CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than two thirds (70 percent) of companies reveal their business goals are aligned with talent solution providers at the start of engagements but that alignment plummets to a D grade over time, according to a new Orion Talent survey out today, Making the Grade: Where Talent Solution Providers Succeed (and Fail). On average, companies rate the alignment between their current talent programs and strategic business objectives a 69 out of 100. When asked how this misalignment could be improved, clients reveal their top three answers: metrics to show business impact and success (31 percent), better communication with executive leadership (24 percent), and recurring meetings with company leaders throughout the engagement (20 percent).
Although metrics are viewed as a value add and strategy to improve alignment, only 37 percent of clients are satisfied with the frequency of performance metrics and 45 percent with the quality of these metrics. Less than a third (29 percent) of companies use provider metrics to inform business decisions, and more than half who do not (55 percent) cite they aren’t relevant or useful.
“There is incredible opportunity for providers to elevate themselves as strategic business partners,” said Orion Talent CEO Mike Starich. “Our survey reveals the client-provider relationship declines significantly as the engagement progresses. It starts off great, with more than two thirds of companies saying alignment is good or excellent. But over time, lack of communication and metrics that work for both sides deteriorate the partnership. Providers and clients must both revisit program goals and SLAs to manage program changes, and better communication between providers, HR, and executive leadership is essential.”
Quality is Five Times More Important than Other Factors When Choosing a Provider
When looking at what’s most compelling to companies when choosing talent solution providers, quality far exceeds all other factors. Companies ranked quality five times higher than the next factor, proven successes (53 percent vs. 10 percent). Cost comes in third place, at nine percent.
“Quality of candidates is the number one reason companies choose a provider, and it’s also the number one way providers earn an overall A ranking and keep their engagements,” said Cory Kruse, President of Orion Novotus, an Orion Talent company. “Companies should be diligent in working with their providers upfront to agree on objectives and price structures so they can deliver the right quality candidates, and providers should recognize that securing quality candidates will ultimately have the biggest impact for their clients.”
Top-ranked characteristics of A and B providers
- Delivering quality of candidates (35 percent)
- Meeting volume/scale of recruiting needs (21 percent)
- Effective communication (18 percent)
Reasons providers fail
- Companies say 35 percent of providers fail
- Failure to reduce cost is the #1 reason for failure
- Metrics holds the #2 spot, tied with failure to recruit passive candidates
Hope for providers
- More clients try to fix things with the provider than fire them (47 percent vs. 40 percent)
- Providers have a short window to prove their ROI: 37 percent give their provider 1-3 months
- Thirty-four percent allow 4-6 months to prove success
About the Survey
Making the Grade: Where Talent Solution Providers Succeed (and Fail) utilizes data from an online survey of talent solution clients. The survey was fielded from March 28 to April 24, 2017, and a total of 119 responses were received.
About Orion Talent
Headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, Orion Talent provides a total talent solution for businesses nationwide, including skilled talent acquisition, recruitment optimization and military hiring solutions. As a military recruiting leader for 25+ years, Orion Talent has a long history of supporting Veterans in their search for meaningful careers and has found employment for more than 40,000 Veterans. Orion Novotus, an Orion Talent company, provides a full range of recruitment optimization and consulting solutions. Orion Talent has offices nationwide, a dedicated team of 200-plus recruiting experts, and holds more than 400 hiring events each year. Visit www.oriontalent.com.
