Key Takeaways

  • Kelly Services’ MSP, RPO, SOW and PPO offerings reflect growing demand for coordinated workforce planning across employee and external-talent channels.
  • Skills-based assessment is becoming a stronger indicator of hiring quality as employers redesign roles and seek capabilities that conventional credentials may overlook.
  • Generative AI can reduce administrative work, but employers still need clear rules for candidate use, human review and accountability.

Kelly Services is highlighting managed workforce options including external workforce programs, commonly known as managed service provider programs, alongside recruitment process outsourcing, statement-of-work and payroll process outsourcing services. The menu reflects a broader change in how employers approach talent acquisition: hiring is becoming less about filling isolated vacancies and more about coordinating skills, suppliers, technology and workforce demand.

That distinction matters. Nearly 70% of organizations still struggle to recruit for full-time roles, according to SHRM’s 2025 Talent Trends research. Meanwhile, 28% need new skills for those roles, and 47% are updating existing positions to include new capabilities. Employers are not simply looking for more candidates. Many are reconsidering what work needs to be done, which skills it requires and whether it belongs with an employee, contractor or project-based provider.

Managed programs can support that shift by giving procurement, human resources and business leaders a more consistent view of hiring activity. An MSP typically coordinates external labor suppliers and contingent-workforce processes. RPO transfers some or all recruitment operations to a specialist, while SOW management focuses on project deliverables rather than individual temporary workers. PPO handles payroll and related administration for designated workers.

When hiring channels operate separately, employers can end up competing against themselves for talent, applying inconsistent screening criteria or paying different rates for similar work. A coordinated model can make those gaps easier to spot. It can also create the data foundation required for workforce planning, although the value depends heavily on data quality and governance.

Skills intelligence is becoming central to that effort. LinkedIn’s Future of Recruiting 2025 found that more than 90% of talent-acquisition professionals consider accurate skills assessment crucial to quality of hire (source). Companies conducting the most skills-based searches were 12% more likely to make a quality hire.

Removing a degree requirement does not automatically create skills-based hiring. Employers need reliable job profiles, assessments tied to actual work and a way to recognize transferable experience. Otherwise, they may simply replace one weak proxy with another.

Technology providers including LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Workday and Eightfold AI are pushing the market toward skills intelligence, automation and broader workforce planning. Kelly Services operates within that same talent-solutions ecosystem, where service delivery increasingly intersects with platform integration and data management.

AI is accelerating the change. Generative AI adoption in recruiting rose from 27% to 37% of organizations actively integrating or experimenting with it, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 findings (source). Users reported saving about 20% of their work week (source). Those gains can come from drafting job descriptions, summarizing applications, preparing outreach or handling repetitive communications.

Still, faster processing is not the same as better hiring. Who reviews an AI-generated recommendation? How can an employer determine whether screening criteria disadvantage qualified candidates? Managed-service arrangements may help establish shared controls across recruiters and suppliers, but clients retain responsibility for employment decisions, privacy practices and oversight.

Candidate behavior adds another wrinkle. Seven in ten employers remain undecided about applicants using generative AI during the application process, while finding qualified candidates remains the leading anticipated talent-acquisition challenge, according to HireRight’s 2025 Global Benchmark Report. Blanket restrictions may be difficult to enforce. Clear disclosure rules and assessments that test practical ability can be more useful.

Pipeline development also remains stubbornly human. Established relationships with educational institutions led the strategies reported in NACE’s 2025 survey of 197 organizations, with virtual recruiting and expanded internships also prominent. That is a reminder that automation does not replace trust, access or sustained community engagement.

For organizations and their partners, the opportunity is to connect those pieces without treating recruitment volume as the primary measure of success. Quality of hire, workforce adaptability, candidate experience, compliance and responsible AI use offer a more durable scorecard. Managed hiring can provide structure, but outcomes will hinge on how carefully employers define skills, govern technology and coordinate decisions across the business.