives continuity with top talent. The portal does this by providing content that allows professionals to increase their skills and knowledge, while continuously alerting them about new opportunities via text and email outreach.

This direct fulfillment relationship helps attract the best talent by creating a positive experience for flexible talent. It gives your organization the ability to reinforce how critical they are to your company’s strategy and success.  This relationship building ensures that your organization has a pool of validated, ready-to-work and qualified contingent talent who can be deployed and re-deployed as needed.

Setting up a direct sourcing program from scratch can be time-consuming and costly. But expanding your existing relationship with an MSP provider, that already understands your company culture and hiring needs, can simplify the process for your organization and help you develop a robust pipeline of engaged, high-quality flexible talent. This strategy provides increased business agility, and frees up resources in HR and procurement, while simultaneously reducing costs and overall contingent talent spend.

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As more organizations rely on contingent workers to meet evolving business needs, employers require greater access to talent and more favorable labor costs to achieve a distinct market advantage. To achieve this, many organizations are forgoing third-party contingent suppliers in favor of direct sourcing contingent recruitment models that lead the employer to engage directly with potential talent. By using direct sourcing to complement an existing supply chain strategy, many organizations have been able to future-proof access to skilled talent by building an engaged and loyal talent pipeline of flexible workers, who know and value the employer brand and its associated value proposition. Organizations benefit from this model via reduced costs and reductions in time to hire, but also in terms of improved quality of hire, often resulting in increased productivity.

Yet, for some businesses, switching to a direct sourcing talent strategy can be a daunting, costly and perhaps time-consuming process. Organizations with a managed service provider (MSP) already in place, however, can utilize their MSP to help develop the infrastructure, workflows and technology needed to quickly develop a branded talent pool that can provide rapid access to high-quality talent and a more productive contingent workforce.

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To be clear, this is not to say that a direct sourcing model will preclude relationships with  third-party suppliers. In fact, when you implement direct sourcing through your MSP, your partner can ensure your contingent talent needs are met, either through a direct, branded channel or through a highly vetted vendor-neutral supply chain. It’s important to note, however, that your direct sourcing MSP partner won’t place qualified talent in other hiring organizations the way that a third-party supplier might.

A key advantage in having an MSP partner is the ability to cultivate a comprehensive candidate care strategy that delivers a personalized experience for every potential candidate. Via direct sourcing, an MSP team should serve as both a supplier and an extension of your business. This can be achieved through a combination of technology — such as automated marketing and onboarding and AI-powered job matching —in conjunction with input from experienced marketing and recruiting experts to ensure that candidates have a positive talent experience and are fully engaged with your brand at all times.

Furthermore, with the increased utilization of contingent workforces, organizations can ensure that the recruitment process for their permanent workforce is better mirrored in their contingent workforce, resulting in a higher predictability of quality of hire. Direct sourcing is again a great way to achieve this with the right combination of people, process and technology. Ultimately, direct sourcing via your MSP provider creates a closer, more talent-centric relationship between your business and the people you rely on to get work done.

But you may be asking, what is the impact of direct sourcing on my talent supply chain? You may be concerned about how creating a branded talent pool of flexible workers will impact costs and affect budget and overall spend.

Keep an eye out for Part 2 of this series, where I’ll examine how you can realize greater cost savings and cost avoidance through direct contingent recruitment relationships.

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