At SourceRight Solutions, 2011 is off to a great start. We’re definitely seeing growth in certain market sectors, especially IT and financial services. More professionals have opted to become part of the contingent workforce as “free agents,” which has created a highly qualified talent pool to fulfill the uptick in exempt hiring requirements. In fact, we’re seeing an increasing trend in recruitment process outsourcing towards exempt-level hiring – a sharp contrast since historically RPO was more transactional – and now we’re being called into situations where our full range of skills and tools are being leveraged to source hard-to-find, passive candidates.

To oversee this growth, companies need to commit resources – whether internal, external or both. All of us witnessed organizations letting their recruiters go during the recent downturn. Many of our clients are now turning to us not only to help recruit but to also be part of broader strategic discussions with their hiring managers. Leveraging your MSP/RPO partner to counsel on how talent is developed and where the next wave of talent is coming from is becoming more commonplace.

Also becoming more frequent is the use of interim executives. An interim executive can fill the gaps created by winnowed-down management teams or newly created initiatives.  The interim executive can also lay the groundwork for someone within the company to assume the responsibilities. This free agent-driven “knowledge transfer” approach has enormous benefits as companies gain the benefits of senior talent – including C-level – with considerably more experience than could be brought on staff. While images of grey haired sages might come to mind, the reality is that many of these interim executives are far from retirement age and possess unique entrepreneurial skills.

There’s also a new position being created within many forward-thinking organizations: the Global Talent Acquisition Leader. These individuals are responsible for overseeing organizational talent acquisition strategy, effectiveness and spend.

In closing, we anticipate growth in improving the management of “blended” workforces across all categories of talent—full-time, part-time contingent, contract, and alumni—by using integrated infrastructure, tools, and analytics to strategically optimize the resourcing and management of talent globally.