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Talent Acquisition

What WorkLLama’s $50M Funding Means for the Direct Sourcing Arena

Direct SourcingSolution ProvidersTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Direct sourcing dominates many of the talent-oriented discussions in our wonderful industry today more so than ever before. Heading into the months before the pandemic began, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research found that direct sourcing strategies and talent pool development were the top two priorities heading into 2020.

The omniscience of those findings was on point: for the first 18 months or so of the pandemic, direct sourcing exploded due to its ability to drive real workforce scalability (in a time when it was needed most) and improve the candidate and hiring manager experiences. Now that the pandemic is waning and entering an endemic state, direct sourcing is still as vital as ever to businesses that focus on candidate centricity and a talent-led approach to workforce engagement.

Last week, WorkLLama, one of the industry’s leading direct sourcing technology platforms, announced that it had secured $50 million in funding (organized and facilitated by Fairpoint Partners). Now, funding in HR tech is not a rare event, however, within the direct sourcing space, this represents so much more than an innovative solution garnering significant funding.

WorkLLama’s suite of technology does not just fall under the greater “direct sourcing” banner, but rather reflects the “Direct Sourcing 2.0” model that Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange pioneered 18 months ago to reflect the next generation of innovation that has contributed to the future of the direct sourcing technology industry.

“I’ve been lucky to have been involved first-hand since direct sourcing was introduced to the market many years ago,” said Kevin Poll, WorkLLama’s SVP of Strategy and Business Development. “Fast forward to today and seeing the market demand for next-gen direct sourcing technology, it’s exciting and validates the market opportunity and the belief in our innovation and growth. Not only will we help all talent connect to meaningful work, but I’m also personally looking forward to how this investment will allow us to continue advancing the platform to help underrepresented communities.”

WorkLLama has become a leading direct sourcing platform not just because of their overall commitment to the arena, which has been apparent since they entered the enterprise market back in 2016, but rather because the company has leveraged progressive thinking to fuel a new era of direct sourcing, ATS, and end-to-end talent management functionality. The WorkLLama platform, including its unique Sofi bot, offers users with advanced functionality, artificial intelligence, access to superior talent, an enhanced candidate experience, and the enablement of repeatable and scalable direct sourcing processes all contribute to a more advanced direct sourcing program.

“WorkLLama was established in 2016 to solve long-standing challenges within the talent attraction, engagement, nurturing, and retention space,” said Saleem Khaja, COO and co-founder. “Since our inception, we’ve led with the most robust, client-centric, and configurable solution available, with a central mission to provide the highest-level consumer-like experience to talent. This funding is an important milestone in our journey to enable both organizations and talent to become even more successful.”

The massive level of funding here speaks volumes about the direct sourcing technology industry for several reasons:

  • Direct sourcing has moved beyond the “peripheral platform” spectrum within the talent technology ecosystem. Just a few years ago, direct sourcing solutions were considered peripheral technology; that is, platforms that contributed to extended workforce management and talent acquisition without the standing of Vendor Management Systems and HRIS solutions. Today, that has changed. WorkLLama’s funding is a direct reflection of the criticality of these platforms in driving better candidate outcomes and optimizing talent engagement and recruitment.
  • Artificial intelligence is now table-stakes for any technology in the workforce solutions market. One of WorkLLama’s leading-edge innovations is the application of AI and machine learning throughout the platform, which shines in its candidate nurture functionality and particularly its Sofi conversational bot. Sofi harnesses the power of AI to automate and facilitate candidate communication and engagement; the WorkLLama platform also leverages AI to catalyze digital recruitment and referral management, two attributes of direct sourcing that are crucial for programmatic success.
  • The candidate experience and the hiring manager experience are paramount. One of the more interesting developments in the direct sourcing technology arena is the commitment to and focus on “experience-led” aspects of talent acquisition. With a volatile labor market, the candidate experience is, of course, critical (something that WorkLLama achieves through its deep nurture and engagement functionality). What has also become important, however, is the hiring manager experience by arming these professionals (and other talent acquisition leaders) with robust offerings that can facilitate skills assessment, develop deep talent communities, and streamline talent engagement and hiring.

“CEO, CHRO, and CPO leaders face unprecedented challenges as they evaluate new workforce strategies to find and engage talent in today’s market,” said WorkLLama’s CEO and co-founder, Sudhakar Maruvada. “WorkLLama’s growth, especially in direct sourcing, shows that these leaders are invested in innovative solutions to keep up with the changing landscape of work and workers. This investment will allow us to continue to build on our key differentiators and mission of treating candidates like customers.”

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Optimize Your Staffing Suppliers

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHRSolution ProvidersTalent Acquisition by John Yuva on

The contingent workforce is now an essential component of enterprise execution and competitiveness. For many organizations, direct sourcing or online marketplaces are a primary means of securing non-employee talent. However, enterprises continue to utilize traditional staffing suppliers as well. In some cases, these relationships are based on a long-standing foundation for sourcing contingent workers.

Staffing suppliers, however, come with their own risks and rewards. Ongoing oversight is necessary to ensure these relationships are optimized and the organization’s staffing and workforce goals are met. The following are several considerations when managing staffing suppliers for contingent workforce engagement.

Track supplier performance for greater optimization. There are metrics for a host of business processes; the same should be true of staffing suppliers and their impact on talent management goals. According to Prosperix, a provider of workforce innovation solutions, staffing suppliers are not just meeting a talent need but contributing to a total talent management ecosystem. As such, a service-level agreement (SLA) detailing specific performance metrics must be established with regular tracking to mitigate potential risks.

What performance metrics are critical and specific to staffing suppliers? Prosperix says four KPIs are the most important.

  • Submissions to Positions
  • Submissions to Interview
  • Submissions to Hire
  • Assignment Completion

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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The Core Tenets of the Skills-Based Organization

TalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The foundational elements of the skills-based organization revolve around the concepts of rethinking the parallels between talent and work; thus, the very future of the skills-based organization depends on forward-thinking strategies, ideas, and, of course technology. Businesses are more likely to thrive in the months and years ahead by adopting a candidate-centric approach to hiring that is skills-based rather than job-based.

The exclusive Future of Work Exchange infographic below, The Core Tenets of the Skills-Based Organization, unveils the six key elements of skills-based organizations and how they impact the greater business (and its staffing, recruitment, and hiring efforts).

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Avoid Passing on Passive Job Candidates

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHRTalent Acquisition by John Yuva on

When we talk about Future of Work job candidates, it’s often in the context of active recruiting through direct sourcing initiatives, talent marketplaces, or online recruiting platforms. With the transition to skills-based hiring, attracting and selecting the right candidate is even more critical in meeting enterprise goals. As such, it may be time to expand the talent pipeline and include passive job seekers. This candidate segment can lie under the recruitment radar among the hundreds of active job applicants vying for coveted organizational roles.

Passive but Silently Active

Who are passive job candidates? These mostly employed individuals are not currently looking for employment opportunities. Many are happy in their place of work, but should the right career opportunity present itself, they could be persuaded to leave. According to Zippia, an online job recruiting firm, 73% of potential candidates are passive job seekers. And a considerable 87% of these candidates are open to the new job opportunities provided by active recruitment.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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The Top Talent Challenges of 2023 (So Far)

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceDirect SourcingTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The business arena is shrouded in disruption and uncertainty, given the volatility of the labor market, supply chain risks, and economic challenges that are plaguing a variety of industries across the globe. With talent as the modern enterprise’s top competitive differentiator, it is no wonder that these external factors are placing pressure on talent-specific operations within the average organization, particularly workforce oversight, extended and contingent workforce management, skills analysis, talent engagement, talent acquisition, services procurement, etc.

In another exclusive Future of Work Exchange infographic, we highlight some brand new Ardent Partners research and unveil the top talent-oriented challenges for businesses (thus far) in 2023.

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Getting Started With Skills-Based Hiring

EventsTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Future of Work Exchange has frequently discussed the advent of the skills-based organization, and rightfully so: Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research finds that 73% of businesses currently face a critical challenge in the months ahead: a lack of candidates with the required skillsets for open positions. This is yet another representation of why the skills-based organization (SBO) is a true opportunity to, essentially, reimagine the ways they think about talent acquisition and the role of talent in getting work done.

The foundational elements of the skills-based organization revolve around the concepts of rethinking the parallels between talent and work; thus, the very future of the skills-based organization depends on forward-thinking strategies, ideas, and, of course, technology. And it all begins with skills-based hiring.

I’m excited to join my friend and fellow Future of Work expert Mark Brodsky on an exclusive Q&A panel discussion on Wednesday, March 15 at 11am ET. The staffing and recruitment expert panel, hosted by innovative skills intelligence platform Glider AI, will address:

  • Migrating from a job-based to a skills-based hiring strategy.
  • How to identify the required skills.
  • How to assess candidate skills.
  • Evaluating skills-based hiring tools and AI.
  • Uncovering hidden skills from current employees.
  • Securing executive and finance stakeholder alignment.

Next week’s event will also feature some brand new Future of Work Exchange research and statistics that will illuminate the criticality of the skills-based organization and its role in the evolving world of talent and work. Join us!

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Skills-Based Is the New Workforce Frontier

Business LeadershipDirect SourcingDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHRTalent AcquisitionTechnology and InnovationUncategorized by John Yuva on

We have recently talked about gamification and digital credentials as strategies for greater employee engagement, collaboration, and skills development. As enterprises re-engineer their workforce architectures toward a skills-based organization, these strategies will play a critical role in that initiative.

Why is skills-based the next workforce frontier? Simply put, traditional, antiquated job description-defined roles are ineffective in today’s volatile business landscape. Enterprises require agility and flexibility to respond appropriately to operational and market changes. A skills-based workforce architecture supports that requirement by aligning employee skills with project-focused initiatives. Deploying employees with specific skill sets to solve problems and ensure business continuity is a Future of Work vision.

Purpose of Work Redefined

With a nimble and responsive workforce, enterprises can leverage their talent using a more holistic approach while generating a greater sense of work purpose for employees. According to an article in Training magazine, “Skills-based organizations have a more agile and employee-centric approach to work where employees are valued for their skills rather than their job title, level, or educational qualifications.”

“It is a new operating model of work where employees are matched to tasks and projects based on skills, capabilities, and interests. Focusing on skill sets instead of job experience can help organizations optimize their talent pool.”

However, the success of this workforce model depends heavily on the ability to define work within the enterprise. What is the work that can ultimately provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace? Where in the organization does the most critical work reside? What skillsets and capabilities are most valued to accomplish the work required? How does the enterprise capture, structure, and utilize skillset data?

The critical answers to these questions are all part of the foundation of a skills-based structure.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Candidate-Centricity Should Be the Nexus of 2023 Hiring

HRTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Sometimes it can be incredibly taxing on our minds to configure the many, many ways the Future of Work influences the way we live, the way we work, and the ways those two intersect. From new technology and innovative platforms to conscious leadership and overall business transformation, the very notion of the “future of how we work” involves so many intricacies that it can make our collective heads spin.

However, in a vacuum, we have to look at the future (and, in this case, the very near future) and configure specific aspects of corporate operations in such a way that they align with the external forces now driving success…or failure.

Talent has become the top competitive differentiator in a market that is increasingly globalized, unpredictable, and disruptive. Businesses that source the best talent, utilize that talent to get work done effectively, and retain that talent are always going to be the ones that thrive in a business arena that is evolving at a breakneck clip.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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The Continued Rise of the Extended Workforce

Contingent WorkforceTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

During The Great Recession of 2008-2009*, businesses faced a harsh reality: do more with less…or else face a reckoning. Tens of thousands of enterprises were forced to lay off swaths of their staff in the wake of rough financial times, with so many others undertaking additional cost-cutting measures beyond slashing their total headcount.

Many incredibly talented professionals found themselves out of a job, and many once-thriving organizations found themselves without the same level of expertise they once maintained. However, unlike recessions of past, an interesting event occurred: a bounce-happened quick enough that those very businesses required talent to meet a rising demand for their products and services. And, those professionals who were cut from their positions became open to flexible work and new working arrangements.

Enter the “perfect storm” that signaled a revolution.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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A Time for Workforce Management Innovation

Direct SourcingSolution ProvidersTalent AcquisitionTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Humans are what drive the Future of Work today. What it all comes down to, in essence, is that a business relies on its people to get work done, to survive, and to thrive. The workforce has undergone some seismic shifts over the past several years, from the rise of the extended workforce to non-employee talent becoming a source of real enterprise agility.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has discovered that 82% of businesses leveraged more contingent workers and sources of external talent in 2022 than in 2021, a powerful statistic that represents the relative power of the extended workforce, its overall value, and its impact on enterprise operations.

Considering that the specter of an economic recession lingers, as well as Year Four of the Pandemic That Will Not End, this means that now, more than ever before, businesses will require Best-in-Class strategies and solutions for engaging the best-fit, best-aligned talent, and, of course, managing it in a frictionless way.

What this means, of course, is that the workforce solutions market is what will set the tone for enterprises as they reimagine their outlook for 2023 and ensure that talent-fueled agility is the foundation for success in the year ahead.

The great news, though, is that this technology industry is abound with innovation. Heavyweight platforms like Beeline bring cutting-edge workforce management functionality and a talent-centric focus that will assist enterprises in achieving true total workforce management, while solutions such as Magnit seamlessly connect top-tier direct sourcing, services procurement, DE&I, total talent intelligence, and VMS technology under a frictionless platform approach. SAP Fieldglass continues to innovate around its idyllic blend of VMS, services procurement, and candidate management functionality, all of which are built on a foundation of high-powered analytics and intelligence offerings. Prosperix brings a truly unique “VMS network” vision to life through its next-generation solution, and VNDLY (a Workday company) converges procurement-centric solutions with the HR bliss of the Workday suite of technology. Coupa Software’s contingent workforce tool is an exemplary confluence of VMS technology, business spend management automation, and real-time talent visibility.

Technologies like Opptly are redefining talent acquisition via artificial intelligence-fueled functionality and dynamic candidate matching tools. LiveHire represents the convergence of deep direct sourcing, ATS, and CRM technology and real total talent management solutions. WorkLLama is a strong reflection of “Direct Sourcing 2.0,” in which robust, end-to-end workforce management technology catalyzes progressive candidate-focused functionality. HireGenics brings the power of enterprise brand management, “MSP 4.0” innovation, and diversity-led solutions to the direct sourcing arena. Worksuite (formerly Shortlist) continues to provide enterprises with an all-in-one, flexible platform that combines the power of VMS, digital staffing, and services procurement. HireArt’s unique approach converges workforce management functionality with forward-thinking talent curation, direct sourcing, and compliance management tools.

The realm of digital staffing is also actively contributing to the workforce innovation arena. Upwork, a giant in the talent marketplace solutions landscape, offers wide-scoping workforce management technology that is built on perhaps the world’s largest talent community. Toptal continues to revolutionize what “workforce agility” means to the modern business by enabling development of fully-scalable teams of top-tier, remote talent. The Mom Project’s continued evolution reflects their commitment to diverse talent acquisition, streamlined talent engagement operations, and Best-in-Class enterprise technology. Talmix leverages global talent intelligence and next-level automation to revamp the talent acquisition process.

Catalant‘s Expert Marketplace is more than a digital staffing solution, offering 80,000+ experts and freelancers in an enterprise platform that facilitates project-scoping, team management, payments, and compliance and risk management. GR8 People‘s innovative “Everyone Platform” is a stout, end-to-end tool that encompasses the best of recruitment technology, direct sourcing, ATS, and CRM that enables total talent management and a revolutionary candidate experience.

Artificial intelligence and next-level analytics are now front-and-center in the world of workforce management technology. HiredScore is an AI-fueled platform with “talent orchestration” technology that is perfectly-aligned with the evolving world of work’s need for real-time talent intelligence. Glider.ai continues to revolutionize candidate intelligence through assessment, interviewing, and engagement innovation.

With talent as the very nexus of the contemporary enterprise in 2023 and a linchpin to true business and workforce agility, organizations have access to the dynamic solutions that can transform talent acquisition, reimagine talent engagement, and spark next-generation workforce management.

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