You might be surprised how often I’m asked that question, particularly by business leaders who are working with an outsourcing recruitment partner (e.g. MSP/RPO) to drive their digital transformation. Shouldn’t my partner be making our digital journey easier? Why aren’t we seeing better results? Is the talent even out there?

If you’re struggling to compete in this fast-paced market, it might be because you’re putting your faith in the wrong places. In this blog, I’ll be discussing the all-important question, ‘can your current MSP or RPO partner find the tech and digital talent you need’, and why it’s so important to partner with a business that knows the market inside-out.

Moving towards a digital future

Business priorities have changed significantly over the last couple of decades. When recruitment outsourcing first emerged – around 20 years ago – capability in technology hiring was considered a core need, but not necessarily the highly critical one it is now.

Today, technology leaders are key decision makers, sitting at the top table and playing a strategic role in the direction a business will take. In current times, how a technology function operates and integrates is crucial to a company’s success. Businesses are becoming more and more technology-lead, so it follows that any recruitment partner you choose to work with must have capability and expertise in the tech and digital space.

The beauty of this growing demand for technology skills is that it has born more versatile talent solutions. Specialism is no longer separated from scale or stability, and customers that are investing in digital no longer need to choose between largescale generalists and niche PSLs.

Achieving specialism at scale

In my opinion, to deliver a successful MSP or RPO that leverages direct sourcing techniques to amplify a customer’s brand, and to provide this across sectors such as e-Commerce, Financial Services, IT Services and Professional Services, your talent solutions provider needs more than just a few IT recruiters nestled amongst a bank of generalists – they need what Lorien offers; a delivery engine containing hundreds of tech experts who know how to engage, attract and curate top talent for your business.

Lorien is one of the top three technology staffing organisations in the UK, and we’re also a member of the largest recruitment group in the country - the Impellam Group. Our specialism in tech and digital sourcing, our understanding of the technology landscape and the extensive proprietary candidate database we have means we can source niche talent for our customers across permanent, contingent and SOW. In most cases we deliver over 90% direct sourcing in tech and digital for our MSP and RPO clients.

From my perspective, working with a tech specialist will give you:

  • Agility to changing market conditions due to our knowledge, network, and expertise
  • Expert-to-expert engagement with recruiters who speak the same language as their tech candidates, and as a result find the ‘invisible’ talent your business needs
  • An understanding of tech and digital candidate sentiment, the communities they engage in, and their key motivators for a move

So how can you spot a provider that truly understands the digital landscape?

Identifying a tech specialist

The heritage of technology recruitment has run deep through Lorien for the past 40 years. If tech and digital hiring is a pain point for your business, we recommend deep diving when you’re talking to a potential RPO or MSP partner and asking for data and evidence on their prowess in this space. For example, they may advise that they are delivering, on average, 75% direct sourcing for a comparable client but when you break it down into which skillsets they are succeeding in direct, and which skillsets they are ultimately using agencies for, you may be surprised to learn that non-tech roles are being sourced directly but tech roles go out to costly agencies much more frequently.

I would also encourage potential clients to look at what their RPO or MSP provider is doing from a CSR and E,D&I tech perspective – is your potential partner investing in the future of tech with a long-term view? At Lorien, we are keen supporters of the Tech Talent Charter, MAMA.codes and TechGirls, aimed at powering diversity within the future of tech.

So, when you’re considering your next recruitment partner, take time to understand if they are true tech and digital recruitment experts, and (dare I even say!) consider looking beyond the household names.

Today I’m definitely seeing more clients and potential partners thinking more broadly, looking beyond some of the better-known RPOs and MSPs to discover tech-specialist talent solutions providers, like Lorien, who can deliver at scale.

If you’d like to learn more about our tech and digital talent solutions and suite of recruitment services, please contact me at joanna.fagbadegun@lorienglobal.com.