Season Eight of the Future of Work Exchange Podcast kicks off with a dynamic panel discussion on direct sourcing. Rebecca Valladares (Opptly), Brian Hoffmeyer (Beeline), Tim Rhodes (Raise), and Matthew McCartney Waggle (Talent Solutions TAPFIN) join me to discuss the state of direct sourcing, AI’s impact on hiring and recruitment, the future of direct sourcing programs, how skills-based hiring will reshape talent acquisition, and more. Tune in!
Earlier this week, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange hosted an exclusive webcast focused on AI-powered contingent workforce management and its impact within the Future of Work movement. I was joined by Opptly’s Lori Hock (CEO), Beeline’s Colleen Tiner (Chief Product Officer), and NLP Logix’s Matt Berseth (CIO, co-founder) to discuss a wide range of hot topics under the artificial intelligence umbrella, including:
Check out an on-demand replay of the webinar below.
For the past several years, the myriad options available to the contemporary hiring manager have pushed the boundaries of talent acquisition. Freelancer networks, talent marketplaces, vertical-specific talent communities, social media, and digital staffing outlets have provided businesses with a new range of diverse, highly-skilled, and top-tier talent. In fact, Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research point to an 800% growth in adoption and utilization of these sources since 2018…positioning them as a must-have in the greater war for talent.
Around the time the Future of Work Exchange was launched back in 2021, we coined a phrase that accurately reflects this movement: omni-channel talent acquisition. Omni-channel talent acquisition revolves around the concept of enterprises being enabled with a variety of candidate sources that can be converged to drive real-time skills alignment, on-demand hiring, and enhanced visibility into deeper attributes of candidates. While traditional staffing suppliers are still a critical piece of the contingent workforce, the “omni-channel experience” represents a new era in which enterprises can expand their talent searches through the advent of innovation, direct sourcing automation, new candidate channels, and next-generation and AI-fueled technology.
News broke this morning of a partnership between Beeline, a market leader in Vendor Management System (VMS) technology, and Upwork, a fellow market leader that is considered the world’s largest talent and work marketplace.
At the outset, this type of partnership is not just another notch in the talent technology ecosystem for either organization, but rather a powerful union between two industry powerhouses of talent innovation. The Upwork and Beeline partnership represents the latest shift in omni-channel talent acquisition, as well as a progression in workforce management.
“Managing a contingent workforce, inclusive of independent talent, presents complexities and challenges that can strain even the most sophisticated processes. These challenges include navigating compliance with local and international labor laws, ensuring visibility into the entire hiring lifecycle, and maintaining consistent hiring quality and efficiency across various departments,” said Zoë Diamadi, general manager of enterprise at Upwork. “Upwork’s partnerships with VMS and MSP platforms, such as Beeline, create a holistic solution to these challenges. We have integrated the modern, technology-fueled experience of Upwork’s platform and the world-class, independent talent on Upwork with the advanced technologies and solutions of VMS and MSP platforms.”
Here’s what the partnership means for the industry:
“Access to a large and diverse talent pool that is filled with candidates that hold a variety of skillsets is key to the success of any contingent workforce program,” said Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies at Beeline. “I’m an Upwork user myself and I know first-hand how great their platform is. Those facts make me thrilled to launch this partnership, and, more importantly, excited about the benefits it will offer to our mutual clients.”
“The new voice (and video) mode is the best compute interface I’ve ever used,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman yesterday at the company’s launch of its latest AI model, GPT-4o (“omni”). “It feels like AI from the movies; and it’s still a bit surprising to me that it’s real. Getting to human-level response times and expressiveness turns out to be a big change.”
OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4o, seamlessly blends voice, video, and text to redefine the AI interaction experience, striving for a natural and intuitive engagement. Beyond mere text processing, this model comprehends and reacts to both audio and visual inputs, ushering in a more human-like interaction. Moreover, OpenAI’s efforts in enhancing responsiveness are evident as GPT-4o boasts reaction times in milliseconds, mirroring the pace of a genuine conversation.
There’s a ton to unpack in Altman’s excitement, but there’s a key word in there that means so much for the world of talent technology: expressiveness. And it will take artificial intelligence to the next level in regards to how businesses find, engage, source, manage, and retain talent.
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.
The world of work is rapidly evolving as technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) shift how work gets done. Enterprises are turning to AI for transformative workplace results, leading to increases in upskilling and technology adoption within the contingent and permanent workforce. This opens the door for freelancers and contractors who meet the skills demand from organizations to leverage new technology for greater efficiencies and substantial insights.
What skills are needed now and in the future? Upwork, the world’s work marketplace connecting businesses with independent talent, released its report “In-Demand Skills 2024” highlighting the critical skills workers need across a variety of categories. The report revealed that Data Science & Analytics is one of the fastest-growing work categories as generative AI modeling and machine learning produce strong demand from businesses. Upwork revealed that the AI and machine learning subcategory on the company’s platform saw 70% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, as clients and independent professionals collaborate on today’s most cutting-edge projects.
The Upwork report identified several fastest-growing work categories and skill sets where contingent labor can deliver the greatest value. As the examples below illustrate, artificial intelligence and automation in general are heavily sought after for 2024 and beyond.
This year’s “In-Demand Skills” report noted several new skills emerging in the top 10, including medical and executive virtual assistance, as well as development & IT project management and digital marketing campaign management.
With the demand for specific skills, organizations are turning more toward skills-based hiring to meet their workforce needs. According to Kelly Monahan, managing director of the Upwork Research Institute, “Every company is vying for the best talent and there remains huge demand for a broad range of skills across the Upwork marketplace as businesses big and small are finding solutions in the growing reservoir of skilled independent professionals,” she said.
“In 2024, emergent technologies like generative AI are having a major impact on the skills-based economy. Of course, business demand for these types of skills is increasing, but we’re also seeing a complementary impact, whereby AI technology is driving greater demand for all types of work across our marketplace,” Monahan added.
Monahan’s comments also align with the current influence of AI on the workforce. According to a report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) entitled, “Gen-AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work,” nearly 40 percent of global employment is exposed to AI. As more solution providers integrate artificial intelligence into their offerings, that percentage is likely to increase. Enterprises are turning to AI to streamline business processes and automate tactical tasks that provide workers with more time for strategic planning.
This is good news for freelancers and contractors upskilling or with existing expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics. According to Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, an AI consultant on Upwork, “As technology rapidly changes and more specific expertise is needed, more and more businesses are coming to Upwork to find the solutions they need,” she said.
“Consequently, the demand for my skill set has never been higher. Upskilling and becoming an AI professional on Upwork has opened many doors. I get to work on interesting projects and I am a stronger partner for my clients as I’m more efficient, productive, and can deliver better outcomes,” DeStefano-Tangorra added.
The Future of Work Exchange Podcast welcomes Christy Forest, CEO and Executive Director at LiveHire, to discuss the current state of direct sourcing, the future of this high-impact strategy, the reality of total talent management, and much more.
This week’s podcast, sponsored by Worksuite, also highlights the importance of “balance” between human-centricity and digital evolution.
It can be tough to strategize around the best-fit approach for optimizing how we get work done. Digital-focused plans have been top-of-mind for the past several years, with the concept of “digital transformation” a rightly-hyped strategy that prioritizes automation, linkage of enterprise systems, scalability of core processes, and (most importantly) real-time convergence and access of insights and data.
However, the “digital enterprise” cannot survive on technology alone. Innovation does not occur in a vacuum, regardless of just how advanced businesses software (and hardware) is across the greater organization. “Human centricity” should be heralded as a proactive and forward-thinking approach that places not just people in the center of work optimization, but the skillsets inherent within the human workforce.
Introducing a New Subscription Model from the Future of Work Exchange.
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.
In the realm of workforce management, the concept of direct sourcing has not escaped the fervor of its own hype machine. The question persists, though: what defines direct sourcing? What is its true “reality”? What “state” is direct sourcing in today, given the evolution of talent acquisition and extended workforce management?
There is no easy answer, unfortunately. The most interesting facet regarding direct sourcing is that the industry has not yet settled on a true definition; much like contingent workforce programs can be called such without a drop of automation or third-party support, direct sourcing often falls into the same spectrum. Even without a VMS, extended workforce platform, or MSP in place, businesses can state that their non-employee workforce programs are tried-and-true (and “end-to-end”) even in cases where additional attributes, particularly services procurement and SOW management, aren’t considered part of the overall initiative.
Misconceptions surrounding direct sourcing often center on the intricacies of its implementation and the true characterization of what qualifies as genuine “direct sourcing.” Does an enterprise curating its talent internally and channeling candidates into a talent pool truly embody direct sourcing as a core workforce strategy? To discern the essence of direct sourcing, we must explore its full spectrum, including segmentation, integration into primary recruitment streams, and the facilitation of talent nurture capabilities — which is where the question arises: is automation indispensable for it to be deemed a true, end-to-end program? Do enterprises require deeper talent technology stacks to ensure direct sourcing meets its potential as a talent acquisition gamechanger?
Introducing a New Subscription Model from the Future of Work Exchange.
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.
Over the past several years, there has been a raging debate around what is seemingly more important for a business’ overall success regarding its workforce: “hard skills” or “soft skills.” The longstanding argument for top-billing between hard skills and soft skills has been a defining narrative in the realms of talent acquisition, recruitment, talent management, and overall workforce planning.
Historically, hard skills, encompassing specific technical proficiencies and measurable expertise, have often taken precedence in hiring decisions. These skills (think areas such as coding, data analysis, or engineering) were traditionally deemed as tangible indicators of overall alignment between pure job prerequisites and the ability (or potential) for a candidate to meet those requirements.
Introducing a New Subscription Model from the Future of Work Exchange.
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.
It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is the veritable “rising tide” that shapes both businesses and personal arenas unlike any other technology before it. In the world of work, AI has become a formidable gamechanger in how enterprises find, engage, source, and manage talent…meaning that those businesses that have not yet embraced artificial intelligence will soon find that their tech-enabled brethren will maintain a critical advantage.
AI shapes industries, decisions, interactions, and opportunities, essentially impact everyone’s work and daily life.
If you missed last week’s exclusive webcast that featured Opptly and the Future of Work Exchange, don’t worry…we’ve got you covered. Check out an on-demand replay below and learn why Opptly’s Lori Hock and Rebecca Valladares (and, of course, the Future of Work Exchange) believe that AI will forever transform talent acquisition.