Following post-pandemic growth, the global Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) market sharply declined in late 2022, driven by macroeconomic factors, geopolitical tensions, and industrial instability. This slowdown continued into 2024, prompting workforce strategy realignments.

The recruitment industry is being reshaped by shifting buyer expectations, a growing focus on comprehensive talent management, and the rising prominence of skills-based hiring. To meet increasingly strategic business needs, RPO providers are enhancing their capabilities and offering specialized services such as consulting, employer branding, market intelligence, internal mobility, and skills-based hiring solutions. As buyer preferences evolve and RPO engagements become more complex, providers are refining their technology ecosystems, introducing cutting-edge solutions in AI, automation, generative AI, and advanced analytics.

In this report, we track developments across the RPO industry in 2023 and also examine the regional market dynamics, adoption characteristics, uncertainties associated with 2024, outlook for 2025, and future industry trends.

Scope

This report draws insights from active RPO deals in 2023 – across geographies, industries, and job families – that meet the following criteria:

• All industries
• Geographies: global, North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific
• Third-party RPO deals, excluding shared services or global business services (GBS)
• Over 6,400 multi-process RPO deals active as of 2023, each involving a minimum of two recruitment processes

Contents

In this report, we examine:

• RPO market dynamics
• RPO adoption characteristics
• Key investment areas to keep up with the market
• 2024’s market uncertainties and outlook for 2025

Membership(s)

Recruitment

Sourcing and Vendor Management