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5 strategic moves to meet evolving client demands

Staffing Stream

5 strategic moves to meet evolving client demands

Anthony Donnarumma
| January 21, 2025
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In a time when 88% of organizations report significant difficulties filling open positions — and 40% say they’re already relying on talent solutions providers as their primary recruitment and sourcing resource — staffing firms face an unprecedented opportunity to redefine their value proposition. The market is clearly primed for firms that are ready to step into a more strategic role. Put simply, more and more client companies are no longer just seeking talent — they’re asking for more robust and comprehensive workforce solutions that can flex and scale with their business needs.

A new report from 24 Seven, encompassing insights from more than 950 management-level professionals, signals how talent solutions organizations can expand their service offerings and capture greater market share.

Based on our “Beyond Traditional Staffing: The New Era of Talent Solutions” report, here are five growth opportunities to consider exploring.

Embrace the full-service model. The data clearly shows that clients are moving away from simple staff augmentation toward comprehensive talent solutions. With 59% of companies now using a mixed model of in-house staff and external resources, staffing firms can position themselves as strategic workforce partners rather than just talent providers. Look into developing service offerings that include:

• Embedded teams for long-term projects
• Consulting services that leverage your industry expertise
• Creative agency capabilities for project-based work
• Workforce planning and strategy consulting

Build specialized talent pools. The rise of emerging technologies demands a new approach to talent identification and development. It’s advantageous to move beyond traditional recruiting and become active cultivators of specialized talent communities. Success in these markets requires: 

• Creating strong vetting processes for specialized skills (such as advanced AI expertise) 
• Designing targeted talent-attraction strategies 
• Establishing partnerships with reputable professional communities

Capitalize on the skills evolution. With organizations split between needing niche specialists (44%) and industry generalists (56%), successful staffing firms must become architects of adaptable talent solutions. Rather than choosing between offering deep expertise or broad capabilities, the key is building talent strategies that deliver both. To achieve that, consider: 

• Utilizing assessment tools that evaluate both technical abilities and soft skills (from analytics, the most sought-after functional skill, to creativity, the most in-demand soft skill)
• Building training partnerships to further enhance candidate capabilities

Address time-to-hire pressures. With most companies finding that it takes significant time to hire for open positions, the talent solutions organizations that can accelerate this process while maintaining quality will gain a significant competitive advantage. As such, focus on:

• Developing pre-vetted talent communities
• Implementing AI-driven matching technologies
• Doubling-down on nurturing and maintaining warm talent pools
• Launching rapid deployment programs for high-demand roles

Expand service geography. Our survey shows growing comfort with various sourcing models, including domestic outsourcing (62%), nearshoring (27%) and offshoring (14%). Forward-thinking firms should:

• Develop networks across multiple geographic regions
• Create robust remote work support capabilities
• Build infrastructure for managing distributed teams
• Establish improved quality control processes for remote talent

The Path Forward 

To capitalize on these opportunities, talent solutions firm leaders should conduct a strategic review of their current service offerings against these emerging market needs. Organizations are looking for partners who can deliver comprehensive workforce solutions, not just talent placement services.

Consider starting with one or two key areas where your firm has existing strengths and gradually expand your service portfolio. The objective is not to transform overnight but to evolve deliberately in alignment with market demands and your organizational capabilities.

The firms that will thrive in this new environment are those that can combine the speed and efficiency of traditional staffing with the comprehensive support and strategic insight that clients are increasingly requesting.