Introduction

The landscape of US$1.5 billion RPO market continues to be shaped by mergers and acquisitions. However, it still remains a fragmented space with small and specialized service providers competing for market share with large-scale players. To succeed in the RPO market, service providers differentiate their offerings by specializing across geographies, industry verticals, job families, and buyer segments. Service providers also offer strategic value-added services and technology-based services, such as analytics and mobile recruiting, in addition to managing their internal recruiter talent to attract new buyers and retain existing ones. Buyers need to understand the service provider’s value proposition in its entirety, while taking a holistic view of their own requirements, to create an effective and successful engagement.

In this research, we analyze the global RPO service provider landscape across the following dimensions:

• Market overview and service provider landscape
• 2013 RPO PEAK Matrix and Star Performers
• Key insights into PEAK Matrix dimensions
• Key areas of differentiation and specialization

Scope

• Third-party RPO deals collected from over 25 RPO providers; it does not include shared services or GICs
• RPO deals with a minimum of four recruitment processes, at least one year in contract length, and not limited to temporary hires only
• All geographies and industries
• Buyer objectives and satisfaction levels gathered through executive interviews and survey questionnaires

Content

This report examines the global 2013 RPO service provider landscape and its impact on the RPO market. It focuses on service provider position and growth in the RPO market, changing market dynamics, emerging service provider trends and differentiating factors, and assessment of service provider delivery capabilities. It also identifies the key implications of the research findings for buyers and service providers. Some of the findings in this report, among others, are:

• RPO market continued its growth in 2012 with record new deal signings
• However, due to a decrease in hiring volumes in North America and Europe, the growth rate moderated to 12%
• Based on Everest Group’s comprehensive evaluation framework, PEAK Matrix, the 25 established RPO service providers evaluated are segmented into three categories – Leaders, Major Contenders, and Emerging Players
• Everest Group selected RPO Star Performers for 2013 based on the relative year-on-year movement of each service provider on the PEAK Matrix
• Key insights on comparing the top quartile performers and other performers on delivery capability dimensions:
  • Market success: Top quartile performers have not experienced runaway success due to the difficulty in creating a “one-stop-shop” for different buyer segments
  • Buyer satisfaction: Top quartile performers are significantly better in relationship management
• RPO providers differentiate themselves along multiple dimensions – geographic coverage, industry and buyer size, strategic value-added services, type and source of hires, technology strategy, global sourcing, and internal talent management